GDT: Game 21: Coyotes @ Sharks - 8PM - FSAZ

[cactus shake]

Last 7 games:
average scoring chances for (5 on 5) = 13.9
average scoring chances against (5 on 5) = 20.6
sv% = .941%

October / first 8 games:
average scoring chances for (5 on 5) = 16.6
average scoring chances against (5 on 5) = 19.9
sv% = .879


I think the play without the puck in the defensive zone has improved some, though I'm not sure if it could have got any worse! Otherwise the team still seems like it's playing the worst hockey in the league, just getting a lot more saves now.

 

[cobra427]

Guys, your inarguable statistics are just ignorant. Those numbers don't know the game. They don't have the vast knowledge of some random self appointed know it all on HFboards.

You want to really prove your point, just say stuff and then insult anyone who says otherwise. That's how you show you really know hockey. Get these statistics and quotes of far better hockey minds than Dave Tippet out of my face!

1 point on the road in San Jose, almost 2 points. Only stat that matters

 

[CC96]

In fairness, Bowman said this while coaching the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s, so the talent gap he had over the rest of the league except maybe the Islanders was enormous.

The thing is that the dump-and-chase is never going to go away, no matter how other systems might flourish or how analytics might affect the game. It could have gone away after the Soviets revolutionized the game in the 70s and 80s, but it didn't - because the NHL community is like a self-perpetuating machine of conservatism. There isn't room for any forward thinking or invention because everyone is playing for their jobs, and by the time players get to the NHL level they are so indoctrinated in system play that they carry it with them when they transition out of playing and into coaching.

I find it illuminating to go back occasionally and read Ken Dryden's The Game because these same things were debated 40 years ago when he wrote it, and while writing it he researched and discovered that many of the same debates took place 40 years before he played the game. The NHL, its coaches, and its players are fixed like mosquitos in amber when it comes to finding new ways for the game to evolve.

I agree 115% percent with your initial post, and everything you said right now. I was just being a cynical smartass.

 

[CC96]

every year it's the same thing

"but we have such a young team, we're trending upwards, smith is playing well, blah blah blah"

The results have been the same for years regardless. We don't even have players from those years any more because they went somewhere else, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people here felt we would do a lot better this season building on Domi and Duclair's wonderful seasons last year and bringing up Dvorak, Strome, Chychrun and DeAngelo having played wonderfully.

27th in points, 27th in GF. 23rd in GA.

Last year, 25th in points, 24th in GF, 27th in GA.

And yet, our team has theoretically been upgraded quite a bit in defensive capabilities given how well Chychrun and DeAngelo have been playing.

Consistently, I think our team has gotten better players every year since our last good years with Whitney, but we're now performing worse than ever.

Are Stone, Chychrun, OEL, DeAngelo, Goligoski, Murphy better than Schlemko, Klesla, OEL, Yandle, Morris, Rundblad, Michalek?

In 2013-14 PHX was 18th in the League with that defense.

Tippett traditionally coaches a very defensive team style.

How is it that our GA/GP has consistently gone up in the Tippett era every single year he's been a coach (outside of the 2011 year where we went super hot) from when he first took over?

Good post, baela.

 

[BUX7PHX]

In fairness, Bowman said this while coaching the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s, so the talent gap he had over the rest of the league except maybe the Islanders was enormous.

The thing is that the dump-and-chase is never going to go away, no matter how other systems might flourish or how analytics might affect the game. It could have gone away after the Soviets revolutionized the game in the 70s and 80s, but it didn't - because the NHL community is like a self-perpetuating machine of conservatism. There isn't room for any forward thinking or invention because everyone is playing for their jobs, and by the time players get to the NHL level they are so indoctrinated in system play that they carry it with them when they transition out of playing and into coaching.

I find it illuminating to go back occasionally and read Ken Dryden's The Game because these same things were debated 40 years ago when he wrote it, and while writing it he researched and discovered that many of the same debates took place 40 years before he played the game. The NHL, its coaches, and its players are fixed like mosquitos in amber when it comes to finding new ways for the game to evolve.

