Quote:
Originally Posted by tvp2003
Where is the evidence teams are playing him differently now? I’d believe it if teams were pressuring him more, or being more physical, but they’re not.
Johnny’s less engaged and isn’t dangerous when he has the puck. Looks frustrated. I agree that the vision is still there. But he’s not the gamebreaker like he used to be.
I have a few guesses but they’re only based on speculation. I miss Johnny Hockey  |
Johnny has been one of the most elite 5v5 players over the last few years, and has typically been poor to average on the PP. My feeling is that it's due to the need for him to carry the puck on the rush to score or pass, as his shot is fairly weak. He also is good at carrying the puck from side to side.
The change seems to be that the Flames are less reliant on Johnny carrying the puck, and that hurts his game. The "proof" is hard to find, but his 5v5 zone entries/60 are way down (26.9 entries/60 to 21.2 this year and it's been increasing).This year he doesn't seem to be carrying it out of the zone near as much either, and you almost never see him on his off wing on the rush like before.
The reasons may be he's disinterested, scared of contact, team play style change, opposition players key on him more, who knows. What the result seems to be though is less touches for Johnny. That also means less scoring chances for Monahan, Lindholm, etc. Also means less assists for Gio, Brodie, etc. The offense has run through Gaudreau the last number of years, and now it's suddenly not.