-really cheering for Rittich. Thought he was excellent last year until Smith went down, and was worried when his pre season was going poorly. But he has shown far more than Gillies has, and his whole game just has so much potential. Really calm, positionally very solid, but also has shown some nice athleticism when needed. I feel like there is some real potential to become a number one, but it is always a question with goalies if they fulfill it.
-I’m loving some of the systemic changes Peters has made. I was worried he may just be a better version of Gully, but his philosophies are definitely different. The D are much more active at all times, and they are expected to be pinching down hard in the O zone at all times. Along with that, the forwards are expected to be covering the D, and so are looking for it and aware of it. Under Gully he generally had the D taking all the responsibility, so if they pinched and got burned, it was all on them, as opposed to being on the forwards who didn’t cover.
The result is a better and more effective forecheck, more O zone time, more shots, possession, and even goals. Advanced stats fans or not, we can all agree on that.
I also liked that they typically keep playing that way, even ahead in the third. They don’t just go ultra conservative and try to play ‘50/50’ hockey.
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