Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
The players didn't play well before Sutter even arrived. They had their "race track" coaches and failed too.
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Yeah, this is total bull####. And when I say total bull####, I mean so tightly packed that it's reached the density of lead. This team has NEVER had a coach who coached to the player's strengths. Peters let them play a more up tempo middle of the ice game for 3/4 of a season and they excelled in every way, finishing second overall. But just like the morons before him, and the morons that followed, he tried to get them to play "a more playoff brand of hockey" which is dump and chase and control the boards. That is not suited to this team. This team excels when you let them use the open ice and play in the scoring areas.
When you force this team to play along the boards you nullify the strengths of most of the players. When you drive play from the boards you force Gaudreau to blow snow just inside the blueline on every rush, you eliminate Monahan's strength of finding the soft spot in the high danger areas, you eliminate Tkachuk's net presence, and on and on and on. When the players are trying to generate offense from the wall - the lowest or low scoring areas - the results are quite predictable. Teams are so disciplined now that they won't chase the puck around the low danger areas. They will collapse down, clog the lanes, and wait for you to lose the puck, make a poor pass, or fire a low quality shot on goal, then transition and beat the Flames on the rush. Penetrating the middle of the ice is the only sure way to achieve success, but our mental midgets behind the bench don't seem to understand the way the league has gone. Watch the best teams play. They own the center of the ice. The Flames? They are concerned about owning the boards. It's ####ing pathetic and obvious why they are losing so often.