Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I've read it all now.
Yes, everyone and their monkey saw that Vegas was a much more talented squad than the Flames at the start of the season!! How on earth did I forget this?
Come on. Don't you remember how many depth guys on the Flames had career years under Hartley? Joe Colborne scored 20 goals. Flames had some pretty high scoring defencemen then.
Systems play a TONNE into point production. The reason you change up systems is to give your team the best chance to win most nights based on the roster and philosophy you want to play. Flames took a decided turn when they let go of Hartley and hired Gulutzan to focus more on the defensive side of the game. That usually means that you sacrifice some offence.
Vegas is playing a very up-tempo game that is designed around speed, hard on the forecheck, aggressive defence and especially around the fast transition. Look at how the break out. Look at how they force turnovers, or force the other team to move the puck faster and not give them any time and space. As soon as they get the puck, they look for a stretch pass, and if it isn't there, they skate up the ice as fast as they can.
It is not about them being the vastly superior hockey club on paper. It is about them being a well coached team that has the right system in place to make use of the make-up of their team, and it is working well. Their defence is deeper? Get out of here.
Here is some food for thought for you to chew on:
Deryk Fricken Engelland... let me rephrase that... THIRTY FIVE year old Deryk Fricken Engelland is having a career year in Vegas, already having eclipsed any of his previous totals in Calgary, and eclipsing his totals in Pittsburgh where he was used as both a defencemen and as a forward. Actually, to drive this point a little further, you have to go back to the 2004-05 Wranglers to see Engelland have more points in a season than he has now - in his entire professional OR JUNIOR career. He is about to pass that as well.
No, it must be because that Vegas team just suddenly got more talented.. just because...
There is not a better team in the entire NHL that you can point to and say: "That is a better coached team than Vegas". There simply isn't. Gallant has been magic this year. They system employed, his in-game decisions, his roster management, his leadership - everything has been going well for Vegas in very large measure to what he has done. Vegas is a fast team, but they play way faster because of Gallant.
David Perron - a vet of 706 games and stops in powerhouse teams as well as lousy teams - has never sniffed anywhere close to a PPG. You want to tell me that he would be the 2nd most talented player on the Flames roster right now? Good lord.
Vegas deserves a TONNE of accolades. George McPhee deserves a tonne of accolades for assembling a fast team. Remember the cries on this forum about how McPhee is already tanking before the season started?
This is what a team that fires on all cylinders looks like. This is a well-coached team, with a roster that is willing to work hard every single night. David Perron is NOT a superstar. Engelland is NOT better at transitioning the puck or creating offence than Hamonic.
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David Perron is 1 year older than Backlund.
David Perron has 3 x 50 point seasons to Backlund's 1.
Perron has 6 x 40 point seasons to Backlund's 2.
Perron has 4 x 20 goal seasons to Backlund's 2.
It is completely reasonable and downright expected that David Perron is a better offensive player than Mikael Backlund.
Gallant deserves credit for how well that team is playing. But they are a deeper roster. They get scoring from all 4 lines. The Flames struggle to get scoring from 2 lines.
The Flames NEED their defenders to score goals to win games, and even then, struggle.
The point isn't that there is just one team better than Calgary and they are vegas and they are a fluke, it is that there are multiple teams in the west better than Calgary and they can't all possibly be flukes.
I don't think Gallant turns Brouwer into a 40 point player, do you? Is Brouwer's problem the coach?
The Flames have multiple players having career offensive years this year. Is that just happenstance?
You can't have your cake and eat it to. The top end of the roster is performing amazingly. The rest of the roster is full of has beens, bargain basement reclamations and guys that don't belong in the league.
Frolik has played for DeBoer, Quennville, Maurice, Hartley and Gulutzan and has scored more than 20 goals twice, and that was almost 10 years ago. How delusional do you have to be to expect him to score 20-25 goals in a season? He won a cup with Chicago scoring just 10 points in 45 games. How is this possible?
Well, the depth chart for Chicago at the time looked like this:
Kane
Hossa
Shaw
Frolik
Flames Depth Chart:
Ferland
Frolik
Hathaway
Brouwer
Gee, what's the missing element here....