Lets talk about the Flames defense

[King In The North]

Not true. Most Oilers fans felt we would make the playoffs , but that we were not a true contender yet, nevermind a "cup favorite".

Through 27 games: Cgy D = 47 pts, Edm D = 45 pts.

Not true. They were included by most people in those teams that would make the playoffs in the West.

It's a waste what little offense is coming from our backend. Joining the rush ala Hartley was a success and most of them are fast enough skaters to come back now.

I would also say aside from Klefbom, Edm's point totals from the back end is about expected.

 

[King In The North]

The attempt to equivocate Chia ending up with less than nothing (Reinhart) to what Calgary payed for Hamonic makes my sides hurt.

Hahah. If they wanna talk about bad trades than look no further...

 

[CornKicker]

do flames fans have issue with smith playing the puck as much as he does? I mean he is very good at it, but for a defence that can drive offence are they missing the puck touches and control they have had in years past?

 

[Dack]

it's hard to quantify defense.

forwards have a pretty big impact on team defensive stats like shot suppression, scoring chance suppression and goalies have a big influence on goals against statistics. then you have to take into account how the defense help drive offense.

the Flames are a little worse than league average in Expected Goals Against/60, Corsi Against/60, and Shots Against/60 but they are the 3rd best Shot Generation team who play at a very high pace.

Which is weird because it's a complete turn around from last year where we were a defensive team that couldn't score. I don't really know what happened we have the same coaching staff and everything and yet everything about the team is different.

Our PK went from an awesome top 10 PK to bottom 3 over night.

 

[Volica]

Flames defence is fine.

For those that actually watched earlier this season, the bottom pairing with Bartkowski and Stone was possibly the worst pairing in the league. They spent the entire night in their own zone and were at least guilty of one goal a night. When they corrected with Kulak they really turned a corner.

Now Brodie and Hamonic are really struggling as a pair. Terrible pinches leading to odd man rushes. Poor Hammer is getting the Dougie treatment where literally everything is bouncing off of him poorly and it’s costing the team. Brodie is also playing way too aloof. It’s nice that he’s an excellent skater, but he’s taking himself out of plays in the worst of ways.

Gio and Dougie are one of the best pairs in the league; and it’s not even worth debating. They spend the entire night in the other teams’ zone and it’s statiscally backed up.

These guys are too good not to put it together. It doesn’t help when your PDO is sub 850 and all the bounces are going against you.

 

[CraigsList]

do flames fans have issue with smith playing the puck as much as he does? I mean he is very good at it, but for a defence that can drive offence are they missing the puck touches and control they have had in years past?

I think at first our team was adapted to it, but now I think Smith is doing it way too much.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

This is the third year in a row we’ve been terrible defensively the first 20 games.

The team always figures it out and ends up being on of the best teams defensively by the end of the year.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Yeah Brodie > Nurse is correct. your agenda against the flames is admirable. You go around and like every post in the Flames GDT. Talk about having too much time on your hands.

This year it’s not correct

 

[Baxterman]

do flames fans have issue with smith playing the puck as much as he does? I mean he is very good at it, but for a defence that can drive offence are they missing the puck touches and control they have had in years past?

I was terrified of it with him coming in because it seemed to cause as many goals against as goals for when he was in Phoenix but so far I can't think of any terrible mishandles from him. I also think he has lessened his wandering from his Arizona days.

I have noticed a few times the d has been caught out being a bit lazy going back I think assuming Smith was going to play it so that may be an issue but so far I haven't had an issue with Smith playing the puck.

 

[Fig]

do flames fans have issue with smith playing the puck as much as he does? I mean he is very good at it, but for a defence that can drive offence are they missing the puck touches and control they have had in years past?

Personally, I don't mind Smith playing the puck. Does he overplay it at times? Sure. But I think the benefits exceeds the risk. However, what drives me nuts is that this system is based on a cycle style/one touch pass game which our team isn't used to playing, which arguably is a misuse of the roster.

Smith playing the puck isn't a problem. The problem is when Smith plays the puck, we often have almost all our personnel in the neutral zone flat footed due to the fact there's probably like 7 guys shoved into 1/3 of the rink with no space to move. That's disadvantage 1 IMO. If some other fans complain about the lack of space for creativity, IMO this is stifling it even more by stacking the neutral zone.

The theory of the puck being the fastest object in the game IMO is not a bad one, but the system IMO zone entries that are too passive. This means the opposing team can stack the blue line which further reduces the space available for our flat footed neutral zone players. This is disadvantage 2 IMO. The heavy reliance of acceleration as well as craptastic dump and chase or easy poke checks from the blue line while the rest of the personnel wait at the blue line to ensure they're not off side/not caught on the wrong side of a momentum shift in the other direction.

Disadvantage 3 IMO is the way we hold the opposition blue line, which is too passive. Previously if the opposition obtained possession within 10-20 feet of their blue line, we'd try to pressure the puck back deep into the o-zone. But now, the D pull back. I often see our dmen around 15 feet from the blue line when the opposing team exits their zone. That's way too passive IMO. I seem to recall Hartley's system being around 5-10 feet max. I'm curious to know if that extra space is allowing the opposition an advantage. From their perspective, they'd have way more space to work with and thus an easier time blowing past our dmen if they get that much space to do the moves they want to.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

He very well could have been drooling as he was typing that, then it would kind of make sense.

Foaming. Was foaming 100%

 

[HugginThePost]

Klefbom has had a rough patch, Larsson is currently injured and Sekera has been injured all year. Our starter also hasn't been good.
All that said your team has allowed 4 less goals than ours. No one thought the Oilers had good defense. People were screaming that Calgary had like one of the best defenses in the league, just bad goaltending.

Now let’s talk about how good your forwards were going to be.......

Shit happens......the game is played on the ice not in forums.

 

[Lunatik]

do flames fans have issue with smith playing the puck as much as he does? I mean he is very good at it, but for a defence that can drive offence are they missing the puck touches and control they have had in years past?

No issue at all, and most of the time he passes the puck to the defenseman. Him handling the puck saves the defensemen from multiple bumps per gave, this should help the wear and tear on their bodies significantly through the season.

 

[Bounces R Way]

As constructed it should be a top 5 blueline.

Buuuuuutttt it's not and never has been. Sometimes they're good, mostly they're just ok, and quite frequently this season they've been awful. Thank Christ for Giordano. Was skeptical of Hamonic from day 1, that second pairing needs to get going or the team will fall flat on it's face in the playoffs again.

The Flames always have the most success when they maximize the offense from their D. Instead they force cross ice passes from their goal line because their coach wants to test his hockey theories. He's got them playing not to lose rather than taking risks.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

Yeah Brodie > Nurse is correct. your agenda against the flames is admirable. You go around and like every post in the Flames GDT. Talk about having too much time on your hands.

Not quite.