silentbob37*
Guest
From Justin Bourne's blog on the 7th
From Friedman’s intro, regarding the Leafs: You can blame management, the coach or the players. (Or all three.) Whoever you choose, the fact is this is a team that has lacked a defensive identity for years. The coach quoted above says, for that reason, he understands why the Maple Leafs chased David Clarkson, Roman Polak, Stephane Robidas and Daniel Winnik, although it remains to be seen how much of that ends up working.
The Leafs chasing names like the four above demonstrates that they still don’t fully understand what constitutes defense these days – which is to say that getting out of your own zone and into the offensive zone is a better “defensive†play than blocking shots and laying the body.
The Detroit Red Wings are a great example. They’re third in shots allowed per game in the NHL, giving up only 27.1 per night (they’re sixth in goals against per game, allowing 2.35 per contest). And have you seen their roster? Right now their bottom four D-men are Kyle Quincey, Danny DeKeyser, Brendan Smith and Xavier Ouellet – not exactly Craig Ludwig and Derian Hatcher. They’re giving bigger roles to guys like Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Gustav Nyquist – hardly a group of Mike Pecas.
When I asked Mike Babcock about the Wings relieving pressure on breakouts by using the front of the net, he said “I’m a big believer in getting back and executing fast so you don’t have to play in D-zone coverage at all. You often turn pucks over by keeping it along the wall you end up in the D-zone, and we’d like to be in the offensive zone by making that good first pass.†(Emphasis mine.)
He’s all about playing fast and playing in the right zone, which is a good chunk of the reason Detroit’s “defensive†numbers are so good. Stockpiling players with big shot-blocking totals means you’re stockpiling players who play in their D-zone too much.
Grit is a nice value-add; on its own, it’s not worth much.
http://www.thescore.com/news/658646
From Friedman’s intro, regarding the Leafs: You can blame management, the coach or the players. (Or all three.) Whoever you choose, the fact is this is a team that has lacked a defensive identity for years. The coach quoted above says, for that reason, he understands why the Maple Leafs chased David Clarkson, Roman Polak, Stephane Robidas and Daniel Winnik, although it remains to be seen how much of that ends up working.
The Leafs chasing names like the four above demonstrates that they still don’t fully understand what constitutes defense these days – which is to say that getting out of your own zone and into the offensive zone is a better “defensive†play than blocking shots and laying the body.
The Detroit Red Wings are a great example. They’re third in shots allowed per game in the NHL, giving up only 27.1 per night (they’re sixth in goals against per game, allowing 2.35 per contest). And have you seen their roster? Right now their bottom four D-men are Kyle Quincey, Danny DeKeyser, Brendan Smith and Xavier Ouellet – not exactly Craig Ludwig and Derian Hatcher. They’re giving bigger roles to guys like Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Gustav Nyquist – hardly a group of Mike Pecas.
When I asked Mike Babcock about the Wings relieving pressure on breakouts by using the front of the net, he said “I’m a big believer in getting back and executing fast so you don’t have to play in D-zone coverage at all. You often turn pucks over by keeping it along the wall you end up in the D-zone, and we’d like to be in the offensive zone by making that good first pass.†(Emphasis mine.)
He’s all about playing fast and playing in the right zone, which is a good chunk of the reason Detroit’s “defensive†numbers are so good. Stockpiling players with big shot-blocking totals means you’re stockpiling players who play in their D-zone too much.
Grit is a nice value-add; on its own, it’s not worth much.
http://www.thescore.com/news/658646
