Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferarri
So much of what was posted here lacks any sort of fact based observations and is purely defined to fit a personal narrative about Sutter.
Let's start with the "offensive stifling system." Is this not that same system that saw Johnny Gaudreau put up 115 points, Matthew Tkachuk put up 104 points, Elias Lindholm score 42 goals and Andrew Mangiapane score 35 goals. How can that be discredited and argued that the system is holding Huberdeau to an unfair position to succeed. Let me guess last year will be deemed an outlier and a fluke but the real Sutter system does not approve offensive performance?
Secondly, being glued to Lucic for an extended period of time happened organically for a variety of different reasons. Those reasons were because pretty much every other combination of wingers was tried with and produced minimal results. You make it sound like this was the coaches default option and from day one he decided that this was the guy to ride shotgun. He tried various versions of Toffolli, Pelltier, Mangiapane, Dube etc and there was essentially zero chemistry. At least initially there was some small offensive contributions from the Lucic pairing (but I agree the experiment lasted too long), but let's not pretend that a multitude of other options wasn't tried before promoting Lucic.
The minutes issue has been discussed at length today. Last year Johnny averaged 18:34 minutes a game and Tkachuk 17:54. Huberdeau sits at just under 17 minutes (16:50). Lucic is averaging the lowest in his career and his stats are elevated by the fact that he did get second line minutes. His current average is 11:25. That's a considerable difference between the two players. Also, maybe people here have argued in Huberdeau's defense that if he was getting closer to 20 minutes a night that things would be different. That's essentially 3 minutes more for him whereas currently Huberdeau averages more than 5 minutes more than Lucic so woudn't that be an exceptional amount based on that logic?
Now to the centre issue. You make it seem that he's been stapled with Kadri for the entire season. To start the year once again he had no chemistry with Lindholm and people wanted to break them up. The coach obliged and changed it up. I'm not saying that it's not worth going back to Lindholm but it isn't like they had magic in a bottle and were an unstoppable combo.
This is the part that really gets me though. People argue he's such an elite player and that his passing/vision is one of the best in the league. If this were the case then he should be making those around him succeed. Elite players should be able to play with a different cast of players and make them better. Why are we blaming his line-mates when he's supposed to be the superstar. I've even heard ridiculous arguments that his "passing is too good" and that others on the team aren't ready to handle that. Right...I mean he's only played with virtually everyone and nobody can pot empty net goals from his all star passes. It doesn't add up.
On to the Sutter comments. Absolutely they were stupid and probably did a dis-service to the team, but let's not pretend that Walsh stirring the pot didn't have a similar negative impact. People say they believe Huberdeau when he says he didn't direct his agent to make those comments, yet somehow we won't believe the other players who came out and said that the agents comments were complete bs and that he has zero pulse on the team. So by that account the "negative culture" is a non-factor because if we take one player at face value then we should do the same for the rest.
Finally, do you want to know why a guy like Backlund is averaging more ice time than Huberdeau? Look what his teammates say about the guy:
"Backs is our leader, he’s been really good this year,” said Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson after Sunday night’s 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. “He served up (assists) to me and (Elias Lindholm) on a silver platter, so happy for him that he’s having such a good year. He’s been good in, I don’t know how many games we’ve played, but he’s been good in every single one. “He’s our leader night in and night out.”
Players recognize this and so does the coaching staff. When a guy is going every single night and is a difference maker out there then of course the coach is going to reward him with more minutes. It's also contagious on the bench and the team knows who's carrying the team and which line is going. Huberdeau would be afforded the same luxury if his play dictated it. To date it has not which is why he is where he is.
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For those who have watched Sutter in the past, he has no problem complimenting the team, or players when they play well. Huberdeau is no exception, we saw it with Gaudreau, we saw it with Kylington. With Kylington he said they talked and he said he was going to make mistakes but to avoid the big mistakes. He said when Kylington first got his opportunity (that no one else gave him) that they both thought the game the same way. The reason Huberdeau isn't getting more ice time, is because he hasn't really showed up yet. If Huberdeau, who will be getting paid like a superstar, would step up we likely would have a few more wins.
Backlund on the other hand is out there showing consistancy and being a difference maker. One of these guys will be getting paid more, a lot more than the other for a reason. I know which one I would rather have on my team, at least right now.