Defensively, the Flames don't look a hell of a lot different than previous years - they're always running around hemmed in their own zone; bad breakouts that lead to turnovers; they end up collapsing down low and blocking shots. I'm not sure why they have a hard time getting out of their own zone. Watching upper echelon teams break out of their own zone looks so effortless.
The offensive zone strategy is definitely different from Hartley. I really don't like the dump and chase they're currently doing. The only effective dump and chase player they have is Chiasson and he's a massive player as compared to the mid-sized to small players the Flames have. Secondly, the Flames have become a peripheral-shot team. They're just shooting from the boards and weird angles - low percentage shots. No one is going to the hard area in front of the goal and no one has a shot at the point. Everything is shot wide.
Neutral zone is just pathetic for the Flames. Cripes, they can't get anything going through neutral ice. This is where Hartley's system at least tries to back the opposition defence up to give the Flames more room for those stretch passes. Right now, the opposition just clogs up the center ice area and wait for the Flames to shoot the puck in.
We've actually gone back to the Sutter era of hockey, except the Flames haven't grown that much in size and every other Canadian team, with the exception of the Canucks, has picked up size and speed.
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