[united]

I like the fact that based on the small sample of Ward's powerplays I've seen, he favours the far superior 4F1D deployment more than most coaches do (this is rapidly changing). Granted, not many teams are as heavy with left-shooting forwards as the Flames so that may force his hand. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing Giordano and Hamilton get the majority of powerplay time this year, with Andersson getting spot duty. He also likes forcing rotations among the penalty killers which creates gapping issues for teammates to sneak into. And, of course, players on their off-wings as any casual fan would've done last year.

I haven't focused much on Huska's penalty kill, but I like what I'm hearing. Successful penalty kills intelligently funnel in the neutral zone, and hard-press the puck carrier in the defensive zone. Doing that of course requires intelligent spacing - otherwise you get the Oilers' Swarm - but the Flames, with Backlund, Frolik, Tkachuk, and hopefully an additional forward, are set up nicely.