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Originally Posted by Freeway
I saw six of seven preseason games in full.
The system works well with the skilled players, but for the grinders and depth defensemen, they still seemed to handle the puck like a hand grenade in their own end and frequent in-zone passes to exit the zone gives them opportunities to bobble. I'm sure it'll get better as they adjust to it, but there were a few cringe-worthy moments throughout the exhibition season.
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Interesting. Thanks for the insight.
So then, do you think Gulutzan will adapt his system for the grinder types to just chip it out instead of trying to move the puck like the Red Army? It would seem to me that his system should be adaptable depending on the personnel, right? Otherwise we're looking at another coach who is stubborn to change the system, which was problematic last year.
The top 3 lines should all have forwards who can move the puck out of their zone with Gulutzan's system, but the 4th line and the bottom pair are likely going to have to keep it simple, and whatever d-pair/forward line they are working with will need to be aware of that and adapt their game and anticipation of the play a little.
Besides which, some variability within a game is fine, as long as there's a cohesive plan for the majority of the game.
I really, really wish I could have watched more than a couple periods this preseason in order to evaluate this a little on my own.