Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
I agree.
One of the things Bruce Cassidy did with the Boston Bruins was quickly put in place a high speed transition system. When their D get the puck, they reverse course immediately and it's an extremely north-south focused play development with quick and short puck movements. They don't really spend a lot of time skating the puck up because it takes too long. So it really requires the forwards a) coming back to support the D and b) providing support for each other for outlet passes- and being alert because there is an incoming pass from the D. The advantage is that the defending team has less time to react and cover their assignments. You then gain the zone quicker.
This seems to be the way the more successful teams play too. Watch Vegas and how aggressive they are both with the transition and with the forecheck. There's just no doddling. There's less focus on D to D passes to set up and get players into place to match the perfect "system" break out. It's kind of just a crude rendering focusing completely on speed.
It makes Calgary look slow, but it doesn't mean Calgary has slow players. I actually think the D is instructed to take a minute, evaluate the scene and set up properly. The problem is it's not fast enough and can be defended easier, it also doesn't leverage the offensive abilities of the D corps, as has been (accurately in my mind) mentioned a few times on this site.
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This is the system I want the Flames to play especially with Brodie, Hamilton, and Gio in the back end that can bring that puck up aggressivly.