What are your thoughts on Glen Gulutzan's system?

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Itse

30 shots is still typically 2 goals against, even with a good goalie. (.933 SV%).

In general I agree with the sentiment that our current success is a bit too much about great goaltending.

That said, I'm not overly worried. It's pretty rare to have every part of the team working perfectly at the same time.

Right, but the current success is 9-3-1 in last 13.
That would project to a 120 point season.
No one is suggesting the Flames are a 120 point team.
And time will tell, but going back to Nov 1 2015, Johnson is showing some elite play with not such elite defensive systems. He just may be for real.
From Haynes tweet
As noted with @SNRyanPinder, SV% since Nov 1, 2015:
1. Price, .940 (21 starts)
2. Murray, .930 (22 starts)
3. Chad Johnson, .928 (47 starts)

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

Not to sound like a debbie downer, but upon checking some stats, I also noticed the following:

Negatives
- 25th in the league in Pt%
- 29th in PP%
- 27th in PK%
- 27th in Shots/GP
- 20th in goals-for/GP
- 23rd in goals-against/GP

I think the best way to look at some of the full season stats is a rolling 5 game average.

Here is the PP and PK in rolling 5 game average format

[domingo]

Yes, running average is a good way to look at it. Thanks Bingo

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by calumniate

I think gulutzan figured out his d pairings too finally. That was a tire fire out of the gate

I think this is only partial because we're still being subjected to the "watch Brodie's shaky knees buckle under the load of carrying Wideman" show. but we can't pin that on coaching for sure because it could still be the trade showcase thing going on.

Dougie's ever-increasing ice time is a good indicator. I'm pretty excited to see what the pairings will be next season once the deadwood purge is complete.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Brodie is still playing pretty terrible and it's not because he's carrying Dennis Wideman. Three of the last four goals scored against the Flames have come when Brodie's on the ice and two have come on direct giveaways by him.

[GioforPM]

Brodie's skills are obvious but his blunders are also the biggest at the moment, and tend to lead to the worst results. Wideman has actually bailed him out a couple times recently. And on the goal last night he was caught as the lone man on a two on one caused by Brodie. He played it fine and took away the pass, but Johnson gave up too much to the shooter on the short side.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

I think this is only partial because we're still being subjected to the "watch Brodie's shaky knees buckle under the load of carrying Wideman" show. but we can't pin that on coaching for sure because it could still be the trade showcase thing going on.

Dougie's ever-increasing ice time is a good indicator. I'm pretty excited to see what the pairings will be next season once the deadwood purge is complete.

He has played with Engelland this season and looked terrible. He has played with Giordano and has looked terrible. He has played with Wideman and played terrible. He's played with Hamilton this season and has looked terrible.

The excuses for Brodie need to stop, and he needs to be better. He's not carrying anyone and hasn't all season. Every d-man has looked better away from Brodie not with him.

[Inglewood Jack]

I dunno, maybe Brodie is scared of having to cover for a bad pinch, so he's decided to beat Wideman to the punch. somebody help me out here.

[Bingo]

I'd love to try Brodie again on the right side, where he wants to be. To do that you either have to move one of Wideman or Engelland out of position or ...

try a Jokipakka/Brodie second pairing with one of Engelland/Wideman playing with Kulak

[Firebot]

Dougie Hamilton +1
Mark Giordano +8
Dennis Wideman 0
Deryk Engelland +9
Jyrki Jokipakka +1
Brett Kulak +1
TJ Brodie -16

One of these are not like the other. People can say that +/- is a flawed stat, but it does show where the problem usually is. It does not matter who his partner is, the common failure part has been Brodie.

Wideman has actually been good the past little while. Brodie on the other hand has coughed up the puck more often than any other defender in the league, and is on the highlight reel of several plays where he got badly beat.

Brodie has been a bigger problem than Wideman, whether people want to live in denial or not, especially knowing that he is supposed to be our #2 / # 1 D. He may be trying to do too much, learning to play on the left side, but he needs to stop forcing plays. He could have easily been called for a cross check last game on Roussel at a crucial part of the game. He is worse now than Gio and Hamilton were at the start of last year

[ComixZone]

I'm beginning to come around to the mindset that others already hold - Brodie is struggling on the left side. Some players can't make the adjustment. It's not like those struggles are specific to Brodie either. It's just the way it is sometimes.

I'd love to see Brodie back as a RD, but the problem is we lack a quality LD to pair with him in that case.

If Alzner's Calgary connections bear fruit and he signs here in the summer, that would make for a truly stunning blue line.

Giordano - Hamilton
Alzner - Brodie

But if Treliving doesn't want to wait for that, landing a 2nd pairing LD d-man as a rental/short term solution, could be something he's targeting.

[Robbob]

Took me a while to get around to it, but looking at the shot locations in that home plate area I think you can clearly see that Calgary had the more dangerous shots.

[IntenseFan]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'd love to try Brodie again on the right side, where he wants to be. To do that you either have to move one of Wideman or Engelland out of position or ...

try a Jokipakka/Brodie second pairing with one of Engelland/Wideman playing with Kulak

Is this not the "Occam's Razor" explanation for how bad he's been this year?

He's dead last in the league in +/- for God's sake.

I know we have had more success recently with the new system, but Gulutzan is being too stubborn on this. Brodie can't seem to play his natural side anymore and we can't force him to do so when the results are this.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'd love to try Brodie again on the right side, where he wants to be. To do that you either have to move one of Wideman or Engelland out of position or ...

try a Jokipakka/Brodie second pairing with one of Engelland/Wideman playing with Kulak

Trouble is that neither Engelland nor Wideman have played themselves out of the lineup, while Kulak was not playing very well before Kevin got back in.

[Flash Walken]

Kulak is nowhere near ready to play for the Flames right now.

Putting him back in will = losses for the Flames.

Huge organisational hole that is getting worse as the team's core group gets older.

[GioforPM]

I think it would be interesting to compare who has struggled the most to adapt to GG's system and see, of those players:

a. Who's had no other coach other than Hartley before GG. Gaudreau, Bennett and Monahan come to mind. Maybe Bouma, though he played under Sutter (but pretty limited minutes).
b. Who's had no other NHL coach than GG. Tkatchuk and (essentially) F. Hamilton, Hathaway, Kulak.
c. Who's had more coaches - Backlund, Stajan, Frolik, D. Hamilton, Gio.

I think group one should have a harder time. Ferland throws a bit of a wrench into that theory but overall, I'd argue that they along with Brodie (who played under Sutter but blossomed most under Hartley) have had the biggest adaptation issues. I'd say the vets (who know how to adapt) and the rookies (who haven't had to adapt) have fared better.

[Draug]

The last game against Dallas was truly great. In my view, the Flames looked better as a team than at any point during the season. The breakouts were a combination of short passes out of the zone which we have seen all year, but new to this game there were also some long passes and some plays through the middle too. If that is part of the system, and if (Its a big if) they play like this the rest of the season, GG will win me over ... and I have been a huge vote of disapproval so far.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

This has never been truer. Amirite?

Originally Posted by midniteowl

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

This has never been truer. Amirite?

I'm surprised I'd never seen that before.

I'm also annoyed because I feel like I was better off.

[AltaGuy]

I love this Crow I'm eating right now. Delicious. Gulutzan's implemented a tight defensive system with low numbers of scoring chances that is exactly what I wanted and why I wanted Hartley fired.

I didn't think he could do it, but I believe in him now.