I have to agree with Bingo. It's really hard to criticise GG for his 5-on-5 and PK tactics. The flames generally look solid 5-on-5, and they have been for the past 30 games or so. The PK is still a bit passive for my liking, but the results are there, so hard to argue.
In my view, that leaves three fair avenues for which to criticise GG:
1) Inability to react well to the "game within the game" - things like not calling the timeout after Vegas scored the tying goal, and having Brouwer out for that overtime PK to take defensive zone faceoffs.
2) A terrible PP - no commentary required. The buck stops with the coach and special teams was the reason Hartley was fired.
3) The inability to prepare his team for big games - see the sweep by Anahiem, seven straight losses to oilers, etc.
In my view, #1 and #3 are different, but contain similar elements - GG lacks the physiological toolkit that top-tier coaches need. It also isnt visible through the basics advanced stats that get thrown around because many of the break-downs are highly contextual (ie - hard to isolate statistically). But because context is better understood by humans than by statistical tests, the eye test is a much better tool. And its why I ultimately disagree with Bingo's conclusions while agreeing with much of his analysis.
For #2, I think a lot of the blame lies with GG and Treliving and bad luck. GG because not willing to take advantage of high quality point shots in Gio, Hamilton, Stone (ie - have the PP system fit the players rather than try to use players than fit the system). Treliving because lack of quality right handed shots really limits the ability of the PP. And bad luck because of Versteeg injury.
|