Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin
Yep, players start squeezing their sticks and getting nervous about making every shot on net count, when the rare opportunities due to come up to get a quality shot on net.
Not to mention, how many playoff goals are random, innocent looking plays where a player just tosses the puck towards the net with traffic? Under Tocchet's strategy you're basically eliminating those kinds of goals from your repertoire. You simply can't do that.
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It's less make every shot count rather make sure every shot is a good one which means it needs team buy in. The Canucks have literally been doing this same style all season. Passing up shots from outside or distance without traffic to hold the puck and wait for a chance from towards the slot or for traffic to form in front. We've seen three top guys have career years under this system as well as players like Dakota Joshua and Nils Hoglander.
I'm less concerned about player confidence and more concerned that, much like the Canes style of "SHOOT ALL THE THINGS!", a seven game series will see teams key on this strategy and find ways to nullify it. You're seeing the Predators just make sure there are less and less clean shooting lanes and more and more.