The first being that the Ranger defense was getting caught way too often to begin 09-10 so they obviously needed a change. This was a big problem in the beginning of the season, especially with rookie Michael Del Zotto, but it has not fixed itself, as Torts changed his approach instead. Getting caught down low leads to the next reason why the change has been made.
The second reason for this could be to limit odd-man rushes or attacks. When stepping up at the blueline, there is basically a 50-50 chance of you getting the puck or the oncoming player beating you and entering the zone. If the ladder occurs, then almost every time you will have an odd-man attack coming in on the lone defenseman that stayed back.
So in a way, this is taking a lot off of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. A big question entering the season was whether or not Hank would be able to endure the odd-man rushes that come along with Tortorella's high pressure system. Well, so far so good, but the change surely will help Hank out as well as the team as a whole.
Now this can be looked at two different ways. Perspective A would state that John Tortorella is a bit uncertain in his own system to make a change like this. At the same time, Perspective B would see this as Tortorella acknowledging a flaw in the system by making a needed change. Whatever the case may be, the bottom line here is that the Rangers are not playing the high-risk defense that they were earlier in the season, but now are playing on the more conservative side of things.
Updates from practice later.....
(Sent using my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry)
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2 comments:
Astute observation. As to the cause, I fear that it may be bad coaching and a flawed roster as I have been suggesting for weeks and as Brooks suggests today. We all had high expectations for Tortorella. At the quarter post, he isn't meeting expectations. He, with Sather, bear responsibility for assembling a soft roster and one that has not yet been able to offset this with speed and puck possession. This is quarter post. Mid term grades after Thanksgiving but right now, I would say that Tortorella is not making the grade and that the team will fail with him.
Thanks, and yes, I agree that Tortorella has not been to great on his decision making so far this season. All of the line jumbling and some of the personnel that he has put out in key situations has been puzzling. Well, just we have to wait and see how he does in the next six weeks before we make bold judgements.
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