Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamescuprun2018
Quite interesting comment that was right on the mark by Sutter tonite at his 7-3 Oiler loss presser. Sums up what is wrong with this team.
When asked how does this team compare to 2004?
He said quite clearly that this team is more skilled than that team but not as mature. The buy in was easier in 04 because of the maturity of their core group.
He admitted he still has lots of work to do. The sooner that this team realizes that the only way they will succeed against more skilled players/teams (ie. Oiler stars) is to play Sutter style hockey (hard forecheck, no turnovers, no dumb penalties). Do they have the maturity to realize it?
Also really liked his explanation for why he does not pull goalies if a bad game. Its like benching them which he prefers not to do. Wants them to battle through it.
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Lot of truth in this. I’ve felt this way for a while. This team’s identity is more skilled then they are anything else. Yet, they’re being asked to play a hard checking game which I’m not sure suits them. So their work ethic and being hard on pucks is going to always questionable at times. The other problem is they’re not even that skilled either so they can’t rely solely on their skill like Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto.
Conversely, Darryl’s team in 2004 knew they weren’t very skilled at all. There were no egos there. They knew they had to put the work boots on and check hard every night if they wanted to win.
This is ultimately just a poorly constructed roster and a confusing collection of players that resembles a team.