firstemperor
Registered User
- May 25, 2011
- 8,755
- 1,445
It's partly systemic, we don't run that 5-man fore-check blitz anymore because we were blowing leads too much late last year.
Our defensive system relies mainly on a zone coverage in our own end, like many teams, except we don't clog the neutral zone or blue line as much as other teams do. Other teams will run variations of a 1-1-3 or a 1-3-1 We pretty much allow the entry most of the time until we can get puck support, mostly up the middle and it's apparent that this presence dissipates mostly once the Moore, Bozak line get on the ice (and sometimes Kadri).
I'm not a huge fan of it but I'm optimistic it will pay dividends down the road. To run the type of style we do, you generally need high-end personnel at the back-end and this presence generally dissipates once Rielly-Hainsey get off the ice. I think in theory it should suit Gardiner well but he's become allergic to moving his feet lately....to the point that Zaitsev seems to be the trigger man more now, which is probably a good thing, he simplified his game far too much to one extreme earlier on in the year.
Our defensive system relies mainly on a zone coverage in our own end, like many teams, except we don't clog the neutral zone or blue line as much as other teams do. Other teams will run variations of a 1-1-3 or a 1-3-1 We pretty much allow the entry most of the time until we can get puck support, mostly up the middle and it's apparent that this presence dissipates mostly once the Moore, Bozak line get on the ice (and sometimes Kadri).
I'm not a huge fan of it but I'm optimistic it will pay dividends down the road. To run the type of style we do, you generally need high-end personnel at the back-end and this presence generally dissipates once Rielly-Hainsey get off the ice. I think in theory it should suit Gardiner well but he's become allergic to moving his feet lately....to the point that Zaitsev seems to be the trigger man more now, which is probably a good thing, he simplified his game far too much to one extreme earlier on in the year.