I keep seeing these seemingly ridiculous blown coverages when the play is in our end and I'm having trouble understanding why NHL players are making these mistakes. Take this Saad power play goal from last night as the most recent example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2mDMs8Vkr-s#t=117
You'll notice Edler goes wandering out to the half boards, leaving Saad all alone to the side of the net. Why? All the elite teams running successful defences (LA, Boston, etc.) will gladly concede the perimeter and box out the area in front of the net (this is a big reason why the Sedin magic isn't as potent anymore, the opposing d-men just don't chase) but our d-men are constantly chasing and getting out of position. We've seen this on many other occasions this year, and the most common offenders are Bieksa, Garrison and Edler. I just don't understand it. If you're a d-man and are ever unsure where to go, aren't you supposed to just return to the front of the net?
I know on the PK we seem to run some kind of overload system where 2 PKers will attack the puck carrier if he shows any sign of losing control of a puck but that's generally the center + winger doing that, and not the d-man.
So am I missing something about our "system"? If not, why can't these guys be taught to play proper defence?