[Caged Great]

The system is set up to maximize the particular assets of the players that we have.

Typically teams are lucky to have more than one high quality puck moving defenseman. Calgary happens to have 5 above average ones. That creates different options that would not be otherwise available. That allows a significant advantage for playing off the rush. There are ways of countering it though (namely plug up the neutral zone and passing lanes). The games that the Flames tend to struggle in are against teams that are good at playing a shut down defense like Arizona and Anaheim. Larger teams also present a challenge because there's less space out there to find holes.

That is fixable in a couple of ways. Acquire players that are able to carry the puck into the zone effectively. Outside of Gaudreau, Monahan and Bennett, there are not a lot of guys that can skate it up the ice. That's also part of the reason why Brodie, Gio and Hamilton are used occasionally to join the rush. They are also skilled at it. Acquiring more middle six talent is the other. The more skill a player has, specifically hockey IQ, the better understanding of what to do on the ice. Some of the Flames players are not good at this at all (Colborne being the worst of the bunch).