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Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Our forwards played D under Hartley. The inherent positioning was different in certain situations - for instance centers didn't overload on the cycle and wingers did fly the zone when the opportunity presented itself - but they didn't "cheat" as you frame it. Very few of the goals we allowed were due to failed breakouts. Most were due to simply poor puck retrieval due to passive positioning , and when breakouts failed it was usually because the system asked for a high skill level from the backend which our bottom D lacked.
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Another thing with Hartley - this is a guy that had Wideman and Russell as his top pairing for long stretches. He played a system that played to their strengths - quick stretch passes, quick counter attacks. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I don't remember this being the system when Hartley had a hall of fame roster in Colorado.
That was not a group that is going to win defensive cycle games into short breakouts fighting through the neutral zone, and Hartley identified that from the start. With the current (much more skilled) group, I would have expected Hartley to tailor a system to the strengths of this group.