Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
And yet despite the fact that previous versions of Detroit and Chicago weren't black and blue teams we remain smaller, weaker and softer than either of them.
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Do we, though? Or is that your "I watched all 82+Preseason games of the Flames and have my internal perceptual bias guided by my emotions from a small sample of games against divisional opponents where
a) An individual who is no longer with the team (Kris Russell) was exploited
b) The strategies of a coach who is no longer with the team (Hartley) were poorly implemented
c) Goalies who are either no longer with the team (Hiller, Backstrom), had off-nights (Ramo), or were 24 years old (Ortio) did not play well, leading to a score that misrepresented the on-ice play.
Your discontent "Flames-fan-lens" causes you to ignore / brush aside that among players expected to be on this team next season:
We had a forward (Hathaway) average 3.6 hits a game in his short stint.
Another forward (Ferland) 24th in totals hits despite missing a chunk of the season, also looks to have top 6 potential
Another forward (Bouma) who's a season removed from being 7th in total hits to add to having as many even strength goals as Sidney Crosby.
Another forward (Colborne) who added 122 hits for good measure to go with a vast improvement in his possession stats the second half of the season (+1.7%, compare to -2.0% last season)and 8 deflection goals for being around the net.
Another 19 year old Forward (Bennett) who has all the makings of an Iginla / Benn type in-your-face captain.
But what you see under the tint of Flames fan bias? You see Monahan and 2014 Colborne and Gaudreau and then compare those players to Holmstrom and Bertuzzi.
Here what we know, aside from the 2007 Ducks / 2012 Kings / 2014 Kings:
Hits, per Hockey Reference
2008 Red Wings - 1413
2009 Red Wings - 1457
2010 Blackhawks - 1555
2011 Canucks - 1791
2013 Blackhawks (ProRated) - 1435
2014 Black Hawks - 1375
2015 Flames - 1804
2015 Black Hawks - 1357
2016 Flames - 1700
2016 Sharks - 1686
What's different is all those other teams had puck possession. Do you need players who are strong on pucks, can protect the puck, and generate offense? Sure. That can be anybody from a Datsyuk to a Gaudreau to a Kane to a Pavelski to a Thornton to a Sedin to a Getzlaf. Size is just one approach towards that, far from a prerequisite....And Jonathan Toews isn't especially big or physical or any of that. If he's anything he's fast and tenacious and always in the right spot...which are the traits that are actually missing from Monahan, not physicality. But we still have Bennett.
And Hossa is a big player but his speed and IQ has always been the primary source of his dominance, not physicality. The closest modern day player to Prime Hossa is Ondrej Palat who is neither big nor physical.
And Treliving hasn't brought in players who play "Black and Blue", either. Pribyl, Shore, Grant, Hamilton, Frolik ... these are guys who can protect the puck with their reach - but the emphasis is primarily on their skill, not their pugnacity, truculence, beligerence, and testosterone.
Treliving has a vision for this team that I'm sorry to say is not emulating the Ducks/Kings/Blues but simply playing a fundamentally sound possession game. This is a guy who brought in Raymond, Frolik, and speaks glowlingly about Backlund in particular. He seems to get it, but Burke is focused on the empty aesthetics of hitting hard and punching face. We don't need to play a Kings/Ducks/Blues style to compete with the Kings/Ducks/Blues. That's a fact.