View Single Post
Old 08-12-2020, 08:14 PM   #299
Boreal
First Line Centre
 
Boreal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Exp:
Icon33

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo View Post
https://twitter.com/user/status/1293554482035306498

So interesting ... why would Ward move away from sheltering the top line in the playoffs?

Monahan has had 4 of 5 games under 40% (the other just over 40) compared to the regular season at close to 60%.
As previously mentioned, he’s not burying them. They’re just no longer being sheltered. This is perfect example of how analytics make Kent tone deaf about hockey, or his throws on the blinders.

There are two general ways to score in hockey. Off of the rush or on the cycle (broken plays being a 3rd).

Ward coached and witnessed how & why Bergeron is a great center. Lindholm provides additional defensive acumen to help Monahan & Gaudreau.

You can’t get better at zone exits, driving play, & creating plays off of the rush by starting ice time in the offensive end.

At the very least he could have contextualized if not normalized their zone starts based on zone exits/denials.

But he didn’t.

He just took the easy route, and oversimplified the data to make himself look smart and/or make the coaching staff look like it doesn’t know what it’s doing.
Boreal is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Boreal For This Useful Post: