Quote:
Originally Posted by Igottago
Hockey is a game of mistakes and also a game of instincts. I believe some coaches can over-focus on systems at the expense of the natural intuitions of the players that as you say, feel and read the game. Right now it looks like that read and feel has been destroyed by overthinking, over strategizing. Some players can take that well (the bottom lines have), other players don't. We saw the exact same thing in the Brent Sutter era.
All I know is you need your best players firing on all cylinders, and right now they all seem stifled. The Flames were a fast and offensively gifted team when they had their most recent success and it seems like they are being tuned in completely different direction that our best players aren't very well suited for. I'm not saying they should play all out river hockey but its up to Gulutzan to figure out how to get the best of all his players, not just the grinders.
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Don't disagree at all.
However at some point a coach had to come in and get the Flames best players to play in a way that will win. Win in October and win in May. Stretch passes and blocked shots with the hope that the transition will result in enough goals to get by was never going to get this team anywhere.
Growing pains to fix it is understandable.
But the NHL is a system based business. If these players can't play in a system they're not going to find another NHL city where they find success.