[News] Flames name Geoff Ward and Ryan Huska as assistant coaches

[Ashasx]

Not a Pavel Zacha Burner Account @DocKelley41
With rumors of Geoff Ward leaving let's take a look at the Devils PP under Ward beyond PP%.

15-16
29th in CF/60
29th in HDCF/60

16-17
24th in CF/60
20th in HDCF/60

17-18
26th in CF/60
21st in HDCF/60

------

With these said, I'm not sure CF correlates as well to poweplay success as it does for even strength play.

[JurassicTunga12]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Wait—what? ...

PS. Geoff Ward seems like a good hire at first glance.

[cross16]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Not a Pavel Zacha Burner Account @DocKelley41
With rumors of Geoff Ward leaving let's take a look at the Devils PP under Ward beyond PP%.

15-16
29th in CF/60
29th in HDCF/60

16-17
24th in CF/60
20th in HDCF/60

17-18
26th in CF/60
21st in HDCF/60

------

With these said, I'm not sure CF correlates as well to poweplay success as it does for even strength play.

Flames were 5th best in CF/60 and 2nd best in HCDF last year. Just to compare.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Key aspect for Ward is will he learn/adapt from mistakes or things don't aren't going well. That was main issue with last season. The coaching staff thought it best to stay the course and were resistant to change. You don't want constantly changes things but you must be able to adapt.

Let's see if they make mention of this in any interviews.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Key aspect for Ward is will he learn/adapt from mistakes or things don't aren't going well.

That's half of it, yes. Try things, see if they work, and if not, try new things. Innovate. Experiment. Deceive the opposition.



But the other half of a strong PP is going to be having actual player movement. Our PP was simply too stationary for the entirety of Gulutzan's tenure. The last time we had that was the second half of Hartley's last year (and I was starting to like our PP around that time. Our PK was consistently a mess under him though).

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

That's half of it, yes. Try things, see if they work, and if not, try new things. Innovate. Experiment. Deceive the opposition.



But the other half of a strong PP is going to be having actual player movement. Our PP was simply too stationary for the entirety of Gulutzan's tenure. The last time we had that was the second half of Hartley's last year (and I was starting to like our PP around that time. Our PK was consistently a mess under him though).

Yes I agree. It was a stationary PP under Gulutzan. I'd very much welcome players moving around and also the seam passes or crossing the royal road plays.

I want to see a faster pace of play overall with more d involved in the offence and seeing more flow and creative flair - using the middle of the ice to break out, d carrying the puck in and pinching etc.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Not a Pavel Zacha Burner Account @DocKelley41
With rumors of Geoff Ward leaving let's take a look at the Devils PP under Ward beyond PP%.

15-16
29th in CF/60
29th in HDCF/60

16-17
24th in CF/60
20th in HDCF/60

17-18
26th in CF/60
21st in HDCF/60

------

With these said, I'm not sure CF correlates as well to poweplay success as it does for even strength play.

Doing a quick search on Ward along with Devils fans reactions seem to indicate that Hall breaking out along with Butcher really made the Devil's PP work this year but before that they were dreadful. Most fans are pretty happy we are taking him off their hands. From what I hear we are going to see the drop it back to Johnny to enter the zone still. So let me get this straight, we are heading into next season with a HC that has made the playoffs zero times as a head coach and got trounced with one of the best teams at the worlds, our AHL coach who has had pretty much zero success with a talented Stockton group and has had multiple first rnd picks bust under him, and a guy who had a player have a Hart like season that upped their PP which before that for multiple years was near bottom of the NHL. This is Tre trying to put lipstick on a pig folks.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Not a Pavel Zacha Burner Account @DocKelley41
With rumors of Geoff Ward leaving let's take a look at the Devils PP under Ward beyond PP%.

15-16
29th in CF/60
29th in HDCF/60

16-17
24th in CF/60
20th in HDCF/60

17-18
26th in CF/60
21st in HDCF/60

------

With these said, I'm not sure CF correlates as well to poweplay success as it does for even strength play.

