An oral history of how the Devils' AHL team pulled off the...
This article talks about a bunch of reasons why Binghamton got hot to end the season.
I think it’s pretty damning about the system that was being run. They try to say the problems in the AHL were different than in the NHL because of personnel differences but then all the problems they describe are things we watched all year at the NHL level.
I think this is more evidence that the system the Devils ran the last 2 years is really difficult to execute properly.
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Schneider: I think guys were a little lost. It’s one thing to not score, but even defensively guys felt like, “I don’t know what I’m doing defensively right now. I’ve never felt this bad about my game defensively.”
Schneider: They made the assignments easier. They made it more predictable, less switching and having to hand guys off. I think guys picked it up a lot quicker and knew their job and knew their assignment, and when there were breakdowns, they were less damaging. I think the guys bought into it pretty quickly and got the hang of it really quickly.
Dennehy: It was really defining the players’ roles more specifically and taking out some of the ambiguity. When a guy came back into our zone, he knew exactly where he needed to be. And with that came a higher level of accountability to each other. Because now, if a guy isn’t in the right place, it’s not just him. Everyone knows he’s not in the right place. That type of accountability is very motivational.
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Some good talk by Street about what specifically the team changed as well. What the goals of the new defensive system was, how the neutral zone changed, etc....
There were a bunch more points other than the system and tons of quotes. It was a good read.