Regardless, the way that I would like to think that people would perceive this information is that there are still things in the game like line changes and making the opposition expend energy exiting their zone. How can you make an opposing team turn the puck over in the best possible position to allow your team to score a goal?

1. You can do so by playing good defense in your end and counter-attacking, but that means traveling 120 - 200 feet of ice.

2. You can trap the neutral zone and have to skate the puck 80-120 feet.

3. Or you can dump and chase, force a turnover and have to work with the puck in a 30-70 foot span.

The only one where you can get a turnover and not worry about offsides is by executing on dump and chase. The highest opportunity to create a player disadvantage for the opposition is likely to come from dump and chase by creating a turnover. That's why it will never go away. It doesn't mean that coaches force-feed it as a system. Just that it is a tactic that can be used when you perceive your team to have an advantage over the opposition in their defensive end of the ice.

If you knew that you could force a turnover 10-20% of the time, and it would give you a brief opportunity to get a 5 on 4 or 4 on 3 situation, why wouldn't you take it?

 

[WrinkledPossum]

Oh I'm sorry! Objectivity has no place here. I'll just post this here instead to make this board more readable for everyone.

Because objectivity is looking solely at the teams record and whining about Tipp while completely ignoring what the roster is. If you really think there's some coach out there who could have got us to the playoffs the last 4 years I seriously question your knowledge about hockey.

Now there are some fair critiques of Tipp. But the majority of it is just people complaining about small things and then saying Tipp has no clue what he's doing, horrible coach. And as evidence they just bring up team stats from the last few years. And again no coach would have this team at the top of the league. The roster has been garbage for years, even when we made the playoffs it was bad.

Duclair is shooting the puck. The trouble is his scoring percentage is a lousy 4%. This just might be nature correcting itself from his absurdly high scoring percentage last year.

The percentage is insanely low, but just like last year his shot totals are low, only on pace for 100-105 shots on the year. An avg shooting % is around 10% so he would only be on pace for like 10 goals. Maybe it's just cause we played the Sharks but I'm a bit worried Dukes peak could be what Boedker is. Support winger who doesn't shoot enough. His shot totals are low, and he has struggled to be successful if he isn't Domi's sidekick.

 

[XX]

If you knew that you could force a turnover 10-20% of the time, and it would give you a brief opportunity to get a 5 on 4 or 4 on 3 situation, why wouldn't you take it?

Because you don't need to give up possession to begin with. This has been studied and clean entries provide goals at a much higher rate, which is why a lot of forward thinking coaches are abandoning dump ins. I'm currently scoring the entire Sharks game for zone entries, and right now most of the way through the 2nd period it's 7 total dumps for the Sharks vs the Coyotes 23. I expect this disparity to get even more hilarious in the third.

I'll post the full notes when done.

 

[PhoPhan]

 

[WrinkledPossum]

Because you don't need to give up possession to begin with. This has been studied and clean entries provide goals at a much higher rate, which is why a lot of forward thinking coaches are abandoning dump ins. I'm currently scoring the entire Sharks game for zone entries, and right now most of the way through the 2nd period it's 7 total dumps for the Sharks vs the Coyotes 23. I expect this disparity to get even more hilarious in the third.

I'll post the full notes when done.

Have you done this for other games? I'd be curious to see what the strategy is/how we play against a very good team like San Jose compared to a game against a weaker opponent.

 

[Canis Latrans]

every year it's the same thing

"but we have such a young team, we're trending upwards, smith is playing well, blah blah blah"

The results have been the same for years regardless. We don't even have players from those years any more because they went somewhere else, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people here felt we would do a lot better this season building on Domi and Duclair's wonderful seasons last year and bringing up Dvorak, Strome, Chychrun and DeAngelo having played wonderfully.

27th in points, 27th in GF. 23rd in GA.

Last year, 25th in points, 24th in GF, 27th in GA.

And yet, our team has theoretically been upgraded quite a bit in defensive capabilities given how well Chychrun and DeAngelo have been playing.