Not an argument against your summary at all, but I came into this in January when I was looking at the Flames and their scoring chance totals.

Low possession high danger Devils

Article

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Doing a quick search on Ward along with Devils fans reactions seem to indicate that Hall breaking out along with Butcher really made the Devil's PP work this year but before that they were dreadful. Most fans are pretty happy we are taking him off their hands. From what I hear we are going to see the drop it back to Johnny to enter the zone still. So let me get this straight, we are heading into next season with a HC that has made the playoffs zero times as a head coach and got trounced with one of the best teams at the worlds, our AHL coach who has had pretty much zero success with a talented Stockton group and has had multiple first rnd picks bust under him, and a guy who had a player have a Hart like season that upped their PP which before that for multiple years was near bottom of the NHL. This is Tre trying to put lipstick on a pig folks.

Will I guess we can pick water polo teams in January as our ship will be rudderless again this season :/

[JJolg]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Doing a quick search on Ward along with Devils fans reactions seem to indicate that Hall breaking out along with Butcher really made the Devil's PP work this year but before that they were dreadful. Most fans are pretty happy we are taking him off their hands. From what I hear we are going to see the drop it back to Johnny to enter the zone still. So let me get this straight, we are heading into next season with a HC that has made the playoffs zero times as a head coach and got trounced with one of the best teams at the worlds, our AHL coach who has had pretty much zero success with a talented Stockton group and has had multiple first rnd picks bust under him, and a guy who had a player have a Hart like season that upped their PP which before that for multiple years was near bottom of the NHL. This is Tre trying to put lipstick on a pig folks.

So the other coaches are responsible for players doing poorly but Ward gets no credit for guys excelling? Also that pp was even better 2 years prior without halls mvp season. Best team at the world's? We had some of the worst goaltending of teams not relegated. How they all work out is anyone's guessing but why don't you just come out and tell us the proper course of action.

[dammage79]

Funny how a top half of the league PP had bad fancy stats wheras one of the absolute worst PP's in the league had the best fancy stats. Bizarre!

[iloveicedhockey]

Wow, nice to see the negativity train leave before they've even been announced.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by iloveicedhockey

Wow, nice to see the negativity train leave before they've even been announced.

I mean why stop at Peters with the distain right? May as well just pile on the other guys too.

I don't get the Huska hate though. He's a bonafide D man whiperer. Just what the team needs. And if all Huska has to do is focus on the D-men, all the better.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I guess I will have to see about that but Peters didn't exactly thrill me as a hire and Huska has been beyond a disappointment in my eyes with Stockton. I would rather they kept Jerrard over Huska and I disliked him too.

Why did you dislike Jerrrard? He was about the only competent thing about the coaching staff from the last batch.

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by Ring of Fire

I’ll leave this here:

http://www.flamesfrom80feet.ca/2016/...stant.html?m=1

I thought of this article as soon as I read Geoff Ward's name. I remember it from the Gulutzan head coaching search. That's why I was very excited about the hire.

When I look into the numbers, I think it leaves me realizing that Ward has had his eyes and his lows.

Geoff Ward's PP's Numbers

2007-2008 Bruins PP - 17.55; league average - 17.75
2008-2009 Bruins PP - 23.64; league average - 18.95
2009-2010 Bruins PP - 16.60; league average - 18.23
2010-2011 Bruins PP - 16.17; league average - 18.02
2011-2012 Bruins PP - 17.20; league average - 17.31
2012-2013 Bruins PP - 14.75; league average - 18.22
2013-2014 Bruins PP - 21.74; league average - 17.89
2015-2015 won the German league as a HC
2015-2016 Devils PP - 19.92; league average - 18.66
2016-2017 Devils PP - 17.53; league average - 19.10
2017-2018 Devils PP - 21.43; league average - 20.18

Thus, in 10 seasons as an assistant coach in charge of the PP, his PP has been above average 4 times, basically average 2 times, and below average 4 times. His record is 4-2-4 if you will. This suggests the Flames could get a great PP, an average PP, or a bad PP next year.

