GDT: Wilderness at Flames: Feb. 1, 8pm MT on SN360

[Flames Fanatic]

I thought Engelland had a pretty solid game, even without the goal.

 

[Calgareee]

It looked like Widedog was on the third pairing towards the end of the game with Engelland on the second pairing with Brodie. I don't hate that.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Engellands size in our top 4 feels like a good thing to me. Also just last season Brodie played well with him.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Engellands size in our top 4 feels like a good thing to me. Also just last season Brodie played well with him.

They have worked well together before, it isn't ideal but when Brodie is playing well he can make up for Engelland's deficiencies. Engelland is also able to keep up with Brodie in terms of skating, much better than Wideman is able to.

 

[Volica]

This team desperately needs less depth Dmen heh.

Wideman has been a decent #4. But in a perfect world you anchor your bottom pair with him. Engelland outside of two nights a year he displays high offensive IQ is better suited as a 7D/AHL level. You can be all the tough you want... if you spend the entire night in your own end you hurt the team. Just not a good enough first passer or a high enough IQ for today's NHL.

 

[Anglesmith]

This team desperately needs less depth Dmen heh.

Wideman has been a decent #4. But in a perfect world you anchor your bottom pair with him. Engelland outside of two nights a year he displays high offensive IQ is better suited as a 7D/AHL level. You can be all the tough you want... if you spend the entire night in your own end you hurt the team. Just not a good enough first passer or a high enough IQ for today's NHL.

I really was impressed with the way Quenneville ran his blueline in the playoffs a couple years ago when they last won the Cup. They had four NHL defencemen and two scrubs, but they organized them into essentially 4 pairings, which they rolled:

1) Keith - Seabrook
2) Oduya - Hjalmarsson
3) Keith - Scrub1
4) Scrub2 - Seabrook
5) Oduya - Hjalmarsson
6) repeat

I found this really impressive. We've seen first-hand the conundrum of maximizing your top-4 only to be dragged down by an incompetent bottom pairing. This system still spread minutes, but never allowed a liability pairing to be out there with a game on the line.

 

[Mr Snrub]

I really was impressed with the way Quenneville ran his blueline in the playoffs a couple years ago when they last won the Cup. They had four NHL defencemen and two scrubs, but they organized them into essentially 4 pairings, which they rolled:

1) Keith - Seabrook
2) Oduya - Hjalmarsson
3) Keith - Scrub1
4) Scrub2 - Seabrook
5) Oduya - Hjalmarsson
6) repeat

I found this really impressive. We've seen first-hand the conundrum of maximizing your top-4 only to be dragged down by an incompetent bottom pairing. This system still spread minutes, but never allowed a liability pairing to be out there with a game on the line.

It's almost like Joel Quenneville is a really good coach

Joking aside though, that's such a smart system. Never noticed it