Consistently, I think our team has gotten better players every year since our last good years with Whitney, but we're now performing worse than ever.

Are Stone, Chychrun, OEL, DeAngelo, Goligoski, Murphy better than Schlemko, Klesla, OEL, Yandle, Morris, Rundblad, Michalek?

In 2013-14 PHX was 18th in the League with that defense.

Tippett traditionally coaches a very defensive team style.

How is it that our GA/GP has consistently gone up in the Tippett era every single year he's been a coach (outside of the 2011 year where we went super hot) from when he first took over?

I think the defensemen themselves are not the issue with the goals allowed. It's the ineptitude of the offense and ability to transition the puck once obtained that's allowing the opposition to maintain possession and offensive time. Since the offense rarely can create any sustained pressure the team has to play more defense, and even if they're playing better on defense, if you give another team that many chances, eventually something is going in. I'd wager that if the team could transition the puck into the offensive zone while still maintaining possession more consistently, the goals allowed numbers would go down. It's obscene how bad they are with the puck outside of OEL, DeAngelo, and Domi really.

 

[XX]

Have you done this for other games? I'd be curious to see what the strategy is/how we play against a very good team like San Jose compared to a game against a weaker opponent.

I have access to replays, so it can be done. Preferably you'd need to find a mild opponent at home, since road vs home games can also be different in strategy. I may go score one of the very early games to see if there was a notable difference to the approach at the start of the season.

The comparison vs the Sharks so far is alarming, though. Not even their bottom six guys dump it in that much. The Coyotes collapsing into the slot is not helping. It's not all bad, I've noticed Hanzal and Stone having very good games and making key defensive plays. But the Doan line through 40 minutes has one meaningful possession and that was off the rush. Watching him be a boat anchor is depressing.

The McGinn - Dvorak - Duclair line dumps it in hardly at all (2 so far I believe) and have been the only consistent offensive threat + possession line the entire game.

What's shocking so far is the time in the offensive zone. If someone knows a good resource that, I bet it's very, very low for the Coyotes in this game and this year in general. It's usually one and done, if they even gain the line or get the puck back. The Sharks are very good at moving the puck to the D and out. Not only are the Coyotes generating few shots but they aren't spending much time in the Ozone, which means they're defending the rest of the time.

 

[Dirty Old Man]

What's shocking so far is the time in the offensive zone. If someone knows a good resource that, I bet it's very, very low for the Coyotes in this game and this year in general. It's usually one and done, if they even gain the line or get the puck back. The Sharks are very good at moving the puck to the D and out. Not only are the Coyotes generating few shots but they aren't spending much time in the Ozone, which means they're defending the rest of the time.

Two or three games ago TV showed a stat giving percentage of our faceoffs taken in off/neutral/def zones. It wasn't pretty.

 

[WrinkledPossum]

I have access to replays, so it can be done. Preferably you'd need to find a mild opponent at home, since road vs home games can also be different in strategy. I may go score one of the very early games to see if there was a notable difference to the approach at the start of the season.

The comparison vs the Sharks so far is alarming, though. Not even their bottom six guys dump it in that much. The Coyotes collapsing into the slot is not helping. It's not all bad, I've noticed Hanzal and Stone having very good games and making key defensive plays. But the Doan line through 40 minutes has one meaningful possession and that was off the rush. Watching him be a boat anchor is depressing.

The McGinn - Dvorak - Duclair line dumps it in hardly at all (2 so far I believe) and have been the only consistent offensive threat + possession line the entire game.

What's shocking so far is the time in the offensive zone. If someone knows a good resource that, I bet it's very, very low for the Coyotes in this game and this year in general. It's usually one and done, if they even gain the line or get the puck back. The Sharks are very good at moving the puck to the D and out. Not only are the Coyotes generating few shots but they aren't spending much time in the Ozone, which means they're defending the rest of the time.

The Sharks team really impresses me. I'd like for us to play like them but idk if we have the skill to do that yet. They might have the best top 9 in the league.

