Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Honestly, I don't think Darryl asks his guys to dump and chase at all. I think dumping and chasing is a byproduct of the type of hockey that's generally being played though. When both teams are playing tight checking hockey, there's just not going to be a lot of room in the neutral zone for a lot of rush chances, so you have to dump the puck in based on how the opposition defense defends you.
Tkachuk and Gaudreau were unbelieve at breaking out of their own zone and creating on the rush though. The opposition game planned every night to stop that trio, but no matter what tactic they deployed, they couldn't do a damn thing about it, they were virtually unstoppable. You'd have Gaudreau pushing the pace of the play, crossing east to west allowing Tkachuk to jump in to the rush, crisscrossing to confuse the defense and then the two would do their give and go thing and then somehow finding Lindholm as the trailer to unleash his shot. I mean, it's not hard to see why he potted 42 last year yet has seen an almost 50% decline this season.
As for your Huberdeau point, he doesn't have the same skillset Gaudreau has. He's got the same vision and the same soft hands/deft touch. But he doesn't have the same boots or the lateral moves/agility to drive the pace of play and push back defenders like Gaudreau did. Heck, he and Kadri start more of their shifts in the offensive zone than any other regular (F) on the team, so his bigger problem right now is probably more so about creating chances when he's starting in the OZone rather than trying to generate rush chances from the DZone up.
That hearkens back to what I've been talking about all season with him struggling to check for his chances. If he's going to start in the offensive zone all the time, then he's gotta learn how to close gaps quicker and win more 50/50s because then, he'll get more chances to use his vision to find open linemates. We haven't seen these kinds of efforts from him nearly enough this season.
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Huberdeau has said they play a more north-south game here, compared to the east-west in Florida
Damn right he is being asked to dump and chase. Many times he skates up to the blue line and dumps it in. As a fan of skill, it’s been frustrating to watch
He is being a good soldier and it stinks to watch