The trials and tribulations of Glen Gulutzan

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

Also, to me, it appears the flames played tighter with Rittich in net. So I’m wondering if Smith’s need to handle the puck so much is really causing the players to not know when to support the backend or start streaking for an outlet.. as a spectator, when Smith leaves the crease, I know a hail marry is coming.. other teams have to be catching on and taking advantage of the confusion.

This.

Last year our turn around started when the Flames started breaking out and playing as a team, and had broken out of the constant "stretch pass" breakout from the Hartley era.

This year they have reverted back to the "stretch pass" breakout and a big part of that has to do with Smith's puck handling ability and the forwards expecting the hail mary from him.

It was clearly evident last night as well, as a quick, puck pressuring team. Smith and the defense would be behind their own redline and the closest forward would be at our blueline, with the two other forwards already outside the zone.

It's what led to a lot of turnovers at our own blueline last night, and in other games this season.

In the Avs game the forwards were coming back deeper into their own zone to help with the breakout, and it was clearly more effective.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

This.

Last year our turn around started when the Flames started breaking out and playing as a team, and had broken out of the constant "stretch pass" breakout from the Hartley era.

This year they have reverted back to the "stretch pass" breakout and a big part of that has to do with Smith's puck handling ability and the forwards expecting the hail mary from him.

It was clearly evident last night as well, as a quick, puck pressuring team. Smith and the defense would be behind their own redline and the closest forward would be at our blueline, with the two other forwards already outside the zone.

It's what led to a lot of turnovers at our own blueline last night, and in other games this season.

In the Avs game the forwards were coming back deeper into their own zone to help with the breakout, and it was clearly more effective.

I totally agree with this. I mentioned something similar around game 10 that it seemed the team was playing more Hartley style breakout and I was concerned that it was adjusting to Smith's puck handling. Forwards trying to get a jump on the play knowing he is going to grab it.

I think this has calmed down a bit, but it still evident, especially once things get scrabbly. I don't know if Smith has no confidence in his D right now but when things start to go bad it seems like he trys to do more zone exits himself, which A) leads to neutral zone turnovers or B) has the skaters out of sync and leads to a dump and chase since they aren't together.

I'm not placing it totally on Smith as I think he play is goal has been superb, but I just can't shake the feeling his puck handling is causing more miscommunications and disjointed plays as guys are unexpectedly getting the puck or having forwards try to get a jump instead of coming back to support.

I feel like I just repeated what you said, but I think this may be causing more issues for GG trying to implement a system that it is being given credit for.

[troutman]

"Ready to Play" - Working Harder" - What does that even mean, where every team is competing each game on the same ice? How can a coach guarantee you are ready to play or working harder than the other team, when they the other team is trying to do the same thing?

Was it coaching or talent that helped the Leafs to win all the battles?

Occam's razor - some teams are not as talented as other teams.

[Toonage]

Flames played a tighter game with Lack in net against St. Louis (at home) too. But we all saw how they played with Lack in net on other occasions. I would suggest we need a bigger sample size of games with Rittich before making that determination.

[Red]

Originally Posted by troutman

"Ready to Play" - Working Harder" - What does that even mean, where every team is competing each game on the same ice? How can a coach guarantee you are ready to play or working harder than the other team, when they the other team is trying to do the same thing?

Was it coaching or talent that helped the Leafs to win all the battles?

Occam's razor - some teams are not as talented as other teams.

Maybe it's about assignments? Do these guys know what to do on the ice specifically or is it more of a Go Team pep talk they get?

Sutter was very detailed, he challenged the guys to outplay their guy shift after shift. They were told specific measures how to outplay them. example, If player x fails to get the puck between the dots, you outplayed him. Our guys knew exactly what to do. Easy to understand tasks.
GG doesn't even line match so we know they don't have any player specific instructions. It's more of a play harder and smarter talk they probably get.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Are they quicker, or were the Flames just slow last night? I felt that the compete level on the Flames just wasn't there, even in a number of situations that guys were fighting for those '50-50' pucks along the boards. I don't know how much of it you can pin on the coach, but I do believe that the Flames were quite listless and it made the Leafs seem much faster.

Totally agree, it looked like they were playing in slow motion and the leafs players are Sonic, it was so frustrating, they were not slow in motion, they were slow in the brain as well. It almost looked like they want to shoot and it took an extra second or 2 to get to hands from brain.

