Oh, I see what you mean.
From what I can tell, the players dump the puck in whenever they are attacking and facing anything less favorable than a 2v2. It's conservative and cuts down on transition attacks going the other way on turnovers, but it's not like they aren't supposed to try and create scoring chances when they have a 3 on 2 or even a 2 on 2. I'm convinced that when Sutter is talking about the Flames playing slow, part of it is that by the time they move the puck up the ice, they rarely have a goid attack opportunity. I really don't think his goal is to not attack on the rush. If he coached Toronto they would still be scoring on the rush because they are better at it... he wouldn't be coaching them to not attack.
As for in zone rimming it around the boards, the purpose is to force the defence to adjust to different puck positions by moving it side to side and low to high. Eventually though, players need to get the puck off the wall by making a play. Since they increased the size of the offensive zone, coaches have changed to moving the puck away from the corners and up to the top of the zone. Peter Laviolette did an interesting video about this. Again, the purpose isn't to get low quality scoring chances or kill time, it's to try and break down defensive structure and I don't think it's unique to Sutter or poor offensive teams. You could see it working on some shifts tonight, when Mangiapane was skating towards the point and did quick cutbacks. They need more of that.
I really think that a lot of people are mistaken about Sutter. He brought in Tanguay and Huselius and Bertuzzi when he was in a position to make those calls. He appreciates skill and he has commented on a few occassions that it's really hard to try and win 2-1 night in and night out. Especially in this division where almost every team has 1 or 2 top players scoring way more than the Flames top players.
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