[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

So, say if a team plays a road style where they know they aren't getting favorable line match-ups, so they play a very disciplined defensive system, block lots of shots, keep the shots to the perimeter, clear up the rebounds and patiently wait to capitalize on the other team's mistakes for their offense. A team could find success with that approach but probably would have really crappy possession and shot attempt based stats.

Now if the same team plays a style at home where they are the ones trying to dictate play and get lots of shots off, but are turning the puck over a lot for counter attacks and fast breaks without enough coverage dropping back, they might end up with good possession/shot stats, but not such good results on the score board.

In that example, wouldn't you agree that the coaches need to figure out a way to turn things around?

But this example does not really describe the Flames. While it is true their road possession numbers are down from at home, they are still an excellent possession team on the road, and not merely "patiently wait to capitalize on the other team's mistakes for their offense." And as a home team the Flames are not "trying to dictate play"; they are actually consistently doing so.

But even if this picture is an accurate description of the Flames' play this season (it is not), I disagree that the coaches should be doing anything differently systemically on home ice. The coaches should always be doing their best to ensure that the team is controlling the play as much as possible—which is precisely what the Flames are doing.

You can argue that this isn't the case with the Flames, but I don't buy that there is not a system or strategy problem just because the results don't live up to the contrived possession stats.

That's fine. You are free to hand-wave, and conclude that there is a systemic issue in the absence of any evidence of one. But it seems more reasonable to conclude that if there are no data to show an issue with the systems, then that is likely not the problem.