Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Whenever I watch this video a couple things always stand out.
1) Most of his 5v5 points come off the rush, or opportunities where they created a turnover in the neutral zone. Very little points come off the cycle or possession in the offensive zone. This Flames team / system generates absolutely nothing off the rush, I think there was a stat the last two seasons that showed the Flames rank dead last in rush chances. That's part of the problem I think. Florida played a very aggressive neutral zone system under Coach Q and it created space and rush opportunities for Huberdeau.
2) He seemed to have a lot more confidence in his shot. Especially noticeable on the points on the PP. He would either use his shot with traffic to score, or would use the threat of his shot to freeze the dman and open a passing lane. That has not happened at all with the Flames PP. Feels like teams are not biting on his shot, and also don't seem too afraid of the threat of any of the other Flames shooters.
3) The Panthers drove the middle of the ice. This one frustrates me...very rarely do you see the Flames with an aggressive center drive up the middle of the ice. Think they are afraid to get caught going back the other way but we play very passive and safe in the offensive zone, especially off the rush. Sometimes I think the reason the guys like Zary and Pospisil look good is because they confidently attack the middle of the ice, something I think the rest of this roster maybe was told not to take the risk to do in the past.
Overall I do just think Huberdeau was very much a guy that relied on the rush, and cheating to get those rush opportunities to generate offense at 5v5. And he hasn't done that as a Flame at all. You rarely see great chances from him off the cycle or prolonged neutral zone possession.
Which aligns with how his advanced stats showed his as a player. He wasn't a play driver that drove huge possession stats. He was a guy that created high quality and had high conversion rates (Gaudreau and Kane were similar for the most part).
Think he worked well with Duclair and Bennett because they would attack quickly off the rush, and were good at generating neutral zone turnovers. It's why I think Zary, and Sharangovich could work. They tend to attack quicker off the rush and are good at creating neutral zone turnovers.
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Neither play C, at least not regularly, do they? And it's so difficult to break up those other lines right now. Especially Zary's.