Doan really does hurt that line, when I've been impressed with it, it's because of Rieder and Nook. I wonder how Perlini would look on it..

I found this for zone faceoffs, http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/teamstats.php?disp=1&db=201617&sit=5v5&sort=NZPCT&sortdir=DESC

We're 3rd last in ozone starts, DAL and NYR are worse and CAR and OTT are top 2. Quite surprising. We have the 2nd most dzone starts, DAL is worse, and CAR is surprisingly first again.

 

[XX]

Yes, you're right. Tippett's strategic vision is inherently conservative, and thus tactically his forwards dump-and-chase more than the league average.

*Didn't count PP/PK, or clear concessions of possession on line changes aka no forward in sight. Also didn't count errant or missed passes. Didn't score the Sharks total entries in the first period so I didn't for the rest of the game. Needless to say, they had more total entries than the Coyotes by a good margin.

1st period:
Sharks dumped it in 4 times
Coyotes dumped it in 8 of 14 entries
Shots: +8 to the Sharks

Duclair line dumped it in once and that was Dvorak, if memory serves me right. They tried to skate it in every time and had good success, and were the only dangerous line in the first period.

- Stone and Schenn were pretty good, Stone saved a goal.
- Duclair was the best forward by far

I noticed the Sharks play with their backs to the boards and generally look across ice or back to the points for potential plays. The Coyotes play facing the boards and try to move things behind the net on a cycle, almost without fail. At one point Rieder absent mindedly just cycled it to nobody, that's how ingrained this behavior is at this point.

Sharks commentator:
"Coyotes are a methodical, no nonsense grind team" - Hahn
"With DT that's the type of game you have to play" - color guy

2nd Period:
Sharks dumped it in 3 times
Coyotes dumped it in 16 of 20 entries
Shots: +11 to the Sharks

- DeAngelo pretty physical despite his size
- Boedker criticized by Sharks PBP (work harder)
- Hanzal amazing in the slot. Saved a few goals this game.
- Domi scores on a clean zone entry from Schenn and Vrbata
- Dvorak line gets another clean entry, Gogo crossbar
- Tierney scores on a slam dunk out of the corner because everyone is defending the slot

3rd Period:
Sharks dumped it in twice
Coyotes dumped it in 5 of 13 entries.
Shots: +3 to the Sharks

*This period would appear favorable towards the Coyotes but there were multiple penalties and it was very scrambly for both teams, in general. The Duclair line once again threatened to score several times, Doan line had a shift that slightly redeemed them.

- Murphy penalty at start turns into a turkey shoot for Sharks
- Dvorak really shining in this period.
- Goligoski much more engaged than all year, it shows
- Schenn continues to be terrific
- Dvorak steals the puck on a nice play at center ice
- Dillon is a POS. Love him.
- Smith made two incredible stops with around 4:21 to go

Totals:
Sharks dumped it in 9 times
Coyotes dumped it in 29 times out of 47 entries (62%)
Shots: +22 to the Sharks (1 in OT)

Best Line of the game: McGinn - Dvorak - Duclair, by far. Wasn't expecting that. They resisted dumping it in and were rewarded with the lions share of offensive chances

Difference Makers: Schenn, Goligoski, Stone, Hanzal.

Schenn in particular had a very strong game, initiating the only Coyote goal and generally hitting everything in sight. He was also disciplined and good in his own zone. Goligoski was a menace all game long, this felt like his coming out party. Finally worth his money. Stone and Hanzal were the only reason this was a win with their consistent work in the slot. Maybe Hanzal's best game all year defensively.

Doan line was pretty awful although Martinook was good in his own zone as usual. 4th line did nothing except punch Braun and take a 10 minute misconduct.

They barely got a point out of this and it would have been a loss if the Sharks crashed the net more, or scored on numerous very high quality chances that Smith was fortunate to get a piece of. This is not a recipe for long term success. You can hang your hat on the total effort level, which was good, but the overall structure and play was pathetic. It was fugly hockey the first time and it didn't get any better the second time. They weren't anywhere near flawless defensively which is what is disappointing. I could stand this sort of road game if they were air tight but they were not, the Sharks simply missed on some very good chances.

