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Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I'd challenge some of those statements.
- The Oilers figured out how to play against a Flames team that was missing Tanev and whose goaltender was playing atrociously, while getting every favourable call imaginable.
- Again this year, the Flames were without Kylington. A huge part of last year's success was the Kylington - Tanev pair's dynamic. Kylington's transition game, speed on the backcheck, and offense worked perfectly with Tanev's steady all-around defensive game. We haven't had that pair since last year's Dallas series.
- Despite that, it was more than just underlying stats that looked good. The 2022-23 Flames were 9th in 5v5 goals and 18th in 5v5 goals against. This is actual goals, and these numbers really are indicative of a team that should be in ~100 point range. Those numbers certainly could have been better (player usage, better goaltending, better individual play, and playing with leads more often all would have contributed positively) but it's disingenous to say the systems were figured out. The Jets, Kings, and Wild all made the playoffs in our conference with worse 5v5 play, purely in terms of goals for and against.
- The greatest failing came down to the powerplay, which is absolutely on Sutter, but not on Sutter's system
Huby and Kadri have played for Bednar, Babcock, Quennville, Gallant. I doubt that's an accurate depiction of what happened.
More likely, it was frustration over ice time and line construction. That doesn't absolve the players, but I think it's fair to say you're totally removing the nuance from the situation with that assessment.
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Sutter's system was fine for the most part (could have traded some quantity for quality).
It was more Sutter's line construction, player deployment, usage of young players, and personality that were the issue.
And really that was a constant issue in his time here, even in the 21-22 season the only real strong consistent line all season was Tkachuk-Lindholm-Gaudreau. (He figured out Coleman-Backlund-Mangiapane at some point too but bounced that line way more than he should have).