Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
How much do you think player movement, one-time shots, variety, adjustments, and cross-ice passes contribute to a solid PP? Because GG thinks those don't matter.
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I thought Dave Cameron was in charge of the PP?
GG was the head coach so ultimately you can hold him responsible, but do you honestly believe that the coaches in Calgary don't believe in player movement, one-time shots, cross-ice passes, and creativity?
When you look up and down the roster in Calgary, most of the players scored PP points in line with their historic production.
Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Ferland had career highs. Lots of other guys in the ballpark in terms of expected PP production based on career norms. Giordano was down. Versteeg had one of his best PP seasons in years last season so they missed that production. Brouwer's production dried up but his pp icetime did as well.
Who are the guys that GG or Cameron stifled?
The margins between an average PP and a bad one aren't huge. Versteeg's missing goals from two seasons ago added to the Flames of last season would have given them a league average PP.
I'm not sure why fans are baffled that they tried Brouwer on the PP. He and Versteeg were the only right handed PP viable options for the Flames last season. Jagr likely was supposed to fill that gap too, but it didn't work out.
Compare Calgary to a team with a consistently top PP like Washington. Washington's PP isn't some secret Da Vinci code. They run the same general setup as every other team in the league, and they have a few set options that they reuse all year, every year. Other teams know that they will try these options, but the Caps just have the players to execute them so they can't be effectively stopped.
They have a sublime left handed playmaker in Backstrom set up on the half wall. Then they have three right handed shots cocked and waiting for a pass. Oshie in the middle just like Monahan. Carlson on the point. Ovechkin on the Versteeg side. Oh yeah, Washington also has a top 3 point getter as their goal line guy.
Compare that to Calgary. They have had Gaudreau playing on the "wrong" side on the PP. Left handed player on the left side doesn't have as good of an angle to attack/shoot at the net, but would it be more effective to have him on the right half boards? Then he'd be passing to everyone on their backhands because they are all also left handed shots.
Maybe it would be better to have Gaudreau on the right wall, but I'm not really an expert in PP theory, and I think 99% of the fans are in the same boat as me.
Hamilton had a right handed shot but he's not really suited to play the top position on the PP IMO because he's not a slapshot guy. He scores by walking in with a wrister.
Calgary also doesn't have the perennial 30 point PP guy like a Giroux, or a heavy shooter like a Stamkos/Weber/Ovechkin. There are maybe 10ish teams that have one of those guys so Calgary is at a disadvantage right off the hop. There are 31 teams competing every year and a third of them have to be in the bottom ten. If you don't have proven, elite PP performers your team is likely to be in the bottom 20 unless you really get the bounces.
I frequent enough different hockey sites to see that the coach more often than not bears the brunt of the outrage when special teams don't perform up to fan expectations.
I'm not convinced that it's very fair though.
