The 'Swarm' only works if you have intelligent, aware players implementing it. The problem for the oilers and their group of me-first players is that they are all puck-focused, which is the opposite inclination you'd want to have in a swarm/zone defense. Obviously you're aware of where the puck is, but the job is to out-man the coverage, if the puck squirts out, who cares, keep your man/zone covered until the play establishes itself in another area of the ice. No one on the oilers seems to want to be the guy in the pile kicking the puck out to his teammates, they'd much rather prefer to be the guy receiving that tough-to-accomplish pass, who takes it up the ice for personal statistics.
Puck focus restricts you from taking a positional approach to the game. Puck focus kills your on-ice awareness and team game. Puck focus is also a motivational problem; do you get up for points or do you get up for wins?
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