Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Lime
But Backlund showed some true flash at the World's on the offensive side. Is he being asked to stifle that for a more defensive role to make up for the defensive shortcomings of the rest of the team?
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Being the most senior centerman on the team (Stajan's 4th line minutes notwithstanding), my head would say yes. Add to that, Gulutzan's system was awful at generating quality offensive chances, and you have a system that removes creativity at the expense of structure. 50/50 plays and all that which are great at limiting risk, but awful at creating offense. Players like Gaudreau were given a little more license to create, but even his moves became pretty stale over time, likely because of how he was being coached.
I honestly believe that we are going to see an offensive uptick in almost every player this year simply for the difference in style of play and a halfway decent power play.