I really, really don't want to watch 60 more games of that.

 

[BUX7PHX]

^^^

The McGinn - Dvorak - Duclair line doesn't surprise me, as they appeared to be consistently trying to skate the puck in.

What percentage of the dump and chases in the 2nd happened after the AZ goal? Could be a strategy to try and get the Sharks to have to skate the full ice to wear them down, but I understand where you are coming from cause that is quite a number to jump to, percentage-wise.

The offensive zone time for the Sharks obviously helped dictate shot volumes as well. How many times did the Coyotes wind up keeping possession or creating a SJ turnover after dump and chase? Same for the Sharks and how often did they create an AZ turnover? That's where my thought process would take me. If the team is extremely unsuccessful with keeping possession/creating turnovers, then yes that is a larger problem. If there is some success in doing so (which was likely a key stat in our playoff years), then maybe it is not the absolute worst thing...

Thanks for setting this straight from a numbers perspective. I will try to do the same next game to answer my own questions as well...

 

[DomiToDuclair]

I think the defensemen themselves are not the issue with the goals allowed. It's the ineptitude of the offense and ability to transition the puck once obtained that's allowing the opposition to maintain possession and offensive time. Since the offense rarely can create any sustained pressure the team has to play more defense, and even if they're playing better on defense, if you give another team that many chances, eventually something is going in. I'd wager that if the team could transition the puck into the offensive zone while still maintaining possession more consistently, the goals allowed numbers would go down. It's obscene how bad they are with the puck outside of OEL, DeAngelo, and Domi really.

And yet, our transition game, if you go off 1) our roster in general 2) player profiles and 3) the eye test has gotten significantly better over the past couple of years, even with the loss of Yandle.

Domi, DeAngelo, Chychrun, Murphy, Vrbata, Dvorak, OEL, even Strome (mind you, mainly in JR) and arguably Stone/Hanzal/Richardson/Duclair have all been fine on the transition and were infinitely better than, from what I recall, Tipchura, Moss, Klesla, Michalek, Bisonnette, etc.

Theoretically if we weren't 5th in the league in turnovers, I could see blaming our transition game, because certainly our possession is horrible, but I don't think that's the case here. We're literally dead last in the league in shot attempts.

We've literally never led by 3 goals this entire season and won, (the only team in the league to do that). 7/8 of our wins were won by 1 goal. Clearly, we're not generating enough offense.

Veteran players who know what is necessary to win in the league (playing good defense) vs rookies who will get exposed for being out of position by the tiniest amount of space.

A seemingly good stable of defensive prospects who appeared ready to be regular NHLers in name only. Gormley and Rundblad were the two highest profile players who seemed ready on paper. Not so much on the ice.

I do think that Playfair has been below average in his coaching. There has been little to change my opinion on that, even though the past few games, we have appeared to be much better in positioning and play on the defensive end.

It is hard to jump from the CHL to the NHL. A few players can do it. Domi did. Duclair did so with some unreal shooting metric luck. I would say that less than 5% of rookies set the NHL on fire. We got lucky with Domi, and luckier with Duclair, based on his high shooting percentage. Some level of regression should have been expected with the amount of youth added to the team.

Give it two years, maximum, and we will start a long run of playoff berths...

So, you're telling me that the difference between 2.2-2.6 GA and 2.8-3.1 GA/PG is a veteran presence who knows how to play defense, and has good positioning?

Last year, we were 7th in average age. The year before, 13th. This year, 16th. In 13-14 we had an average age good for 5th in the league.

In 13-14 Buffalo had the 27th highest age and was the 5th best team in GA/GP.

14-15 Buffalo had the 26th highest age and was the 27th best team in GA/GP. Last year, they were 27th in age and 15th in GA/GP.

So far this year they're 26th and 10th respectively.

Without debating to much on the quality of our defenses,

Here's the stats for last year's team age versus GA/GP.

