Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
You absolutely can. It's just hard. In the Penguins' case, it requires having the two best hockey players on Earth, and to the extent they haven't been successful since, a lot of it has to do with how weak the rest of the roster is. Can't play those guys 60 minutes.
In other teams' cases, e.g. MTL this year, it requires world-class goaltending, or a massive difference between PK GA and PP GF (usually this also has something to do with goaltending).
In an ideal world, you want to give your team every chance to win. Hence, since it's really pretty hard to get the best players in the world (if "just draft Crosby" was a strategy the Oilers would have done it already), and it can be hard to get goaltending good enough for long enough to have the guy carry your team on his back. So, it's simply good management to try to get your roster and coaching staff pulling in the direction of puck possession, so you don't need those things to at least be competitive consistently.
I know this is going to fall on deaf ears and your question will be raised again, but that's the way it goes on the internet.
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Not falling deaf ears at all. I'm glad that someone who preaches these stats can admit that they're not gospel.
I definitely 100% agree that it is much easier to be successful with a system built around the cycle and posession, but teams have to deal with the cards they're dealt and we've obviously built a system that has been able to be somewhat successful without relying on posession or unworldly goaltending. There is also something to be said about intangibles which is all a matter of opinion, but I believe the Flames have the intangibles needed to be successful when lacking talent. On top of that, you take into consideration our PK and 4 on 4 play and you can start to see why a lot of fans disagree that we're the next Toronto or Colorado.
The anger you see towards that article is not directed to the legitimacy of advanced stats, per se. It's towards the constant pounding of that drum by people who refuse to awknowledge context and the role that other variables play when constructing a successful hockey team.
Add the fact that Lambart has put out the basically same article multiple times this year, all of which can be summed up as:
"LOOK HOW BAD THIS TEAM IS"
and you can see why were fed up with his bull ####.