Quote:
Originally Posted by CSKA1974
You contradict yourself: you are talking about a need of coaching so that players play into the system and then you state that there is nothing wrong with the system.
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Not at all. The system in terms of X and Os is fine. Players being sufficiently coached and prepared for the system is a different story. We had a bunch of terribly young and inexperienced players not only playing in the NHL for the first time, but also playing in Laviolette's system for the first time.
Then factor in that several of them were changing lines and positions (Schenn to wing, Read to C).
We made a lot of changes last season (and throughout the season). That was compounded by the fact that many of the guys coming into that new situation were first year NHLers. The coaches simply couldn't afford them the learning curve and personal coaching time that a lone 1-2 rookies or new players might have gotten nor were there a lot of veterans to serve as on ice mentors for the system.
I expect that our forwards will be better defensively solely through the experience of this season. Sprinkle in a few personnel upgrades (as opposed to the huge turnover of last season) and we should be set-up nicely going into next season imo.