Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinit47
It's got to be hard to play with Gaudreau on your wing. If the puck is up for grabs on his side of the ice it's a guaranteed loss.
He must have had five times tonight where instead if trying to get the puck he just waved at it with one had on his stick. He didn't even pretend there would be a puck battle.
|
If the game plan is to have a 155 lb winger win 50/50 physical battles to have your top line have success then IMO, that is a bad strategy.
I've followed Gaudreau ever since he was drafted. I distinctly remember Button and others talk through the years how good he was at turning on a dime and how people tried to run him but they couldn't hit him.
Conroy would tell the story of Gaudreau at development camp where Conroy asked Bouma to hit him! Bouma would say they were trying to put it's so hard - he's so elusive.
So Gaudreau, throughout his hockey career has had guys like Bouma trying to run him through the boards and Gaudreau has been able to not only evade these big guys who can skate but also produce offense - all the way to the NHL. It's in his nervous system, his reflex, his instinct to be able to avoid these hits (155 lb winger vs 210 lb opponents).
Now people will say what about so and so other player who is under 6'0 who get in there? It's not all about height, these guys are also thick and have sturdy frames.
Look at Crosby and Jack Johnson at 16(!) compared to these regular kids and see how different physically these athletes look compared to normal kids. Did Gaudreau look more like the powerful athlete or more regular kid?
Gaudreau
in space can do things with the puck that hardly anyone else in the
world can do. With guys trying to run him. Remember in his rookie season they went into MTL and beat the Habs 5-2 or something. There was a goal where Gaudreau had the puck near the boards (not the corner) and Pacioretty came out of position to hit Gaudreau and Johnny put the puck in the area Pacioretty vacated and avoided the hit while setting up that goal.
Conroy, Versteeg, countless hockey people have talked about putting players in positions to succeed. Do you really think depending on a 155 lb winger to win 50/50 board battles is a situation where you win more often?
If some other team had him, would they put him in that same position and expect success?
I get it, teams will line up 3 across the blueline and dare CGY to dangle through that, to only counter that dispossession at the blueline and get an odd man attack the other way. So you do have to chip it in sometimes.
My question is - are you going to continually ask the 155 lb winger to win the board battles to get anything going offensively for your top line? Every playoffs or tight game I keep reading people pleading for the top line to do something within that game plan. Monahan will look invisible if he's the guy in space waiting for the puck to get to him.
I know nothing but to me if I'm devising a way to play a forecheck game with Gaudreau I'm looking at how I can get the other two guys on that line (who might be bigger and stronger 200 lb guys) to win those 50/50 physical battles and the fruit of that game plan is to get the puck to Gaudreau in space, near the opponent net, because Gaudreau relentlessly turns those touches into instant great scoring chances.
I vividly recall people talking about the competitive drives of Roberts and Nieuwendyk. You could easily see it with Roberts as he would literally fight, battle intensely in the corners and physically will the puck into his team's possession. BUT people said don't think Nieuwendyk isn't equally competitive. He was just in space and tried to score and that's where he showed his competitive drive.
It's the same way with Gaudreau - he is intensely, ultra competitive (how he got to NHL) but he shows it in different areas (generating scoring chances) when he is put in a position to succeed.
If the mantra is - he is the LW and the wingers are the ones that have to win the board battles, my response is what happened to putting players in positions to succeed?
Is it just he hasn't done enough of these video sessions (as I'm sure all his detractors do on a daily basis)
Are you so rigid, so unimaginative that you can't devise a different game plan in a forecheck style to have Gaudreau be the one who gets the puck in space and the other guys engage in those 50/50 battles? Can you put the puck to the half wall (so not in the corner and not being cornered) to give more options for escape?
Is the only way to see that winger win 50/50 physical battles - nothing else can be done. Every other team would utilise the same way?
I don't think so but what do I know?