Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
The problem last year wsnt just the goaltending, it was also the defensive system. The goaltending was certainly bad, but Hartley's kitty-bar-the-door defensive system was probably just as bad.
Treliving probably realized that they weren't going to acquire a goalie who was going to perform a miracle within the system that was in place. Hence the firing in the summer.
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Totally agree and think this is bang on. If you look at Calgary's defense core, the players on it should put it into top 1/3 of the NHL (I think, anyway).
So to have SO many defensive lapses, odd man rushes. It really was just poor team defense for much of the season. Especially at the start of the season, holy #### there were so many bad mental mistakes, out of position plays. Poor support from the offence.
That's the one area Gulutzan can improve, but I think the offence takes a bit of a hit with what I expect to be rising expectations on the forwards to play better defense and try to work a new system that will surely focus on more stability on the back end.
Elliott's numbers were NHL leading for save % over last year or two... with Calgary's tire-fire defense to start last season, that'll change for poor ol' Elliott unless the team buys into something a little different which I'm hoping they do.