[CP Story] Coaching a Team in Transition

[Bingo]

http://www.calgarypuck.com/2017/04/m...in-transition/

A look at ice time through the regular season, some analytical, and which players shouldn't play together.

How would you run the bench?

[Erick Estrada]

Not a big advanced stats guy but I enjoyed that write up. First playoffs for Gulutzan so it will be interesting to see how he tackles what is uncharted territory in the NHL at least. I'm hoping he does in fact shorten his bench more but he seems to be tied in with his philosophies so we will have to wait and see. Hartley barely played the bottom line/pairing when it came to 3rd periods and I don't expect a anything that extreme but I would expect he may tweak his bench management.

[Bingo]

exactly and as I said it doesn't have to be drastic.

A shift per period takes the third pairing down from 15 minutes to 13 or 13.5, makes a huge difference.

[Gaskal]

I think he will manage his bench to ride the top 4 for sure. He wouldn't have been subbing in Wideman/Andersson during these last few games otherwise.

Depth is one of our biggest assets as a playoff bound team - having a good 3rd line (Hagelin - Bonino - Kessel) and solid 3rd pairing (Schultz - Daley) was hugely instrumental in the Penguins winning last year. Hopefully this year its Versteeg - Bennett - Chiasson and Bartkowski - Engelland for us.

[Roof-Daddy]

Definitely going to have to lean on the top 4 D and cut the bottom pairing minutes come playoff time, especially Bartkowski. Unless the game is a laugher one way or the other we should be seeing a lot more than 19-20 minutes per game from Dougie.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Bingo

http://www.calgarypuck.com/2017/04/m...in-transition/

A look at ice time through the regular season, some analytical, and which players shouldn't play together.

How would you run the bench?

That's a fascinating article, sir. Thank you for taking the time to put it together. It puts numbers to what my eyes have seen this season.

I've been wondering why GG hasn't been pushing the minutes up for our top guys all year.

Look at what Edmonton has done with McDavid. He gets an absurd amount of ice time, and it has translated into the Oilers getting into the playoffs.

If the Flames want to be successful this offseason, they need to significantly dial back the 3rd/4th lines + 3rd pairings minutes to take advantage of our top guys abilities to tilt the ice.

[CsInMyBlood]

Deryk Engelland is built for Playoff hockey and you know he is going to have to be huge for us to have a chance vs. The Ducks.

Hopefully Bartkowski steps his game up a notch for the playoffs and can hold his own.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Deryk Engelland is built for Playoff hockey and you know he is going to have to be huge for us to have a chance vs. The Ducks.

Hopefully Bartkowski steps his game up a notch for the playoffs and can hold his own.

It's great that Engelland has become a go to penalty killer too ... that takes some overall game minute total off of other defensemen.

Verteeg on the powerplay and Chiasson, Bennett, Stajan and Bouma on the PK provide similar

It will be interesting to see if they try Lazar in for the fourth line center spot at some point as it would open up some options. Never sure who can switch wings, but Stajan to the third line with Bennett on the left and Versteeg on the right would bolster the top 9

Then Chiasson to the fourth with Lazar if one of Chiasson or Brouwer can play the opposite side.

[PeteMoss]

The 6th dman should definetly play less. Sprinkle Engelland through the rest of them to get them some rest.

Big thing is to avoid getting the 4th line out there against one of the big two Anaheim lines on a defensive zone faceoff.

I'd also take Brodie off PP1 just because he only shoots as a last resort and basically allows PKers to play way off him.

[burn_this_city]

Stone should be the point man on the first PP. He's got an actual shot that should be respected. Brodie has no point shot but is a decent distributor.

[bigrangy]

One thing I don't understand about the deployments this year was why Gaudreau-Monahan-Brouwer never became a thing.

GG was looking for a fit on the right side of those two all season long and Brouwer has been jumping from line to line as well, yet these 3 never really had much of chance together.

In 119 5v5 minutes as a line though, they had 55% CF% and 58% xGF% and they were even +1 in goal differential.

For comparison, Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland has 51% CF%, 53% xGF% in 248 minutes so it's still a good line. But now Brouwer has nowhere where he can contribute, whereas Ferland can be effective in the bottom six.

I know Brouwer has been 12 levels of horrible this year but that line seems like it could have worked.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

That's a fascinating article, sir. Thank you for taking the time to put it together. It puts numbers to what my eyes have seen this season.

I've been wondering why GG hasn't been pushing the minutes up for our top guys all year.

Look at what Edmonton has done with McDavid. He gets an absurd amount of ice time, and it has translated into the Oilers getting into the playoffs.

If the Flames want to be successful this offseason, they need to significantly dial back the 3rd/4th lines + 3rd pairings minutes to take advantage of our top guys abilities to tilt the ice.

