This is one thing I am really looking forward to with Hanifin - rushing the puck up ice and creating off the rush.
Hartley got a lot out of his team with stretch passes, but then this was coached against and led to him being relieved of duties as he failed to adapt.
Gulutzan emphasized skating with the puck, but I feel his teams lacked a reliable zone entry player. His emphasis on shot generation to lead to secondary chances both led to an uptick in Hamilton's shot generation, but also felt like the team took too many bad shots for the sake of shooting.
Now add a guy who they new coach is familiar with who is elite at zone exit and entry - now you have the play driver to play a faster game, and if he can suck defenders in, a lot more space for guys like Gaudreau, Lindholm, Backlund, etc. to find passes and set up high danger scoring chances for Monahan, Neal, Tkachuk, etc. And if he cannot suck defenders in and dish the puck, but he can work on his shot, then he can create for himself.
This also adds a dimension to the PP and Hanifin should be the first guy over the boards if the Flames lose the offensive zone. I am sure I am not alone in being so tired of the Flames PP that loses the zone, then seems to spend an eternity trying to reestablish presence, either turning over at the line or dump and chase resulting in contested pucks.
Add to this that Hanifin is young and still adding to his game, and this could be a deal that transforms the on-ice product in a big way.
I liked Hamilton (save his propensity to give up penalties) but this trade changes the look of the team and has a lot of potential.
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