Gio and Brodie are going to be split up and both be given anchors
Giordano - Wideman - Lot of fire power but Wideman is suspect defensively
Brodie - Engellend - Solid shutdown but it will sacrifice Brodie's offense
Hamilton - Jokkipakka - Best third pairing in the league most likely
As opposed to the predicted;
Giordano - Brodie - Top 5 pairing in the league
Hamilton - Jokki - Decent 2nd pairing
Engellend - Wideman - Disaster waiting to happen
Personally I'm a little conflicted but I'm hoping as soon as Wideman and Engellend get their 15 minutes a game the rest goes to Brodie and Gio as a pair.
I was thinking about this and reflected on the last few weeks of the season two years ago after Giordano was hurt: Brodie and Engelland weren't that bad of a pairing. That held true through the playoffs. I'm suspect of Giordano and Wideman because I just don't see how Wideman keeps up. One of the things that is so special about the Giordano - Brodie pairing is that they're both so quick and capable of leading the rush, and they can get back into position quickly.
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Never understood the reason to panic over practice lines and defensive pairings. The coach is just trying out some new things and if they don't work, things will get switched around.
People make it sound like these things are set in stone for the whole season.
Never understood the reason to panic over practice lines and defensive pairings. The coach is just trying out some new things and if they don't work, things will get switched around.
People make it sound like these things are set in stone for the whole season.
I was thinking about this and reflected on the last few weeks of the season two years ago after Giordano was hurt: Brodie and Engelland weren't that bad of a pairing. That held true through the playoffs. I'm suspect of Giordano and Wideman because I just don't see how Wideman keeps up. One of the things that is so special about the Giordano - Brodie pairing is that they're both so quick and capable of leading the rush, and they can get back into position quickly.
Hartley's coaching was go go go for the defense. Don't think we'll see nearly as much activation from Giordano and Brodie as we did the previous years, where they went at nearly all opportunities. Think we'll see point totals drop quite a bit from the defense.
Maybe not Hamilton though as he'll actually see first unit powerplay time to start the season, not just stubbornly once Wideman gets hurt late in the year.
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I'm not a fan of this at all - hopefully it's a short term experiment. It's reminiscent of Brent Sutter's horrible management of the defence pairings and that's not a good thing. Perhaps this is the mark of an inexperienced coach?
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Do you, you, feel like I do?
How'd ya feel?
Do you, you, feel like I
Do you feel like we do?
Do you feel like we do?
Oh, that's true
Do you feel like we do?
Get back
Do you feel do you feel like we do?
I'll give Gulutzan the benefit of the doubt here. These things are often more fluid during actual games than they appear on paper. I predict we'll see Gio and Brodie paired together on double shifts to take some of the minutes off Engelland and Wideman.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarley
I'm not a fan of this at all - hopefully it's a short term experiment. It's reminiscent of Brent Sutter's horrible management of the defence pairings and that's not a good thing. Perhaps this is the mark of an inexperienced coach?
The problem with Sutter was that he got married to defensive pairings and line combinations that clearly didn't work (Bouw-Butler, Regehr-Phaneuf, Jokinen-Iggy). The harder they flopped, the harder he banged on those square pegs. Gulutzan sounds like he's a bit more tactical than that.
I don't think I would call Wideman an anchor. He has a terrible contract and had a terrible year so he gets a bad rap. Playing more minutes with a better partner or less minutes as the better partner are both okay in my books. He just shouldn't be playing top minutes without Brodie or Giordano.
I think those pairings looks good. Especially Brodie and Hamilton.
The third pairing is OK, but what do you expect for a 3rd pairing?
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate that defense as a 7.5.
The real wild card for me is Wideman though. I think last season was a bad one for him, but in general, I liked how he played in the past. If he can rebound, that is one heck of a top 4.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 10-12-2016 at 11:47 AM.
This is mostly about pairing a left shooting defenceman with a right shooting defenceman. In this case it means breaking up the Brodie - Giordano pairing. While Brodie does great playing the wrong side, it means one of the right shooters needs to play on their wrong side, which isn't so great.
Defensive pairings, how should we feel.