Team Age | GA/GP
LAK 1 3
SJS 2 9
DET 3 16
CHI 4 10
PIT 5 5
OTT 6 25
NJD 7 8
DAL 8 20
COL 9 24
MTL 10 21
BOS 11 19
WAS 12 2
FLA 13 7
VAN 14 23
STL 15 4
NYI 16 13
ARI 17 28
ANA 18 1
PHI 19 12
MIN 20 9
NYR 21 15
CGY 22 30
TOR 23 25
TBL 24 5
EDM 25 27
NAS 26 14
BUF 27 16
CAR 28 18
CLB 29 29
WPG 30 22

 

[XX]

The offensive zone time for the Sharks obviously helped dictate shot volumes as well. How many times did the Coyotes wind up keeping possession or creating a SJ turnover after dump and chase?

Almost never. It was alarmingly bad. It's not like they had the cycle going and just didn't get shots. For the most part, they would get beat by the Sharks D and it'd immediately head the other way.

Same for the Sharks and how often did they create an AZ turnover? That's where my thought process would take me.

They almost always dumped it in from the red line, almost like a set play. It seemed like they were coached to do that on neutral zone faceoffs to avoid the potential of a turnover when the team isn't set. Only once by my count did the Pavelski line attempt a 'dump' which was more like a chip into a corner with Jumbo and another shark outnumbered the lone Coyote (still counted it). Contrast that to the Coyotes that would just automatically dump it in from the blueline unless it was the Dvorak line.

Kevin Labanc was really good and he refused to dump it in, always showing patience around the blueline. If a rookie straight out junior can do that, I don't see why the Coyotes can't. They attempt a lot of clean entries on the PP because that's Newell Brown's baby, and that's arguably the only instance where dump and chase is still viable.

I'd rather see guys skate it in and force the Sharks to take it away rather than this dump in stuff. If you could alleviate just 10-20% of the Dzone pressure, you'll win more games.

 

[BUX7PHX]

So, you're telling me that the difference between 2.2-2.6 GA and 2.8-3.1 GA/PG is a veteran presence who knows how to play defense, and has good positioning?

Yep - defense wins championships and at that point, those playoff teams had definitively better chemistry on both offense and defense. Being situationally aware has a big impact.

 

[RemoAZ]

This is the way Tippett wants to play guys. I was a STH for 5 years and sat in 109 to be closer to our offense 2 out of 3 periods. Problem was it was always the reverse. Tippett plays prevent now and always has. Remember how many shots Bryz would see every night? The players have changed but way we play hasn't.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Almost never. It was alarmingly bad. It's not like they had the cycle going and just didn't get shots. For the most part, they would get beat by the Sharks D and it'd immediately head the other way.

It's painful how familiar that story is to me. Dumping the puck deep is one thing - actually getting the forecheck and cycle going is quite another. We have been bad at this for as long as I can remember. Also familiar: the way you described the Coyotes' cycle - facing the boards, pinned there by the D. It feels like the Coyotes are playing like an NBA team.

 

[MIGs Dog]

Sharks commentator:
"Coyotes are a methodical, no nonsense grind team" - Hahn
"With DT that's the type of game you have to play" - color guy

Sharks announcers talked repeatedly about our defensive style and how hard it is to score against the Coyotes.

I got the feeling watching the Shark's broadcast that they were basing their assessment on previous seasons since we're 27th worst in the league at 3.1 GAA.

However, Smith's 2.57 is much better than Dom's 3.21.

Note: The 3 teams with worse GAAs have at least 5 more points each than we do. The scoring side of the ledger counts too!

 

[DomiToDuclair]

Yep - defense wins championships and at that point, those playoff teams had definitively better chemistry on both offense and defense. Being situationally aware has a big impact.

a full deviation of 1G/PG is coming from our team not having enough veterans and not being old enough.

And yet the data from other teams points that there's not that much of a correlation.

If teams saved 1GPG from getting an older more experiences team, every team in the league would be doing it.

