Making the PK better - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Reggie Dunlop · 10-10-2016, 09:37 PM

Flames finished LAST in Penalty Killing the previous season.

While finding the elusive piece to the Gaudreau/Monahan top pairing is interesting, team success going forward means a dramatic improvement in this area.

Not as sexy as offensive prowess. The Flames need to shoot up to at least middle-of-the-pack.

Is it merely a change in systems? Yeah, that could work wonders. Different coaching staff might go a ways in addressing it.

If we see the Flames make a roster move, I'd like to see them pick up a strong defensive forward.

dino7c · 10-10-2016, 09:40 PM

GOALTENDING

that is all

Otto-matic · 10-10-2016, 09:46 PM

Goaltending is huge but just rim the puck around the boards/glass. No fancy breakouts or dumps.

I was sick of the fancy soft passes they kept trying.

Husky · 10-10-2016, 09:49 PM

Goaltending and face offs.

getbak · 10-10-2016, 09:53 PM

LiquidX · 10-10-2016, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino7c

GOALTENDING
that is all

quoted for truth.

I'd expect some of the new guys to make impacts in this area. brouwer for sure and likely chiasson. Plus the regulars of backlund, frolik, monahan, bouma, et all.

I think with a new system and goalies with confidence, this team will be ok on the PK.

Hell, I would bet with just the goaltending changes, if we kept the same team as last year without making any additions, we'd likely win another 10-15 games.

speaks to how poor the flames (4) goalies were. coincidentally... are any of them even playing in the nhl this year?

bigrangy · 10-10-2016, 09:56 PM

Calgary spent the 4th least amount of time at 4v5 last season, 381 minutes.

In that time, they gave up 50 goals (and scored 10), which was 4th most in the league.

The PK was bad, giving up the most scoring chances against/60 of any team in the league. In 2014-15, the Flames were middle of the pack in SCA/60, and gave up only 33 goals (5th best). I don't recall any serious change to the Flames' penalty kill units last year, so maybe it was just a random fluctuation.

Doing a little bit of individual fancy stat analysis shows that Russell and Wideman have killed penalties much more effectively over the last two years than Gio and Brodie have. This doesn't align with my intuition, since Russell and Wideman are really bad, but they are the results. I think this is likely because they probably draw the 2nd PP unit most times though.

Either way, the easiest way to improve your special teams is to stay out of the box, so if Bollig is on the bench all season, I expect the Flames to allow 5 or more fewer goals this season.

Reggie Dunlop · 10-10-2016, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino7c

GOALTENDING

that is all

Yes, goaltending is a key component. I was remiss for not taking that into consideration in my original post.

But goals get scored at even-strength too.

Penalty Kill needs a dramatic upgrade if the team is going to move forward.

Poe969 · 10-10-2016, 10:06 PM

Goaltending as mentioned is huge but Bouma having a good year would help too. I think a young guy has.to step up and be that player, not a "sexy" player with lots of points or fancy moves just someone who understands the defensive side of things and who's willing to pay the price. I think Chiasson might be that guy.

Reggie Dunlop · 10-10-2016, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigrangy

Calgary spent the 4th least amount of time at 4v5 last season, 381 minutes.

In that time, they gave up 50 goals (and scored 10), which was 4th most in the league.

The PK was bad, giving up the most scoring chances against/60 of any team in the league. In 2014-15, the Flames were middle of the pack in SCA/60, and gave up only 33 goals (5th best). I don't recall any serious change to the Flames' penalty kill units last year, so maybe it was just a random fluctuation.

Doing a little bit of individual fancy stat analysis shows that Russell and Wideman have killed penalties much more effectively over the last two years than Gio and Brodie have. This doesn't align with my intuition, since Russell and Wideman are really bad, but they are the results. I think this is likely because they probably draw the 2nd PP unit most times though.

Either way, the easiest way to improve your special teams is to stay out of the box, so if Bollig is on the bench all season, I expect the Flames to allow 5 or more fewer goals this season.

Bolig is not the problem. All players get penalties. They are inevitable. The Flames need a better penalty kill strategy because they were 30th in the league last season.

btimbit · 10-10-2016, 10:08 PM

Goaltending itself brings the Flames up to the to the too 2/3 for PK but there has to be more than that.

