Quote:
Originally Posted by just_tim
I posted this a couple days ago on a different thread. I was a huge Sutter supporter, but the game has passed him by and his demenor and stubbornness are fatal flaws:
The game has changed and Sutter is simply behind. It’s a pure speed game now. Man-D does not work. With the speed and criss-cross side-to-side offensive schemes of today’s best offences, man-D means both defenders and the center are always chasing and missing assignments. It leaves goalies naked. Dryden or Roy would look bad in this scheme. It also means the center has to stay out of the dirty offensive areas so he can get back on D. This leads to a simple offence with shots from the outside. Sutter does not read the game well anymore and he loves his big boys, his 4th line favourites. Virtually no in-game adjustments and a dogmatic stubbornness to remain with the plan that hasn’t worked from game 1. It also means that young talent isn’t rotated and evaluated. Wouldn’t matter how good the Wranglers players are, they’re not getting a good look. A new coach would need to be a talent evaluator, a student of the modern game. Use and improve the players, adjust systems to maximize talent and not simply force square pegs into round holes.
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How is Sutter behind exactly? He basically coaches playoff style all year round, so if anything, he's probably ahead of the pack in that regard. Conversely, Bill Peters definitely did not coach the right style for playoff hockey, that's why his #1 seeded team was easily destroyed by a #8 seed.
I don't even know if you could say it's a pure speed game now. The St. Louis Blues just won the Stanley Cup a few seasons ago with a similarly slow, grinding, heavy roster.
Also, what is this point about the center not being in the dirty offensive areas even mean? Flames' centers are always in the dirty areas, just look at Lindholm and Backlund as examples, they're always hard on the forecheck and in the guts of the game. If you look at Backlund's line exclusively, you'll see that they're constantly close together and consistently rotating and cycling the puck around, it's what makes them so effective.
There's just a ton of buzzwords being thrown around here attacking the coach. But honestly, ask yourselves this, is Sutter's system that much different from a lot of other coaches in this league? Every coach asks their players to check, lots of coaches deploy man to man defense and lots of coaches ask their players to get lots of pucks on net, this is not some unique patented system that Sutter has invented. It's pretty par for the course in today's heavy analytics/possession driven game.
For me personally, I believe Sutter's system is very much up to date. Heavy emphasis on checking which is vital if you want to be successful in the playoffs and his Dmen are very aggressive/active pinching at the blueline. The Flames are also right at the top when it comes to generating odd man rushes chances, even if they fail to convert which is more so an issue with the personnel than the system itself.
With that said, nothing about this screams of a coach being "behind" or "game passing him by." He's a smart, demanding coach and he has this team prepared every game and the games are always tight. That's really all you can ask for from a coach. It's not like this team is constantly getting blown out, they're in a lot of close games where one missed save or one goalpost has cost this team time and time again this season.