Quote:
Originally Posted by devo22
not just that, Vladar was better too. I have no idea what happened this year, but goaltending as a whole has just fallen off a cliff. Team save percentage went from 5th to 29th in the league ... what the hell happened? Same goalies, same coaching staff. How does it turn from an organizational strength to a weakness, practically overnight, without any significant changes? I just don't get it.
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It comes down to coaching. I personally have been a huge Sutter supporter over the years but I’m growing tired of his act. As is always the case with teams he coaches, eventually he loses the room. It’s simply too hard to play with the kind of intensity and attention to detail he demands and then get ripped in the media when things go sideways. Whether Huberdeau gave his agent permission to say what was said about Sutter or not, the agent said what players and fans are already thinking. The trope about “not too high, not too low” is BS as it’s ALWAYS just low. No celebration of good works done, no happiness. Some people find silver linings in dark clouds. Sutter finds dark clouds to smother anything good.
So how does that relate to goaltending? Look at the defensive breakdowns. That is coaching. I know Sutter wants to play a man style defence and chase/pressure possession, and while that may have worked in prior years, it was tenuous even then and relied on having a highly mobile and fast D corps supported by their center. Add in the staggering increase in overall game pace over the last several years and that type of D no longer works. There have been no adjustments. Just the same breakdowns since Game 1 leading to ridiculously high-danger chances that leave a shell shocked goaltending tandem as cannon fodder. Unless something changes related to the system or the guy in charge, goaltending will suffer. The bonus is that the centers suffer too, so locked into their defensive responsibilities that they have no room to create, leading to simple plays executed simply from low danger areas so that they’re always positioned to get back on D. Lots of shots from easy areas make the oppositions goaltenders all look like Dryden.