Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
When they make the final call for Zary ... center or winger ... it won't be based on face off win percentage.
It will be down low reads in the triangle, his ability to get up the ice on the break out, and his ability to drive play into the offensive zone.
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All of which he was seeming to do well at for the month+ he was playing centre before his injury. I don’t remember the exact stat but before his injury he was leading the flames in scoring chances generated when he was the primary puck carrier entering the offensive zone. That is typically the role of the centre on a line.
I wonder sometimes if Conroy gets a little frustrated with how Huska deploys the roster players that he gives him. Conroy consistently says that he wants the young players to play important roles on the team this year but Huska’s default is to give the young guys very short leashes.
We saw this with Klapka who had a dominant game after Iginla spoke with him. He played up in the lineup that game and was an absolute force. It took less than a period of the following game for Klapka to be back to the 4th line and I think he got 1-2 shifts in the 3rd period. Conroy keeps calling Klapka up and Huska seems to give Klapka token games with limited minutes. I could see it being Huska is not a fan of Klapka but he knows Conroy doesn’t want young players to sit in the press box for long periods.
Last night was another good example. Zary and Coronato were trading spots on the 4th line and 1st line based on if Huska saw a bad shift or two for the 1st line. I thought Huberdeau has struggled much more than either Zary or Coronato lately but he was not part of that rotation to the 4th line. Same thing with Sharangovich who was getting significant minutes at the end of the Dallas game including overtime while Zary sat on the bench and Coronato got like 30 seconds in overtime.
I imagine Conroy is happy with the team’s hard work and the defensive play they have all bought into under Huska but I could see him wanting Huska to not give so much preference to the vets in every situation. To be clear, most coaches in the NHL have little patience with young players. Short leashes are the go to method for teaching them to play the “right way”. It can lead to players developing a better defensive game but it can also erode their confidence and make them nervous to make a skilled play. Seemed like Zary was having a good night and was demoted back to the 4th line after he tried the between the legs shot.
Just don’t want to see what happened to Bennett happen again. Bouncing Zary around the line up is ok to get him back speed but I don’t want this to continue for much longer.