14/15 vs. 17/18 - A Tale of Two "Character" Teams

[Mike F]

The most often cited problem with the 17/18 Flames roster lately, both on this board and in the media, is the current team's "Character". This has been expanded upon to refer to the roster's compete level, hatred of losing, commitment, mental toughness/fragility, lack of identity, amongst others.

That's a complete 180 from the 14/15 team, which was renowned as being a relentless team, that was hard to play against, and would never give up.

So let's look at the two rosters....

14/15

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bouma-Backlund-Jones
Raymond-Jooris-Colborne
Bollig-Stajan-Byron

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Diaz-Engelland

17/18

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Bennett - Jankowski -Brouwer
Hathaway - Stajan - Shore

Giordano - Hamilton
Brodie - Hamonic
Kulak - Stone

IMO, there is some significant continuity in the core, with Gaudreau, Monahan, Backlund, Giordano, and Brodie playing significant roles on both teams.

So how much can the change in depth be credited as the source of the change in "character"? Were Bouma, Jones, Jooris, Byron, etc., fueling the engine in a way that Brouwer, Frolik, and Hathaway couldn't? Or were Russell, Engelland, and Wideman (who hated to lose so much he's punch a linesman) that much more of a source of "character" than Hamilton, Hamonic, Stone, and Kulak.

And how much can be pinned on the identity of the team coming from two very different coaches?

[GranteedEV]

Everything was simple for the players in 2014-15. As a forward you block a shot and off to the races you go. As a defenseman, you take the puck away and you fire the puck up the middle to a leaking forward. You need offense in the cycle, you default to the set plays knowing where your teammates will be. You skate hard and you get more minutes. You dog it and you're down the lineup before Bob could say "Adirondack". You lose a board battle or faceoff, you patiently wait for a turnover. The goalie lets in some bad goals, the backup is in the game for a different look. Your line isn't clicking, you'll have somebody else with you before the game is over.

Everything about that team, and the half a year before it, and the season after it, was about skating hard and trusting your hockey sense and skill.

Now the emphasis is on winning board battles, trusting in volume shooting, being patient and never reacting to larger issues, and hoping you win the 50/50 coin flip on the goals column. Your position on the roster probably won't change, but if it does, you won't know exactly why, because it won't be based on your recent play.

Completely different. Physically and mentally. It's easy to skate hard, even though it's hard skating. But if that's not the emphasis, and there's no reward for it, you're naturally not gonna do it. That reward isn't just coaching - it's on the ice. If you're on the forecheck and outnumbered while your buddies are peeling off for a line change, vs on the forecheck against one guy on a broken play with a winger flying up the ice to try and make it an outnumbered attack, you're naturally going to skate harder in the latter and go through the motions on the former.

[Enoch Root]

I think the similarity of the cores should remind us to take pause, and not react to quickly to one bad year. Everything, and everyone, looks different when the team is playing with confidence and for each other.

I am very leery of making too many changes, based on one bad season.

[Enoch Root]

I agree with GranteedEV that a simpler, more aggressive, and more energetic system can make a big difference.

Poor player utilization is also very demotivating.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I agree with GranteedEV that a simpler, more aggressive, and more energetic system can make a big difference.

Poor player utilization is also very demotivating.

Yep and every single player is human after all.

[GranteedEV]

One thing I will say is different personnel wise is that in 6v5 goalie-pulled situations, we used to have guys like Brodie (RD) and Giordano/Russell (LD) out there. They blocked shots in those situations. Hamilton has a knack for letting pucks through that is deflating to me. Every empty netter seems to go right through him. I would personally stop putting him out there on those situations. No point pulling the goalie if you can't block a shot. I know it's just one situation but how much of a confidence boost would it have been to get a 6v5 goal in a one goal game to tie it up once or twice.