Florida had a plan and stuck with it, play up tempo hockey and make the other team earn it the whole way. This is kind of what Bowness tried to do here. The difference to me is that Bowness wanted to play anti-hockey for 3 lines and then rely on only one line to score vs Florida had 2 lines to score, but also was willing to pressure but also retreat and ultimately had a Bob-wall that held for them. Fueling that system with re-treads was a good call on their part.
The other question for me is what they can lean from EDM. They managed to take a defense that was thought of as a weakness and turn it into a strength in less than a season. This shows how much of an impact coaching can have. How a team can have McJesus and still have their PK be the bigger story shows you the impact. Having a coach that utilizes what he has AND matches it to the other teams abilities is how you take moderate talent and have them get better as the competition ramps up.
To me, this is where the other guys behind the bench need a hard look. Spott wasn't good enough, the team didn't shift and do enough and kind of just coasted. Tugolukov is the skills coach, he's committing malpractice with the passing skills of this team. This is killing the team and the style of play that it feels like PDB wants to play. Also, I'd probably say Jeff Reese needs a refresh to push Oetter differently.
I would recommend not listening to what most people say about Edmonton's blueline. Any deep dive paints Nurse as a legit defender - overpayed? Absolutely, but extremely serviceable. Really their hole in the wall is Ceci. Dude is truly wretched in every way but because he doesn't make as much, nobody criticizes him despite him having a much more outward negative impact in proportion to usage. Ekholm, Bouchard, Kulak, and Broberg all range between solid to legitimate elite. If anything Dallas needs to worry about not weaponizing their bottom pair or in light of that -- getting Heiskanen back on his strongside. I agree about coaching though. I don't know how anyone can criticize special teams and home-ice advantage and NOT talk about the people responsible for gameplanning them. It's on the players to execute, but it's on staff to strategize. When both fail so thoroughly, it's on both to blame.
I was really looking forward to the stories about copying the Edmonton model if they had won.
First, have the right combination of poor performance and draft lottery luck to have top 10 picks in 10 of 11 years (2009 to 2019), including top 5 picks in 5 of 6 years (2010 to 2016), which included 4 1st overall picks. This allows you to snag generational talents 2 yrs in a row. Next...
Also, I had forgotten Draisaitl was 3rd overall in 2014. Ekblad and Reinhart went ahead of him and Bennett was 4th. That means the top 4 picks in the 2014 draft were in this cup final. Good job GMs!
Florida had a plan and stuck with it, play up tempo hockey and make the other team earn it the whole way. This is kind of what Bowness tried to do here. The difference to me is that Bowness wanted to play anti-hockey for 3 lines and then rely on only one line to score vs Florida had 2 lines to score, but also was willing to pressure but also retreat and ultimately had a Bob-wall that held for them. Fueling that system with re-treads was a good call on their part.
The other question for me is what they can lean from EDM. They managed to take a defense that was thought of as a weakness and turn it into a strength in less than a season. This shows how much of an impact coaching can have. How a team can have McJesus and still have their PK be the bigger story shows you the impact. Having a coach that utilizes what he has AND matches it to the other teams abilities is how you take moderate talent and have them get better as the competition ramps up.
To me, this is where the other guys behind the bench need a hard look. Spott wasn't good enough, the team didn't shift and do enough and kind of just coasted. Tugolukov is the skills coach, he's committing malpractice with the passing skills of this team. This is killing the team and the style of play that it feels like PDB wants to play. Also, I'd probably say Jeff Reese needs a refresh to push Oetter differently.
I would recommend not listening to what most people say about Edmonton's blueline. Any deep dive paints Nurse as a legit defender - overpayed? Absolutely, but extremely serviceable. Really their hole in the wall is Ceci. Dude is truly wretched in every way but because he doesn't make as much, nobody criticizes him despite him having a much more outward negative impact in proportion to usage. Ekholm, Bouchard, Kulak, and Broberg all range between solid to legitimate elite. If anything Dallas needs to worry about not weaponizing their bottom pair or in light of that -- getting Heiskanen back on his strongside. I agree about coaching though. I don't know how anyone can criticize special teams and home-ice advantage and NOT talk about the people responsible for gameplanning them. It's on the players to execute, but it's on staff to strategize. When both fail so thoroughly, it's on both to blame.
>> getting Heiskanen back on his strongside.
back?
If we don’t sign Tanev and now that we know that DeMelo and Pesce will not be available, what is your Christmas wish for our right side?
I was really looking forward to the stories about copying the Edmonton model if they had won.
First, have the right combination of poor performance and draft lottery luck to have top 10 picks in 10 of 11 years (2009 to 2019), including top 5 picks in 5 of 6 years (2010 to 2016), which included 4 1st overall picks. This allows you to snag generational talents 2 yrs in a row. Next...
Also, I had forgotten Draisaitl was 3rd overall in 2014. Ekblad and Reinhart went ahead of him and Bennett was 4th. That means the top 4 picks in the 2014 draft were in this cup final. Good job GMs!