Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I'm not a big Ward fan ... wasn't a huge Hartley fan either. I liked the Peters move but given what was going on he clearly had to go.
But I'm also not a fan of blaming coaches for everything.
Maybe the team doesn't play the right style offensively or defensively, but they lost that game on individuals flubbing, fanning, or just throwing the puck away blind more than they lost on systems.
Giordano's backhand into the slot that led to the winning goal was insane. Monahan's flub, and then Gaudreau trying to skate away from the flub and weakly backhanding it are execution.
Nobody is coaching skill players to half ass it, or abandon fundamentals like doubling back to the puck and not skating away from it.
There are plenty of flaws in the system, plenty of things to criticize, but when you lose games on players not getting themselves ready, and making stupid mistakes it's not coaching 100%.
This core has been broken for years. Still is.
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Agree that this isn't all on the coaching staff. Honestly I still think Glen Gulutzan got too much blame for what was bad luck and bad goaltending.
What I would question though is that this core has been broken for years.
I'd say the team was "Broken" in the series against Colorado because the coaching staff and GM overreacted to what was a bad loss when a team just ran into a really hot team at the time.
Lets look back at the results season by seasson.
They played okay in 16-17 with a flawed roster and actually outplayed the Ducks in that playoff series and had a 52.2% expected goals for in that series, and the PP actually was good in that series too.
The problem was Elliott just let in 7 low danger goals in 4 games, the 4th most Low Danger goals any team allowed in the entire playoffs, in 4 freaking games.
In 17-18 they actually played the best 200ft game as a team they probably have as a core. They were top 3 in Corsi For, 2nd in HDCF, and 5th in xGF, and that's with a less talented roster than we have today.
Problem in 17-18 was they didn't get a save, and couldn't buy a goal, finishing 29th in Shooting Percentage, and 22nd in save percentage at 5v5. being in the 20s in both of those stats means you're a lottery team.
IMO Gulutzan was getting much more out of a worse roster in his two seasons as head coach than Ward is getting with a better roster today, problem is if you're in the 20s in both of those stats that means you're a lottery team.
Then they brought in Peters in 18-19 and they looked elite for 3/4 of the season when the Shooting Percentage normalized and the team was playing with pace and confidence. They actually didn't rank as high in the advanced metrics: 5th in Corsi For, 10th in HDCF%> and 7th in xGF%.
But shooting percentage normalized going up to 9.1% shooting percentage, which ranked 4th in the league, goaltending was still a weakness though ranking 19th in save percentage.
Then something changed that season and I'm still not sure if it was at the all-star break or the offseason but the team shifted to trying to play "heavy hockey" and were clearly playing with less pace. IMO they overreacted to that loss to Colorado. They decided they couldn't play with pace and decided that they wanted to muck it up.
Instead of thinking "How do we play more like Colorado?, they said "How do we grind it out and slow down the play more?"
I shared the stats in this thread and the stats are clear that from 18-19 to 19-20 we took a huge step back in transition play, and pace, relying more on dump ins and played more passively at own blue line. This coaching staff has the team playing boring, passive, and safe hockey because they think that will let them be more successful in the playoffs because they overreacted after getting killed in transition by the Avs in a series where the coaching staff had no answer.
And because of that stylistic change this team's advanced metrics cratered last year. A team and core that had been in the top 5 of the league for 4 seasons in advanced metrics fell to middle of the pack.
In 19-20 they dropped to:
15th in Corsi For
11th in High Danger Corsi For
16th in xGF
23rd in Shooting Percentage
15th in Save Percentage
Now we have the same core of players that were a top 5 team by most advanced metrics for 3 seasons, that finally got some shooting percentage luck in 18-19, and we finally have a good goalie BUT the coach now has them playing a system that has them playing safe, passive, and scared to make a mistake and it all started as a result of that loss to the Canucks.
This isn't about one game against the Canucks - the players can wear the blame for that one because they just didn't show up. But the coaching staff and GM isn't helping them by forcing them to play a system that doesn't meet this teams strengths and by not making the neccessary adjustments game to game.
Honestly it's not a coincidence that this team looked great the first three games when they were playing a more open style with pace and the defense were jumping into the rush. Then the coaching staff had 5 days to reinforce the system and suddenly they are playing slow plodding hockey again.
I don't get why Treliving built a team that is a sports car and seems so inclined hook it up to a plow. Let these guys play with pace and open up the system again and I bet we see better results. Especially because you finally got the goalie! The team is 3rd in save percentage at 5v5 this year. Stop playing so damn passive and open it up a bit. If you make a mistake we have the goalie that will bail you out now, take some risks!