I might just be overly optimistic but I think a healthy bouma and Gultzans's more aggressive pk are the answer

puffnstuff · 10-10-2016, 10:09 PM

Decent goaltending will help improve it. And simplicity in our own zone, nothing fancy, but quick and pressuring in your own zone and hard outs. Less reliance on trying to shot block, fill lanes instead.

Also, I have mentioned it before but the NHL really needs a better way to track PK and PP efficiency. A 10 second man advantage, due to staggered penalties, counts the same as a 5 minute major PP. Same for PK. Do something along the lines of GF - GA per minute of PP - PK.

Reggie Dunlop · 10-10-2016, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by btimbit

Goaltending itself brings the Flames up to the to the too 2/3 for PK but there has to be more than that.

I might just be overly optimistic but I think a healthy bouma and Gultzans's more aggressive pk are the answer

That can go a long way, but I think there's still a missing piece of the puzzle.

A bounce back season from Bouma would certainly help.

Reggie Dunlop · 10-10-2016, 10:45 PM

I just get the feeling that since PTO Higgins was one of the last cuts, they are still in the market for a Penalty Killing forward. Perhaps that will be addressed via waivers or a free agent signing or even a trade.

There's an identified organizational need for a better penalty kill.

Reggie Dunlop · 10-11-2016, 12:08 AM

This can't be emphasized enough. The Flames have to improve on this end in order to be successful. Last in the league is shameful.

This is actually a BIG DEAL. Hopefully Treliving and Gulutzan remedies it.

Penalty killing is the biggest Flames Achilles Heel going forward.

Street Pharmacist · 10-11-2016, 12:20 AM

Two things led to last year's awful PK.

1) Goaltending. The goalies were atrocious. It's been noted ad nauseum so I'll leave it at that

2) Systems. Hartley wanted the 4 man team to collapse and block passing/shot lanes. While that somewhat limits shots, it mainly limits perimeter shots. Gulutzan is preaching strong pressure at the line first, then once in the zone. This will lead to more obvious breakdown goals, but a lot less of the deflect-off-of-4-guys-then-rebound goals. Hopefully, that means less GA

I think it will be more frustrating to watch when the oppostion scores because it'll be a guy left wide open, but will also lead to less zone time and hopefully less chances overall

Frank MetaMusil · 10-11-2016, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Bolig is not the problem. All players get penalties. They are inevitable. The Flames need a better penalty kill strategy because they were 30th in the league last season.

Weren't Bollig's penalties mostly offsetting fighting majors anyway? Gio had a good chunk of minors last season which was also likely a factor (debatable on how much) finishing 30th on the PK.

getbak · 10-11-2016, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Weren't Bollig's penalties mostly offsetting fighting majors anyway? Gio had a good chunk of minors last season which was also likely a factor (debatable on how much) finishing 30th on the PK.

Bollig led the team in PIM, but yes, most of those minutes were fighting majors or 10 minute misconducts, which wouldn't have resulted in a powerplay.

He had 14 minors, which tied him with Backlund for 7th-most on the team. He only had 4 more minor penalties than Gaudreau.

bigrangy · 10-11-2016, 01:12 AM

Ok, I apologize. The source I was using made me think Bollig had a -21 minor penalty differential. Hopefully Gio can stay out of the box a bit more this season though, 27 minors last year.

TheoFleury · 10-11-2016, 02:17 AM

There were problems beyond goal last year regarding the PK last year. Biggest factor for sure but we only have 4-5 good/great PKers in Brodie, Backlund, Frolik, Giordano and Stajan (he's pretty average). Not good enough but I'm not sure how to fix that for 16/17, though Elliott will help a lot here. I think 15th-20th place would be a solid target given all that's really changed is the goalies. The team really needs guys like Poirier and Klimchuk to step up in the next season or two. The key to a great PK is depth, and that's not really a strength at the moment imo. Gulutzan's system might be an x factor but I'm not sure Hartley's setup was really to blame, it was more of a personnel issue.

Not sure of Brouwer's PK usage in the past. Perhaps he can be an x factor here?