Quote:
Originally Posted by braindead
Very thoughtful post but I don't see the logic in knocking Trotz for this. His actions state the obvious: our top line is not better than the other team's top line (as your parenthetical acknowledges, at least implicitly).
Is there a team that we have played this season that had a worse top line than us in terms of raw talent? I can't think of it. The fact that Sully-CalO-Horny even is our top line wasn't remotely obvious at the start of the season. To add insult to injury, they also are worse DEFENSIVELY than a lot of top lines, so the relative disparity is even larger.
If the other team has a better top line (which virtually everyone does), and they want to play it against our top line (which they frequently do), Trotz is playing the odds absolutely correctly by limiting the ice time of both top lines. Our offensive advantage (assuming we have one) is depth of scoring so he is playing to our strength such that it is.
To say Trotz is "not showing confidence in the scoring lines" is correct but it is not the negative that you suggest it is. Trotz doesn't let Horny into the shootout-- is he not showing confidence in his top line winger or is making the correct decision that his best odds of winning lie with Marcel Goc or Martin Erat?
Now you can enjoy the game in secure in the knowledge that Trotz is not a dunce but rather is in the unacknowledged fruit of a long-since-forgotten Scotty Bowman indiscretion.  |
Coaching is game like battle which gets a bad name. But it's similar you are either advancing or retreating. If you state you are retreating then you are stating this by showing your hand and saying that I can't beat you but I'm trying to get the game into overtime or the shootout. That's all in good but in the end we only advanced by one point to a division rival. Winning in it's nature is a risky propostion. You can play defense all night but your not going to stop the opposition 90 percent of the time. Trotz inevitable is saying that can more outcoach on the D side than I can on the O side. Which does say that he has no confidence in the Offense. Because he doesn't know. I don't think anyone can say that Trotz is stupid he is like most coaches and most coaches can't produce winner on a consistant basis. If you say just to make the playoffs is casting him a winner. I don't agree this mean they are good enough to compete but not enough to win a series or beyond