you know what is crazy? there are a few other teams doing that now for some unknown reason..I think Philly and Tampa was dropping back but not 100% sure who it was I was watching...I just thought why on Earth is another team doing this nonsense????
Every team uses it. Not just Philly and Tampa. Pay attention to every single PP of an opposing team in our games moving forward. Every.Single.Team. uses it in some form. The Hawks just don't execute it correctly. Has nothing to do with the entry itself, but poor execution/coaching of it.
If you use it, you can't have it dropped back so far that the forwards flying through the neutral zone at full speed have to come to a complete stop at the blueline and wait for Kane to carry the puck in. The whole point of it is for the puck-carrier to carry the puck across the red line, and time it so that he chips it in behind the D with his other two forwards going at full speed across the blueline. This catches basically the entire opposing team's four defenders standing still at the blueline/flat-footed, and ensures a clean entry/ability to setup down low in the offensive zone. The Hawks don't do this. They drop it soooooooo far back, that the forwards have to pull up at the blueline, then the puck carrier can't really chip it in, unless he chips and chases himself. Which defeats the purpose of the entry in the first place.