Quote:
Originally Posted by united
Definitely Gaudreau playing almost exclusively outside the dots and with predictability. While he's never been one to camp in the slot or crash-and-bang the crease, his danger was always created off forcing defenders high and into uncomfortable switches, manipulating defenders' feet, creative slip passes, forcing lateral movement between the dots and distributing the puck into space.
This season he almost exclusively drives wide and button-hooks for the trailer, or drives low and tries a poor-angle shot. Previously he had the double- or triple-threat of button-hooking and hitting the trailer or driving laterally and into the middle into the home plate area; driving low and hitting a teammate moving into space with an against-the-grain pass or skating behind the net to cause havoc; crossing the blueline and immediately moving laterally drawing defenders with him and creating false gaps.
Predictability is the hallmark of average forwards. Gaudreau needs to get back to his confident and deceptive ways.
Aside from him, everyone else has been more or less as expected in evaluating all-around play not solely counting metrics. He is the large outlier for me.
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I do think this particular aspect is less on Gaudreau and more on the breakout/transition system itself. He definitely needs to adapt himself, but the Flames need to adjust overall.
You see it from wingers on other lines too, but the only difference being that Gaudreau will actually try to make a play (the buttonhook predictable as the sun rising) over trying to stickhandle right through the dman (annoying trademark Bennett toedrag) or throwing it blindly into the corner (everyone else on the team).
A lot of it has to do with the reasons mentioned above regarding the breakout, but the rest is how the team handles neutral zone transitions after. Particularly the whole schtick with forwards straddling the blue line scratching their asses and having no impact on the play whatsoever.
To me, unless you need to tip it into the corner for a line change, there is ZERO reason for any forwards to be standing still on the opposing blueline before the puck carrier enters the zone. They're not going to beat a defenceman to a dump-in and they're too slow to be a part of any passing play.
This problem is more pronounced with Gaudreau. This is because of two things:
-He's ALWAYS the puck carrier on zone entries if his line is on the ice.
-He's ALWAYS bringing it in on the left side in a straight line
-Much harder to retrieve a dump in when he carries, because he's usually the first one in the zone with speed and by then it's a last resort option.
-Being double-teamed so that the lateral option is gone.