Offence Wins Cups

[lynxrattle]

https://www.tsn.ca/offence-wins-championships-in-today-s-nhl-1.1283220

 

With the NHL forcing the refs to actually follow the rulebook on slashing etc, the capability for offence is a big factor again. If Yost is right in his article, this would also mean that the Wild really needs a change in prospect picking priorities in Europe. Less Swedes, Finns, Swiss, and more Russians. The first mentioned have more defence first kind of hockey cultures, and will stay like that because they are small hockey countries compared to Canada, Russia and USA. Russia has traditionally been more open to offence and have an enormous mass of players from which to try to find the hidden gems.

[Alexandron]

9 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

https://www.tsn.ca/offence-wins-championships-in-today-s-nhl-1.1283220

 

With the NHL forcing the refs to actually follow the rulebook on slashing etc, the capability for offence is a big factor again. If Yost is right in his article, this would also mean that the Wild really needs a change in prospect picking priorities in Europe. Less Swedes, Finns, Swiss, and more Russians. The first mentioned have more defence first kind of hockey cultures, and will stay like that because they are small hockey countries compared to Canada, Russia and USA. Russia has traditionally been more open to offence and have an enormous mass of players from which to try to find the hidden gems.

Thanks  Lynxrattle. Nice article. I am still waiting for that offensive priority in our team for 19 years already. Because it raising more interest to watch those games instead of to see a boring defensive style where the wins are depending more of a solid goaltender play instead of amounts of goals placing into the opposite net by a solid team's offensive style. Hope, Sokolov, DeWar, Khovanov, Lodnia and maybe Kaprizov(if signed) will be able to change the team's mentality towards that offensive direction. Personally, for me, if the player is able to put consistently more than 35 goals per every season then I will forgive to him any mistakes he makes during the game. Still waiting in our team for a second Gaborik, whom I really missed. This season I am impressed about stats of Tampa Bay team which was able to put more than 300 goals(314 goals; diff.+100; 60 wins already) comparing to ours embarrassing stats 206 goals; diff. -26; 36 wins.

[Podein25]

10 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

Less Swedes, Finns, Swiss, and more Russians. The first mentioned have more defence first kind of hockey cultures, and will stay like that because they are small hockey countries compared to Canada, Russia and USA. Russia has traditionally been more open to offence and have an enormous mass of players from which to try to find the hidden gems.

 

This strategy seems like a guaranteed career-limiting move for a GM. While you might find a few hidden gems, how many mercurial Russians do you have to draft to find them? Like what's the ratio of duds to gems? 10:1?

 

Diabolical.

[ClusterChuck]

1 hour ago, Alexandron said:

Thanks  Lynxrattle. Nice article. I am still waiting for that offensive priority in our team for 19 years already. Because it raising more interest to watch those games instead of to see a boring defensive style where the wins are depending more of a solid goaltender play instead of amounts of goals placing into the opposite net by a solid team's offensive style.

Agreed.

As much as I loved Lemaire as coach, That style of play has been branded to this team ever since.

The organization blew it from the start. I know it's only a name, But to choose the "Wild" and have a defensive minded low scoring approach ...Well, They missed the boat on that one.

 

The NHL would've loved to see us come out and be in 7-5, 8-4 etc games. The PR for the team would've been great.

 

I'm not saying we have to be that crazy open play but just have the ability and players to score possibly in bunches. Or be able to come back when only down by 2 goals instead of curling up and pouting.

[Alexandron]

3 hours ago, ClusterChuck said:

Agreed.

As much as I loved Lemaire as coach, That style of play has been branded to this team ever since.

The organization blew it from the start. I know it's only a name, But to choose the "Wild" and have a defensive minded low scoring approach ...Well, They missed the boat on that one.

 

The NHL would've loved to see us come out and be in 7-5, 8-4 etc games. The PR for the team would've been great.

 

I'm not saying we have to be that crazy open play but just have the ability and players to score possibly in bunches. Or be able to come back when only down by 2 goals instead of curling up and pouting.

Agreed . Good point. The boat still can change its direction. It depends of the heads of the boat, who controls that boat. Yes, name should mean something, especially for the team named "WILD", which means for me - go Wild, go crazy. Defense does not cover much that name, but only a superb crazy offense. And I would prefer that trend (GO WILD,GO CRAZY) or something similar to make the fans crazy too instead of using a current not too popular trend - This Is Our Ice, which it seems too conservative, too boring, too stagnant. Actually, as long as we started this trend, our team started to play more worse, especially on our home ice. Or maybe the water for our ice is too soft, or taken from a spoiled ponds , but not from a Lake Superior?

It should be GO WILD and nothing else to boost our team's mentality towards their offensive play.

[lynxrattle]

3 hours ago, Podein25 said:

 

 how many mercurial Russians do you have to draft to find them? Like what's the ratio of duds to gems? 10:1?

I admit that. The ratio is probably worse than 10:1. That's why we need a Russian ex-player in the hunt for Red October. A Russian who made it in the NHL can find the gems from the duds. The cultural differences will make pick prospect interviews a nightmare, so we need scouts who know the culture and can read between the lines, and can call their pals coaching in Russia and ask if a prospect is good character or not.

 

On offensive vs. defensive play: I love a good defensive team. My all time favourite forward is Jere Lehtinen. There is nothing better for me than to see a Kesler or Mike Peca type of player taking that candy away from a baby like Patrick Kane. Seeing a Kane or a Malkin pout is bigger for me than seeing our players scoring. That is the odd way I'm built. But the thing is that the majority of fans like goals and I believe that the big majority of players want to see goals and most of them play better and enjoy the game when it's more offensive. That is what the NHL wants too. The Wild needs to follow the offensive trend.

[ClusterChuck]

41 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

I love a good defensive team. My all time favourite forward is Jere Lehtinen. There is nothing better for me than to see a Kesler or Mike Peca type of player taking that candy away from a baby like Patrick Kane. Seeing a Kane or a Malkin pout is bigger for me than seeing our players scoring. That is the odd way I'm built.

Nothing wrong with that.  

It is fun to see the big stars get frustrated and react in your favor.

Jamie Benn comes to mind, And the Sedin's.

I wouldn't mind having a Def minded system if we had at least some ability to score.

 

[Podein25]

56 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

A Russian who made it in the NHL can find the gems from the duds

 

I'm not confident that this holds. Debatable at best. But ok.

 

57 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

so we need scouts who know the culture and can read between the lines, and can call their pals coaching in Russia and ask if a prospect is good character or not.

 

There is a more general problem with scouting at play here: there is a bias against that kind of assessment. They often don't interview or talk to the player prior to the combine itself out of fear that this will impact their ability to render an "objective" appraisal of the skill. It's true. Maybe it's changing but I don't have the sense that it is.