Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski
Just jumping in - great post - so if this has been addressed already..apologies.
I like Gaudreau and Monahan. Your data concurs with my opinions that both have played better apart. I enjoy seeing Monahan take more of a 'primary' role on his line.
There was a play (can't recall when exactly) that kind of epitmoizes why it works (Lindhom & Gaudreau). The puck went from CGY D to Gaudreau in his zone. Gaudreau did a long give and go with Lindholm, where he recieved puck in his zone but passed back to Lindholm. Gaudreau then skated up his wing and got return pass right before offensive blue line.
That play doesn't happen with Monahan as centre (or never used to). Gaudreau would've had to carry it through d zone, nz, and into o zone in past seasons. Against DAL last year playoffs, 2 guys would've been waiting for Gaudreau to gain possession and they would've been on him immediately.
If you have a closed system with Gaudreau and Monahan inside, it appears certain patterns emerge and opponents could see this too.
The new lines bring about new possibilities and those are seen in your numbers.
However!
Last night was too much perimeter. I saw CGY do so many good things but the last 1-2 touches on an attack were not good and plays subsequently died. EDM had guys back in their box and CGY never threatened to get inside that structure. I felt, until 3 min left in third, CGY carried the play in that period.
I like Ritchie but I've noticed he is big culprit of these last 1-2 touches not being executed well. Ritchie does very well in his shifts in being in the right places and doing the hard work. But he loses control of the puck right at last crucial time.
CGY hands were not great at extending or creating plays last game. The overall hands of the team needs to improve as well as footspeed. The overall skill level of teams right now is incredible - espeically in teams not in north division (when I see highlights I go WOW!) but with pretty much every team.
Time and space are taken away - teams have to be able to make plays in small areas: Gaudreau - Lindholm - Tkachuk do this very well but they don't get inside all the time. This was last game issue but game prior it was not (Lindholm first goal: Tkachuk feed from behind net, Lindholm point blank in middle of slot).
Gio and Tanev have been pretty great lately. One last observation is that Hanifin has no doubt taken a step this year but I feel he takes on 'persona' of his partner:
He stated this year he wanted to be more aggressive (I read that as more offensive) and not hold back as much. Partnered with Tanev they are a top defensive pairing which started season not giving up a goal.
Partnered with Hamonic, I saw Hanifin back in a lot (I don't mean to seem like taking shot at Hamonic but Travis is a physical defensive d man to me so he used his body effectively more - Like Stone does now.)
That's why future of Hanifin - Andersson is so intriguing to me. When Hanifin unfortunately got injured, the way Andersson stepped up was impressive..
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Good post. I hate the “plays die on his stick” cliche, but if it fits anyone it’s Ritchie. The possession stats favour Calgary but their possession was 90% within 6 feet of the boards. Including the top line. Aside from their goal, I didn’t see much.