It's delusional to believe that the difference from 2.2 - 3.1 is caused primarily by age and not influences way more heavily by system, coaching style, etc.

 

[BUX7PHX]

a full deviation of 1G/PG is coming from our team not having enough veterans and not being old enough.

And yet the data from other teams points that there's not that much of a correlation.

If teams saved 1GPG from getting an older more experiences team, every team in the league would be doing it.

It's delusional to believe that the difference from 2.2 - 3.1 is caused primarily by age and not influences way more heavily by system, coaching style, etc.

Age alone is not the sole factor, but you somehow construed age as being the number 1 reason. That is delusional.

I will repost exactly what I said a few posts prior with some explanations, as it is a combination of age, skill level, coaching, and chemistry.

Veteran players who know what is necessary to win in the league (playing good defense) vs rookies who will get exposed for being out of position by the tiniest amount of space. - this covers situational awareness as veteran players are less likely to make mistakes while being more likely to play a safe game. It is also possible that we happened to find the exact right mix of veterans that don't look great as individuals, but playing together, they had the right yin-yang combination. We didn't look scrambled or jumpy as a team, even when down. We don't have that at this point. Chemistry between some players has not been automatic, and is highly important. Remember, some thought Whitney was awful for his first 10-20 games here. Then we couldn't do without him.

A seemingly good stable of defensive prospects who appeared ready to be regular NHLers in name only. Gormley and Rundblad were the two highest profile players who seemed ready on paper. Not so much on the ice. - there was a perception that we had stronger talent in the system. Murphy played in the NHL before he was ready, IMO. Other players could not step into roles b/c they were not quite talented enough to make a definitive impact. We are starting to get those types of players, but picture yourself stepping into a job at age 18, 19, 20 and having to deal with associates 10 years older than you. There is a learning curve to adjust to the NHL, and it can take anywhere between a few months to 2-4 years before reaching that point. Buffalo is starting to see the fruits of their defensive work coming together with young talent in McCabe and Ristolainen.

I do think that Playfair has been below average in his coaching. There has been little to change my opinion on that, even though the past few games, we have appeared to be much better in positioning and play on the defensive end. - if there is a coach that I believe to have not held up his end of the bargain, it is Playfair. I think that we played a much more effective and simpler defensive gameplan with Ulf than with Playfair.

It is hard to jump from the CHL to the NHL. A few players can do it. Domi did. Duclair did so with some unreal shooting metric luck. I would say that less than 5% of rookies set the NHL on fire. We got lucky with Domi, and luckier with Duclair, based on his high shooting percentage. Some level of regression should have been expected with the amount of youth added to the team. - this is based on your statement that Duclair, Domi, etc. all should be increasing their points/play/etc. Very few people take a directly linear path in their development. If the case were otherwise, Auston Matthews would average 4 G per game every game. While there is an expectation that players should always improve, that doesn't necessarily happen and it is a very narrow view to assume that new players and players who show promise are immediately going to take their game to the next level.

Give it two years, maximum, and we will start a long run of playoff berths... - patience. To expect an immediate surge in play is crazy. While we are at a better place talent-wise, we are still not executing as individuals or as a team well enough. We are starting to get there.

By the way, when was Buffalo the 5th best team in GA per GP? Typo? These are the stats that I see:
12-13 season: 23rd
13-14: 25th
14-15: 29th
15-16: 16th

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I think that we played a much more effective and simpler defensive gameplan with Ulf than with Playfair.

I don't know if it was simpler, but whatever Ulf did was certainly more effective. And given NYR's performance with Ulf coaching the defense, it seems like his strategy/tactics provided repeatable success.

Give it two years, maximum, and we will start a long run of playoff berths... - patience.

I think that's overly optimistic - not because we don't have the talent, but because there is no way to be that certain given the unpredictability both of the NHL in general and our franchise specifically.

 

[kihekah19*]

I'm shocked we dumped the puck in more than San Jose.

I can only hope that the absolute waste of time one poster dedicated to the obvious, is somehow beneficial to someone.