Over 10 years, Ward's PP has averaged 18.65% and the league has averaged 18.43%. This suggests the Flames will probably get a slightly above average PP.

Dave Cameron's PP's Numbers

2011-2012 Senators PP - 18.15; league average - 17.31
2012-2013 Senators PP - 15.92; league average - 18.22
2013-2014 Senators PP - 18.45; league average - 17.89
2014-2015 Senators PP - 16.79; league average - 18.66
2016-2017 Flames PP - 20.16; league average - 19.10
2017-2018 Flames PP - 15.99; league average - 20.18

Dave Cameron's PP has been above average 3 years and below average 3 times. However, it has never been as above average as Ward's PP has.

Over 6 years, Dave Cameron's PP has average 17.58% and the league has averaged 18.56%.

Conclusion

Geoff Ward's PP has been better than Dave Cameron's PP has been, both in terms of highest highs (Ward: 23.64; Cameron: 20.16) and average performance (Ward: 18.65; Cameron: 17.58). Moreover, Ward's PP has 3 years better than Cameron's PP's best year; albeit, Ward has been an assistant in charge of the PP for 4 more seasons than Cameron.

However, I think it is likely Ward gives the Flames a better PP than Cameron did.

Paul MacLean's PP's Numbers

2015-2016 Ducks PP - 22.86%; league average: 18.66%
2016-2017 Ducks PP - 18.73%; league average: 19.10%

I think you could argue Paul MacLean would have been the better hire. One year the PP was basically average, the other year it was above average. Over two seasons with Anaheim, his PP averaged 20.80%.

However, this is obviously a much smaller sample size than the sample size we have for Ward. I just don't have time to look into whether MacLean ran the PP when he was with Detroit and, if so, how it performed. I'm sure it was amazing because Detroit was amazing.

The other thing is that the 2015-2016 Ducks PP is still not as good as Ward's 2008-2009 Bruins PP if we go by absolute percentage.

Overall Conclusion

I'm confident Ward is a better PP coach than Cameron.

I'm not sure who is the better PP coach between MacLean and Ward. I think we just have to trust Treliving that Ward was the right hire over MacLean (if MacLean was available at all).

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I mean why stop at Peters with the distain right? May as well just pile on the other guys too.

I don't get the Huska hate though. He's a bonafide D man whiperer. Just what the team needs. And if all Huska has to do is focus on the D-men, all the better.

...The only Dman Huska has graduated to the NHL was the guy who spent his first year pro as far away from him as possible in the ECHL. The farm team's penalty kill was also best described as shoddy under him.

At least Ward seems promising.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

...The only Dman Huska has graduated to the NHL was the guy who spent his first year pro as far away from him as possible in the ECHL. The farm team's penalty kill was also best described as shoddy under him.

At least Ward seems promising.

And from the Rockets? Or is his record there a raw sell job?

[Enoch Root]

CF/60 as a measurement for PP success has to be an new all-time low for the stats crowd.

How do you up your CF? Pass it around the perimeter among stationary players and take lots of non-dangerous shots (ala the 2017-18 Calgary Flames)

How do you actually have a good PP? Move the puck quicker, and move it cross-ice to get the goalie moving. Having a good PP has nothing at all to do with CORSI.

Spreadsheet warriors are killing this game.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

CF/60 as a measurement for PP success has to be an new all-time low for the stats crowd.

How do you up your CF? Pass it around the perimeter among stationary players and take lots of non-dangerous shots (ala the 2017-18 Calgary Flames)

How do you actually have a good PP? Move the puck quicker, and move it cross-ice to get the goalie moving. Having a good PP has nothing at all to do with CORSI.

Spreadsheet warriors are killing this game.

Good fancy stats = NG

Also, you're right.

[puffnstuff]

The league really needs a better way to track PP stats. A 5 minute major counts as one powerplay, so does 5 seconds of pp time if you take a penalty while on the man advantage. Drives me nuts. Go with a GF/ppminute or something.