Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
If the Pacific teams have more success against johnny because they focus on him due to playing him more frequently, would the same become true if he switched divisions? Plus the Pacific already has this knowledge, so it would be two divisions that shut him down.
In any event, I don't believe in this theory. Teams aren't playing in a vacuum, teams on other divisions would have the same knowledge as teams in the Pacific have.
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In terms of Johnny's thinking, I'm simply projecting how he (or any other elite athlete) might interpret this fact.
Having all of the info in the world at your fingertips is amazing, but there are 3 difficult things that have to happen in order to translate that info into meaningful results on the ice:
1. Analyze and interpret the info into correct and relevant conclusions/strategies
2. Effectively communicate this information to the players
3. The players try to apply this info on the ice (which requires a lot of things to happen in the span of micro-seconds)
Hockey players aren't robots who just download information, and doing these 3 steps is a lot harder in hockey than baseball (idle time during the game to prepare for upcoming situations, and multiple days for pitchers), football (full week to prepare, relatively limited scope- CBs focus mostly on QB & WRs, etc.), or basketball (only 2-3 main targets to strategize against). All three are also more predictable in terms of 'situations' that will present themselves.
I think it likely comes down to coaching strategy/mentality for different types of games: Playing an Eastern team, it's all about playing 'your game', with a few broad, generalized ideas on how to deal with the opponent's elite players. Defensive minded players would get a few specific tips on how to deal with Crosby/Malkin, offensive minded guys would get tips on beating Letang and Murray.
Against your division, it's a more granular strategy against the team you're playing, with generalized reminders to 'play your game' ("Pucks in deep boys!").
Against the other division in your conference, it would be somewhere in between...you'd probably identify possible playoff opponents and try to be more granular against them (building a deeper catalog of knowledge for the spring), non-playoff teams less so.
All of that is to say that I don't think coaches on Pittsburgh or Boston are spending hours and hours plotting how to defend against Johnny's zone-entry, whereas the coaches for Vegas or Vancouver are. It's simply a better use of energy and resources to also focus on generally improving the play of your own players, rather than thinking about how to defend against Ovi's PP one-timer that you might see like 4 times in a season...
