Quote:
Originally Posted by timbit
Everybody seems to have an opinion/excuse on the one year (started late last January) continuous demise of the team’s most important offensive player.
Poor Coaching/ systems/ strategies
Lack of quality line mates/ teammates
Team toughness around him.
Increased frustration level.
Lack of penalty calls.
The team has changed coaches, added team toughness, brought his childhood pal and teammate up.
Yet the contrast from 2/4 /2018 - 2/4 /2019 comparative to 2/5/ 2019- 2/5/2020 is startling!
....
Not too late, but the sun is setting in a hurry.
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Good post.
And there is a huge element to how Johnny goes, so do the Flames.
He ran the top line, and 1st half of last year with a bonafide top winger on the other side in, and the uptempo style Peters brought in.
His dominance and that top line dominance in the first 4 months of last year tactically pushed teams back in the zone, which allowed our already more active defense to further step in and pinch in, which generated more turnovers and offence and goals. Etc etc.
As a result, the Flames had the lead in most games, had the other teams on their heels and hesitant in most games by the third period, and the collective swagger grew and became infectious confidence all over the ice.
When the slump started in late Jan, the whole top line went away for a week or two. There was undoubtedly some adjustment by teams in the league to the Flames style. In this period too, the second line proved inadequate, the further indications that Backlund was not the answer there. Treliving tried at the deadline to rectify that, didn’t on the Zucker deal, and in the playoffs became painfully clear, with the top line stifled, and the 2nd line on for 3 of the 4 GWG against, including the killer game 2 which would’ve made that a a total different series.
But back to Johnny, yes his dip caused the dip of everything and everyone else, which forced others to try and make up his production, and when he dipped and didn’t have that dominance, all the other parts of the Flames tactics and what had worked for them, suddenly didn’t...pinching cost them for the D because no longer were teams worried about the top line dominating them in the zone, and the Flames D ends up being too far up in the zone and having to make too much room back on a turnover.
Did something or someone at the all star game trigger him to a different mindset?
Did the Flames missing out on his buddy Kevin Hayes going to the Jets sour him a bit?
Personal or family stuff?
And since then, Flames in general have tried to fill the gap. Treliving has been unsuccessful in offseason retooling. A hangover for sure (ask Tampa) in the unlikely task of trying to replicate last regular season didn’t help, and some players’ games have been exposed this year, without the top line able to regular pull their weight (and more than their weight) and win games all on their own, as they did last year and for years before that...a second line which is in tatters and even less reliable than the top line. And without the top line dominating teams, the active D didn’t work anywhere near to the same effect as it does when the other team is worried about the top forward, and then the forwards have to try and create the turnovers thst they capitalized on last year from the agressive d, and that was a totally different style than they had last season...and that cascade of events made the Flames look ordinary the first two months.
Add in a shock coaching change, back to a players coach who is not the type of coach these players need, also now scrambling to find a quick fix, and it’s unravelling a bit quicker than one would like to see.
But, time for JG to get over things, and a I think part of that is a coach that can provide stability and consistency and a stern attitude, but one that has proven to win i this league. Johnny and others still may need to be dragged into the game by the coach who pushes buttons at the right time. Add to the Flames get that guy that BT has wanted since the trade deadline last year, a finisher for that top line, and or a guy that can step in and set up a formidable and consistent second line too.