[Flash Walken]

The flames are one of the slower teams in the league unfortunately. They will look like the slower team more often than not.

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by troutman

"Ready to Play" - Working Harder" - What does that even mean, where every team is competing each game on the same ice? How can a coach guarantee you are ready to play or working harder than the other team, when they the other team is trying to do the same thing?

Was it coaching or talent that helped the Leafs to win all the battles?

Occam's razor - some teams are not as talented as other teams.

Joel Quennville in Chicago and Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh say hi!

I’m not saying the Flames will have a turnaround and success like these 2 teams but you can’t just dismiss that a coaching change wont do anything or that coaches have no effect on the team/players.



Those two examples show the maximum effect a coaching change could have on your team with very little roster changes.

[midniteowl]

I'm not against changing out GG, the thing is there isn't any Quennville, Sullivan type out there. Did we miss the boat not replacing Gulutzan with Gallant when he was available last year? And I have an honest question, could it be Cameron is whispering into GG's ears too much, and GG is taking his advise a little too much?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The flames are one of the slower teams in the league unfortunately. They will look like the slower team more often than not.

This is not true. The Flames have one of the most mobile defense groups in the league and several forwards that are better than average skaters. Sure the 4th line of Stajan, Versteeg and Brouwer is not fleet of foot and neither is 46 year old Jagr but Jankowski, Bennett, Gaudreau, Backlund, Ferland, Frolik, etc are all good skaters. If they look slow it's not because they are a slow team, it's because they are overthinking things (reacting rather than dictating) or simply not skating hard enough (effort level).

[Flash Walken]

If you think Bennett is fast I won't be able to convince you the tram is slow.

[Toonage]

Somewhat related; Rhett mentioned this morning on 960 that Bennett never gets the chance to get up to speed as he's too busy trying to do 3 things at once. Sort of makes sense.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

If you think Bennett is fast I won't be able to convince you the tram is slow.

He's not a slow skater. Are you trying to move the goal posts to suit your narrative?

[Machiavelli]

Skating is the very last thing we should be concerned about with regards to Bennett.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by rohara66

Joel Quennville in Chicago and Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh say hi!

Coaching changes can help sometimes. But FWIW, Pittsburgh is only 2 points ahead of Calgary (who has two games in hand) and Chicago is tied (with one less win). Maybe they need coaching changes too.

[Kybb79]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Somewhat related; Rhett mentioned this morning on 960 that Bennett never gets the chance to get up to speed as he's too busy trying to do 3 things at once. Sort of makes sense.

I forget what game earlier in the season it was but Bennet showed some speed with the puck that i have not seen since.

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Coaching changes can help sometimes. But FWIW, Pittsburgh is only 2 points ahead of Calgary (who has two games in hand) and Chicago is tied (with one less win). Maybe they need coaching changes too.

They both have a combined 6 cups in the past 8 years. Don't think they are too worried about early season struggles.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Somewhat related; Rhett mentioned this morning on 960 that Bennett never gets the chance to get up to speed as he's too busy trying to do 3 things at once. Sort of makes sense.

warrener was on a role this am. he made a really good point about the d pairings, and the one above regarding bennett playing too busy a game to really ever get going.

I'd love to know what strategies the flames management have taken in trying to help a young kid facing all sorts of adversity at the moment. Demotion/Benching is the obvious fan favourite for a struggling player, but i wonder how much time is spent on dedicated video review with bennett, of his current games, watching previous goals scored at various levels of hockey (junior and limited nhl successes).

Mentorship must be such an important part of player development as they jump to the NHL, but especially when things start avalanching down as they struggle.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Skating is the very last thing we should be concerned about with regards to Bennett.

Then why is he always behind the play and taking penalties by being in a bad position? Slow players do that.

It's one of two things:

1) He's doesn't anticipate well and can't think ahead in the game. The game moves too fast for him at the NHL level for his brain to keep up.

2) He's lazy and dogs it on his defensive responsibilities.

Neither are very good situations.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Then why is he always behind the play and taking penalties by being in a bad position? Slow players do that.

It's one of two things:

1) He's doesn't anticipate well and can't think ahead in the game. The game moves too fast for him at the NHL level for his brain to keep up.

2) He's lazy and dogs it on his defensive responsibilities.

Neither are very good situations.

Bennett isn't half bad defensively IMO. It's probably the last thing keeping him as a regular in the lineup. He does cheat while trying to get to offense, but that's a problem with most of our forwards.