A few early season thoughts:
The conserve energy/turn it on concept is one of the most interesting in all of sports IMHO. It’s a paradox. You know the best dynasty like teams are patient in the reg season. Trust the process, trust experience, trust their leadership. It’s def true that when you play far more games than the avg team over a 3 year span, you can’t not acknowledge the toll that takes, and the need to ease off treating every game like the cup final.
At the same time, there is such a fine line between not overreacting and over expending energy vs. developing crippling habits.
I don’t know the answer. I don’t think there is a formula. But I do think navigating the challenge is what separates the best coaches ever from those who are just above average.
I would like to see us use these early games to develop our third and 4th lines and figure out our special teams. Productively conserve energy.
- The Defense.
I think our D will be ok. Total shots allowed is important, but quality of shots matters a lot too. Right now we are giving up way too many of both. In the playoffs though, not referencing a advanced metric, I think we end up fairly average in terms of high quality scoring chances allowed. (If someone has a metric saying otherwise I will say, “interesting, I guess I was wrong”)
Looking at the games so far this year, in zone coverage is bad. So is back pressure on entries. I think it’s more forwards than d men. Our d men are what they are, mobile and skilled. None are dominating space eaters. So if we don’t backcheck, and forwards don’t play well supporting and marking men in our zone, we look terrible. Against the rags, there was so much open space in the zone and no tight checking. I think that’s our problem more than anything.