I'm still trying to find out what kind of team they're trying to build. We keep hearing about how to play the game 'right', but what the 'right' way to play the game? I look at teams like Colorado and Tampa Bay and see players that can skate and handle the puck and don't play a trap/ dump and chase system. Then I watch Boston and I see a physical and skilled team. But I watch the Flyers and I just see a team that's an absolute mess. There's no distinct style they're trying to create. We just hear play hard and grind. That's not an identity, game plan or how to build a team. That's just an excuse for 'we have no f***ing idea what we're doing, so we'll use a bunch of catch phrases to sell it to the masses.'
Torts has a very distinctive style, a 2 man aggressive forecheck is the key element.
Even teams that have skilled players do a lot of forechcking, think Goodrow - Guorde - Coleman on TB.
Only a few players are consistently able to skate/pass the puck into the O-zone, for the rest Torts wants them to try to enter, but if blocked, throw it in deep and go chase like a rabid dog. ANd he wants his D-men to aggressively pinch and attack in the D-zone
The flip side is you have to rotate the third forward to cover when a D-man does get deep in the O-zone, and every one has to back check hard to limit the opposing offense's window of opportunity on odd man rushes.
It would be nice if all four lines had playmakers and sharp shooters, but there aren't that many to go around, but even if your bottom six can't score, if they can bottle up the other team in their own D-zone they can keep them from scoring.
Right now it's limited because the players are limited, they can "play hard and grind" but there just isn't enough skill with all their scorers injured to generate much offense. It is what it is.
