Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
How did those teams fair again? And who was coaching? Suggesting Darryl Sutter's approach as a ####ty general manager is equivalent to his work as a coach, doesn't hold up. Sutter coached teams play a certain style and it requires beef. If you think he's going to be happy about having a bunch of soft midgets playing for him, you're crazy. Change is coming, and it isn't going to be pretty.
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Let me blow your mind here as to how exactly you are confused.
You keep insinuating that Sutter hockey is smash-mouth hockey. That you need to be big and physical. That Sutter himself wants a big tough team.
Rinaldo - 1 game.
Robinson - 0 games.
Your mind should be blown right now.
Look, there are exactly 31 teams right now that want all their players to be huge, fast, skilled and smart, and who will run through the boards to win a game. It just simply difficult to do. Big players who are really good are difficult to acquire - either in the draft or through trades/UFA signings.
Cheap depth is cheap depth. That's when you can sign guys like Ritchie, Rinaldo and Robinson in the off-season, but that's not going to help you win games, is it?
Francis, Phillips, Pettersson, Pelletier and whomever else is talented enough to play in the NHL will play in the NHL if they compete hard, and help this team win. Sure, I will agree that neither Treliving nor Sutter want a completely under-sized team. Of course not. There isn't a single team in the NHL that wants this either. Hockey is still a contact sport, and size does matter.
Point being, that perhaps you are not realizing what Sutter hockey is if you think there is suddenly a complete 180 on what the Flames are doing. It was actually under his tenure as a GM that the Flames started to identify what to look for in prospects - character, compete, IQ, - nothing about size. That's from Todd Button, BTW. This is still mostly what the Flames identify today.
Notice that Leivo came back into the lineup yesterday? Why wasn't it Rinaldo or Robinson? Surely they are more 'Sutter types' that can play smash-mouth hockey, right? How do you possibly explain that rationale, especially since the trade deadline has passed, Leivo is still here with an expiring contract so he is not being showcased.
Sutter has also praised Ryan a number of times, as well as Mangiapane.
Sutter hockey isn't smash mouth hockey, and you don't need 6'+ only players to be effective. You are seeing this team starting to play more effectively now. The '04 Flames were huge and very physical and smashed everything in sight. That's what they did to be effective since that's what made them effective - everyone for the most part could skate well and hit well. Do you really believe that is something that Sutter demands? How many hits does Ryan have? You know he loves Ryan.
It isn't smashmouth hockey. It just isn't.