Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I actually quite disagree with some takes regarding Huberdeau. Huberdeau is fine defensively, and he needs to keep focusing on it as well. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Magic Man, but the Flames weren't. He was identified as expendable, and the Flames were later proven right. Sure, Nilsson and effort issues, but those effort issues were glaring defensively, not really offensively (as most effort issues normally are).
Huberdeau is here for 8 years, and he better be effective in all areas of the ice if he wants to be a leader, and to remain an effective player throughout those 8 years. His offence is going to regress as he ages, so he better find different ways to contribute, and that really starts with having a solid defensive game.
Flames don't need him to be Mark Stone, but at the very least he could be a Mathew Tkachuk or.. a Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau's best season saw him being a competent player defensively. No? If Gaudreau can do it, then there is no reason why Huberdeau can not.
I actually argue that Huberdeau is competent defensively, and that he sure seemed to be giving a solid effort every night. His grittiness is so underrated, as his level of nastiness that he puts on display now and then (surprised he didn't have a fight last year, actually). I saw him try hard in all 3 zones of the ice, and he skates hard on the backcheck too and gets into good position.
However, his defensive play is NOT interfering with his offensive contribution. Just like when we saw Gaudreau - Lindholm - Tkachuk light it up when they were the best 2-way line in hockey, Huberdeau can expect to see success as well. Hartley called out Monahan years ago when Stajan and Backlund were both hurt, and Monahan had to be the first line centre in his rookie year. What did he call him out for? For being too focused on defence to the point he was cheating defensively. Huberdeau is not cheating defensively, and watching him, I didn't think his defensive game was the reason why he wasn't putting up points.
I think there are 3 reasons why Huberdeau had a tough year:
1) The move - I don't think his head was in the right space to start the season, and things just kind of spiralled for him.
2) Chemistry - I didn't see him develop any real chemistry with anyone, but outside of Backlund-Coleman, did anyone really have any chemistry on last season's team?
3) This is the biggest reason IMO - how the Flames generated offence last season was very structured.
It wasn't the defensive focus, it was the focus on playing within the offensive structure. It wasn't nearly as bad as when Brent Sutter wast the coach and forced everything up the boards and onto the cycle to the point where I specifically remember both Backlund and Jokinen seemingly have clear lanes to the net on separate occasions, and both of them hesitated and ended up dumping the puck in the corner to start a cycle. No, Darryl's system wasn't that bad, but it was overly structured still. Lots of shots, but not enough creativity and not enough off the rush where a playmaker like Huberdeau thrives.
I argue that the Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk line didn't play the system. They were creative and scored a lot of goals off the rush, and developed set-plays between the three of them (especially Gaudreau and Tkachuk). They didn't cheat defensively - either focusing too much or too little on defence. They played it right defensively, and were just creative offensively. Sutter couldn't stop them from doing that - not when they found success.
I think this is specifically the reason why Conroy on separate occasions spoke about how he wants this team to play. Non-structured offensively, but structured defensively. He wants the players to use their instincts and talents creatively on offence, but then come back hard defensively.
There is absolutely NO WAY that we are going to see Huberdeau's game mirror that of Ovechkin. Heck, Ovechkin didn't win squat until he bought in defensively. If Huberdeau is going to play that type of game, it will create a rift on this team anyway. Huberdeau skating circles by the opposing team's blue line while the 4 other skaters do the heavy lifting in their own zone to try and get him the puck? Is that what it looks like?
I am not interested in seeing Magic Man part 2. I loved the Kent Nilsson back in the day, but I was also a kid who didn't realize that Kent was hurting the team just as much as he was helping it (if I am being generous).
Huberdeau should be as committed to defence this upcoming season as he was last season. It is just what happens when this team shifts to offence that needs to change in order for him to be successful. Huberdeau played on the PK in Florida too - this is a part of his game that he himself wants to grow, and I argue that his 115pt season was helped by a better defensive game, just like Gaudreau's and Tkachuk's games were too.
I am betting that we see a huge turnaround in Huberdeau this year. There are only 3 things that I disliked about Huberdeau last season - his blind spinorama backhand passes to the opposing team, his tendency to try and thread the needle unnecessarily when there is just as good of an option available that doesn't need him to thread the needle through 4 different opponents' sticks, and his overall skating speed. He cleaned up the first two as the season progressed, and his skating just seemed worse in that system as locking his offensive creativity down makes him play slower.
I think we will see a healthy rebound this upcoming year. I am more worried about the team overall, but Huberdeau will thrive in this system. I am actually glad that he had a year with Sutter further teaching him the x's and o's of better defence, but I do think he is going to flourish under a different offensive system, and to me, that's the 'key' to unlocking Huberdeau's game.
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