Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
@classic snipeer (can't quote).
Were they executing when they were dominating play? How has this team scored 5on5?
I have ZERO doubt that this team has had nights where most of them didn't show up to play. Absolutely the commitment wasn't there, and there was a lot of examples of them being lazy.
However, just like you said - they had periods (and even a few games, especially earlier in the season) when they dominated, but still lost. Their execution wasn't there. As the season unfolded, the execution got worse. Why? Just laziness? What about in the periods that they dominated (which happened even recently), but they not only failed to score, but would get scored on?
Just listen to the interview. Don't believe me. Listen to the interview, and at least draw your own conclusions on what Sutter wants to do, and what he meant, rather than guessing at it based on a few quotes here and there.
I bet you that in 15 games from now, this Flames team is going to be seen as a fairly fast team - above average at least.
The Oilers with Hall, Eberle, etc., looked like a slow team most of the time, with the occasional junior-level highlight reel move that worked sprinkled-in.
They look slow because they aren't used to playing fast. They aren't able to move the puck quickly enough. They hesitate a bit too long. They have trouble hitting one another with good passes when they are playing at speed. Parts of the system may be contributing to this (hence the 'adjustments').
We will just have to wait and see what happens instead of us both arguing until we are blue in the face. Listen to Sutter's interviews, listen to what the players are saying, and then come to your own conclusions after digesting it (and of course, taking into consideration what you have been seeing for yourself this season so far). There is a narrative there that will fit. You are 100% right that laziness was an issue at least sometimes, but perhaps you are seeing the effect of something else, rather than seeing the cause?
We will see for ourselves how slow this team really is. There are only a few players who are below average speed. I rank Monahan as average personally - but we will throw him into 'below average'. Monahan, Tkachuk, Lucic... anyone else? Are the three players really slowing everyone down? I don't think so.
Gaudreau, Backlund, Dube, Mangiapane, Bennett are all fast. Ryan is probably above average - or average at worst. Ritchie so far looks pretty good to me, as did Robinson. Nordstrom is very fast. Simon has good wheels. Did I miss anyone? Everyone on the back-end looks pretty good speed-wise to me.
So is this a physically slow team? Are 3 (2 in my opinion) players completely slowing down everyone else? Or is this 'slowness' a symptom of something else?
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I’m confused by your first point, are you insinuating that opposition teams are allowing the Flames to outshoot them 20 to 7?
This team’s biggest problem in my opinion is not their system, it’s a very common system in this league. This team’s biggest problem this season is their inconsistent effort and lack of attention to detail period to period. If Ward screwed up anywhere, it was probably his insistence to play the 3 headed center of 28-23-11 at the expense of team chemistry. But I’m not even sure if that was on him or the GM who chose to sign Leivo, Simon and Nordstrom who have combined for 1 goal half way into the season.
Lastly, the whole “this team plays slow” stuff I’ve already talked about ad nauseam. I’m done with that talk as well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens as I’m pretty skeptical. But the players you listed I don’t consider all that fast. For instance, Johnny is fast in terms of his first step, maybe one of the best in the league, but his top skating speed isn’t anything special. He can change direction and pivot quick though. Dube has pretty high top speed, his first step is ok, acceleration ok, but he doesn’t pivot or turn fast and doesn’t change direction all that fast either. I will admit though that I have impossibly high standards for what I deem as fast though. But this organization itself could honestly use some higher standards.