Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames_F.T.W
I'm also worried about switching to a defense first system. Despite all Hartley's flaws, we've had some pretty entertaining hockey the past few seasons.
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Unfortunately, we need to have a defensive-minded coach if we're ever going to be competitive. Almost all the teams in the playoffs were in the top half for GA/G this year. New Jersey was the lone anomaly to not make it, and that's because they had a league worst offense. Dallas was 19th in GA/G, but they drastically outscore any defensive problems they have. Point stands, even if you had a ridiculous offense, you cannot be in the bottom 10 defensive teams and expect to make the playoffs.
People are probably sick of me making the comparison, but the Panthers are a good example of how quick you can turn it around with strong defensive coach. Gallant came in 2 seasons ago after the Panthers were
2nd worst in the league and had the
2nd worst GA/G next to only the Oilers (aside: haha stupid Oilers).
They pick up an established #1 goaltender in Luongo. The existing d-core of Campbell, Kulikov, and Gudbranson is supplemented by the pick up of Ekblad, and the veteran Willie Mitchell. Jokinen and Bolland are brought in for their defensive games. Gerard Gallant is brought in and implements a defensive system. All these changes bumps the Panthers to
20th in the league and 18th in GA/G. This is not a coincidence. Despite the Panthers continuing to struggle offensively, corrections to the defense pushed them up the standings.
Ok, so this last season was a bit of a breakout year for Barkov and Trocheck. Other than that, the roster was largely the same as the previous season minus some dead weight. Hayes was traded for Reilly Smith. Petrovic took a spot the d-core. Some young bangers in Shaw, Howden, Brickley, and Wilson all filled out the bottom 2 lines effectively all year. The Panthers continued to work on their defensive game and ended up
7th in the league with the
7th ranked GA/G.
Is anyone starting to see a pattern here?
Ok, so what does this mean for the Flames?
In 2013/14 the Flames were 27th in points, and 23rd in GA/G. They were right in every game until the end if you all can remember, indicating that their place in the standings wasn't indicative of their play.
2014/15: the Flames were 16th in points. They were 14th in GA/G.
2015/16: Flames were 26th in points. They were dead f'ing last in GA/G. Despite having the 11th ranked offense, it didn't raise them in the standings in any significant way.
This isn't rocket science everyone. The defense has to be in the top half of the league if this team is ever to have a chance to compete in the playoffs. In Hartley's time in Calgary, it was never higher than 14th. His teams finished in the bottom 10 for GA/G 3 out of his 4 years here, 2 of those years they were bottom 3.
I will take a coach that gets this team to play defense adequately any day of the week. I'm entertained by winning, and while a high-flying offense is exciting at times, it's difficult to get excited by it when your team is constantly losing.
Fix the defense. Fix the goaltending. Do that and the team will shoot up the standings.
