Quote:
Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald
Huberdeau said it as much himself. The Flames play too slow a brand of hockey. Dump and chase ring around the boards hockey doesn't work in this league. It's the system, not the players.
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I am a bit curious how much Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk were playing the system last year vs just kind of going a bit rogue.
The rest of team last year outside of the top line looked like and produced pretty much identical stats to the way the team is playing this year.
The top line last year was the exception to the system and I do wonder how much might have been those guys going "Screw it - contract year". It really does seem like Tkachuk didn't think much of Sutter, his comments about Maurice being "the best coach I've ever played for" were pretty much a tell. Gaudreau hasn't really ever said much about Sutter.
Last year without the top line on the ice at 5v5:
Corsi For: 54.8% xGF%:53.1% GF%: 49.2% Shooting %: 6.33% SV%: .921
This year without Huberdeau:
Corsi For: 56.4% xGF: 54.1% GF%: 51.2% Shooting %: 7.93% SV%: .897
Really it's the top line that somehow bucked the trend of what Sutter's system is doing. Everyone else is high corsi, high shots, no finish, and biggest problem is this year no goaltending either.