Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
I am not arguing Hartley had the better system I am saying he had the team putting in a more consistent effort. Some of our top players look awful under Gulutzan primarily Brodie who has been terrible.
Also last season the team didn't have Elliott, Johnson, Brouwer, Tkachuk, Chaisson so I do think the group Gulutzan has to work with is better.
Biggest issue with the team is the top players are horrible right now. The eye test for me is a team that doesn't have a consistent effort every night and under Hartley the effort was there but the system didn't change and they were too predictable
|
On a bad team there's going to be diamonds in the rough that put up points and look pretty on paper. The Flames have a top six that still consists of a sophomore learning the center ice position. A rookie learning the pro game and a career third/fourth liner playing way out of his abilities in Chaisson. Any coach would struggle trying to get all those pieces going at once on an established playoff team.
It's been said since day one with G.G. that he want's more structure and puck control. That inherently means we're going to see the pace slow down somewhat. It doesn't mean the players aren't putting in the work.This team has been bailed out by a defensive core piling up a lot of offense for a few years under Hartley. Now that they're not scoring in buckets this year it's making the PP look real bad exposing a number of skill players that may have been able to cheat i.e the stretch pass.
The team needs more time.