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The way we play...


BlackRedYellow

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So here it goes... is it just me... or have we changed the way we play since about 15 games ago?

The first quarter of the season, we were the "driving" team, skated like hell and came out flying. We scored a lot (some of them flukes) but also got scored on, but the play was fun to watch, and we most often outshot our opponents...

After a string of losses about 15 games ago, we suddenly started to play more defensively, and by that I mean slower, more careful... We haven't outshot an opponent since then, and all lines seems to play an awful lot slower these days. We do still have a winning record, but it's not as fun to watch anymore...

Or as I started... is it just me!?

I hope we find the speed again and start skating!!

Go Nucks!! :towel:

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No, it's not just you. Something has definitely changed. Maybe the book is out on Willy Desjardins system or maybe Hamhuis loss hurts more than just defensively but it's not exciting and I've even started to second guess organizing a road trip down for a game with some mates from work because, honestly, I don't want to pay for what I'm seeing on the ice.

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Naaa... don't see the same tendency as with Torts. With him we won due to only "hard" play, and started loosing since we got worn out.

I don't see any "worn out" tendencies now, but more of a change of how we play. We don't seem to play by chance anymore. Now we play more defensively and careful.

Maybe it's due to Hamhuis injury. One thing is for sure, it started when he fell out. But it seems odd that one player can hurt so much!?

And, I do remember hearing Willy stating some time ago that they wanted to change the way they played, but just a little bit. If this is the result of that change, it wasn't just a "little" bit.

Also, I don't buy the "old man" excuse (but for the Sedins) since many of the players are still young, and they haven't gotten that much older over a time of just two months <_<

I fear that Willy got snakebitten back there and changed his philosophy just a bit too much. Hope he adjusts it sooner than later.

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This change up happened specifically after the Rangers game...Pretty sure we will go back to that style once Hammer comes back.

This/ remember WD said, "were going to fine tune our system." After that embarassing loss to the rangers, WD is a coach that is all about run-and gun hockey, but all the sudden we have went back to Torts hockey.

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You want an indication of a decent(by no means contending) team?

One key player's out, & they can't adjust accordingly.

The strange thing (if this has to do with Hamhuis being out) is that he wasn't even that good this season... or did he mean that much to all the rest of the players!?

I still think this has to do with the style of play, which I believe they have changed. I think the self confidence has gone done after the change and needs a new boost. Not in wins, but after a change back to the speedy style!

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we still found ways to win without hammer. this is probably a reaction thread from tonight. you can say it's not, but logically speaking, after a loss, these threads tend to pop up out of nowhere. just sayin'

anyways, when's higgins coming back? sorely missed him tonight

Naaa... I started writing this after the Islanders game. I think we've played pretty much the same (win or lose) for the last 15 or so games... So has nothing to do with the loss tonight, sorry...

I don't believe that Hamhuis being injured is the reason why this team has changed the way they've played lately.

Hamhuis coming back sooner than later would definitely help though.

edit: spelling.

I agree... can't see that one player would make such a difference... but yes, he's sure welcome back :)

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http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=10658785

"We are going to do what we have always done 90 per cent of the time. But when we are not quite in that position then maybe we won't be quite as aggressive. It's going to be the same that we've seen. We are just going to be smarter when we are not in the position we want to be."

After realizing our defense sucks and our offense can't bail out our defense every game. Intelligent move to step back a bit and focus on the defense.

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No, it's not just you. Something has definitely changed. Maybe the book is out on Willy Desjardins system or maybe Hamhuis loss hurts more than just defensively but it's not exciting and I've even started to second guess organizing a road trip down for a game with some mates from work because, honestly, I don't want to pay for what I'm seeing on the ice.

I thought it was common knowledge we changed our system to a more defense one since we lost Hamhuis?

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Around the time we started to dip we lost Hamhuis, Matthias got injured and hasn't made it back yet, Higgins donned his invisible man guise, Bonino went into a form slump and more importantly and more serious, we started shuffling the personnel.

AV used to do it, as did Torts and I am not a fan of it at all. It ruins chemistry and team play. We should have weathered the dip and fought our way back as a team.

For me the team endeavoured to establish chemistry from day one along with understanding the new systems. They managed that admirably and apart from the LA result and a couple of "puck luck" losses in Toronto and Montreal, I felt we were becoming a real good team.

I think Willie over reacted after NYR and while he was right to tighten up a bit defensively I think the accompanying line changes lost us a lot of our chemistry and playing style.

It is understandable to a certain extent as Willie, new to the NHL and not wanting to be seen as a coach who couldn't react to adversity, simply over reacted and upset the balance.

He is still learning in this league and finding out there are few bad teams, I'm sure he will pull it round.

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