I wonder if this is a "long-run" approach to time management with the intent to ultimately pay dividends in the playoffs. My expectation is that with the ridiculous number of shifts and minutes McDavid plays he is most liable to get worn out sooner than later. This is essentially what we saw in the first few years that the Capitals with Ovechkin experienced in the playoffs—he would often be on the ice for over a minute at a time, and it didn't take long at all for the other team to anticipate that and exploit his fatigue.

My hope is that Gulutzan's management of ice time all season has occurred with the expectation that the Flames top players will be less prone to the fatigue that inevitably mounts in the post season, and increases with each passing round.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I wonder if this is a "long-run" approach to time management with the intent to ultimately pay dividends in the playoffs. My expectation is that with the ridiculous number of shifts and minutes McDavid plays he is most liable to get worn out sooner than later. This is essentially what we saw in the first few years that the Capitals with Ovechkin experienced in the playoffs—he would often be on the ice for over a minute at a time, and it didn't take long at all for the other team to anticipate that and exploit his fatigue.

My hope is that Gulutzan's management of ice time all season has occurred with the expectation that the Flames top players will be less prone to the fatigue that inevitably mounts in the post season, and increases with each passing round.

I think it's a sound game plan, and one that should work ... if you have the horses.

Michael Stone helped things a lot by boosting the second pairing. I think Alex Chiasson has helped the third line.

But when the fourth line is out with the third pairing it's a tire fire and they have to make sure they avoid that.

Either way to your point, they've arrived her fresher than most by rolling the whole roster. Shouldn't hurt to pare that down a bit now and go for it.

[Flashpoint]

Interesting article, thank you for putting it together. I would be interested to see how the numbers presented it compared to Anaheim's roster. How does their depth compare to ours?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Stone should be the point man on the first PP. He's got an actual shot that should be respected. Brodie has no point shot but is a decent distributor.

It was obviously not the game to evaluate properly, but he looked good there last game.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think it's a sound game plan, and one that should work ... if you have the horses.

Michael Stone helped things a lot by boosting the second pairing. I think Alex Chiasson has helped the third line.

But when the fourth line is out with the third pairing it's a tire fire and they have to make sure they avoid that.

Either way to your point, they've arrived her fresher than most by rolling the whole roster. Shouldn't hurt to pare that down a bit now and go for it.

I guess we will see if it is intentional time management with a longer game strategy in mind (i.e. get to the playoffs fresher), or if it is simply how GG chooses to deploy his skaters, rain or shine.

I think it is fair to say that league wide, most 3rd and 4th lines combined with 3rd pairing defense will have a tougher time in terms of shot generation and suppression.

Which brings it full circle back to your point. The difference in aggregate impact on a game will ultimately come down to deployment. GG needs to ride his big guns in a more meaningful way. If he doesn't, that is concerning to me.

I want to see him play the 1st and 2nd pairings 25 minutes a night. Backlunds line should be getting 20-22 minutes, Monahan/Gaudreau 18+ minutes, and the Bennett line should be coming in around 10-12 minutes. If that means Stajan's line only gets 8-10 minutes a night (or less), so be it. Stajan / Bouma can get a few extra minutes on the PK.

But I am really sick of seeing GG start a period with the third pairing and our 4th line, and have it result in 2 minutes of time in our zone, followed by an icing. That sort of thing can't happen.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

But I am really sick of seeing GG start a period with the third pairing and our 4th line, and have it result in 2 minutes of time in our zone, followed by an icing. That sort of thing can't happen.

Agreed

And I'd add in after a goal for or against. Don't let a team get right back at you. Don't let a team pile on after scoring.

Don't get that third pairing out there with the fourth line or the Monahan line. They do all right with Bennett.

I don't know about 22 minutes for a forward line, but 16s for the top two lines (five on five) would leave just 18 minutes for the bottom two lines five on five. Give 11 to the third line and 7 to the fourth

Up front give 21 to the top two pairings and that would leave just 8 five on five for the bottom pairing.

Do that and you may not have the gas to go deep, but you win the first round.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

I guess we will see if it is intentional time management with a longer game strategy in mind (i.e. get to the playoffs fresher), or if it is simply how GG chooses to deploy his skaters, rain or shine...

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/old-news/c-288667404

Originally Posted by Glen Gulutzan

"We're a confident group. We're a healthy group. We're not a tired group. We've got lots of juice. We've managed our rest well this year.

"And we're excited to get going."

It sounds like more of the former from Gulutzan.

[edslunch]

Definitely want to shelter the 4th line but I think for the Flames to have a good chance the third line needs to step up and make a difference. I hope to see them earn some decent ice time.

[Vulcan]

It sounds to me like he's been taking player management from Desjardin for the regular season and now we'll see if he's going to change things up for the playoffs. If he doesn't and we lose, there is going to be some complaining.