Quote:
Originally Posted by JTech780
Sutter also likes to have his team's be big and physical, this team doesn't have a much either attribute. So I just can't see this team being a Sutter style team.
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Not so much big and physical (which he doesn't mind at all), but aggressive and hard on the puck. GG's system tends to be - if one can read it - to do a lot more stick work to interrupt plays than to use physicality and immediate presence to separate opponents from the puck.
It's one of the reasons the Flames so often get hemmed in their own zone: you can't regain control of the puck by sticks alone. You can deflect it (sometimes into your own net, or occasionally outside the blue line), you can intercept it, somewhat less often with hard passes, or you can continue to lose possession of it. That's what seems to happen. By playing an aggressive "on the puck at all costs" type of game (think '04 Flames which weren't so big) one can counter that control of the puck by the opposition quite effectively. The Flames simply don't play that way today. Sutter I think would change that as the first course of action. Maybe any other coach would, too?
To me that is the worst flaw in the D-system; they are simply far too passive.
It appears less so in the O-zone when guys like Frolik, Bennett and Tkachuk are hard on the puck and get opposing D-men to cough it up, creating chances. Sticks here are good as they also provide chances via tips/deflections and opportunities at the blue line.
But the current version of the Flames is, IMNSHO, far too passive.