Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaskal
That's the complete opposite impression to the one I have of his systems methodology.
He said in an interview that he tries to have systems in place merely as a guideline, but he wants his players to use their own creativity and game sense. That, however, is really contingent on the players themselves and they're not confident or are clutching their sticks too hard, and the results are suffering from it.
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If this team is playing 30-40 games a year where a large number of players are playing "too tight"/"clutching their sticks too hard"/ etc - what is going on?!?!?!?
I understand that can happen at points in a season for a few games here and there - but with Gully's calgary flames, its an issue that comes up extremely often vs all the other coaches in recent memory, and from the way other teams look when playing the flames.
I honestly believe that - in addition to the issues laid on in the OP - the coaching is a huge factor behind this for two reasons: system constraints and team identity.
First, the adherence to the system seemingly limits the flames ability to get their feet moving, or create in the offensive or defensive zone pressure. And as a result, the flames lacks game rythem and intensity - passes are bad because skates aren't moving, the other team easily gets into position to defend because the team plays slow, the forcheck is often uncoordinated, there is no cycle time in the offensive zone (outside of the 3M line), defensive zone coverage is too passive lead to long periods of being hemmed in. Its only in the final minutes of the game when the system constraints are loosened that the team looks good.
Second, the team lacks an identity, which slows its ability to fall back in sync when things start to go bad.
- Sutter teams: big hits, work hard, strong down low, get your feet moving. When? to start every game, after every bad goal, every time something went wrong.
- Gully teams: I honestly have no idea, but it looks like there no is no bite back after any of the goals they've allowed this year.