Well, yes. Grossman sucks at getting the puck out of the zone, and that has always been true (which is why he throws so many hits, and blocks so many shots) -- as an aside, these critiques are unfortunately applicable to Schenn, too.
So, the team spends more time playing D, and less time on offense... and that drags everyone down a bit. But, again, if he was posting a low 2s GAON like he has previously, then everything is fine, because he is steady and consistent.
- gollum
If I may resuscitate the horse for a moment...
I've posted before on this topic, when that BSH piece on Grossmann broke, and my opinion falls along the lines of most of those who have defended Grossmann's game and role on the team...I won't repost what I did before, but I will say that a major issue the team has had is with players (primarily forwards) not providing adequate support in the defensive zone. When they do provide the support, they play a much more defensively responsible game and it has a domino effect...opposing players don't get a lot of extended time in the attack zone as the D isn't left alone to try and get the puck and get it out...the breakouts improve as the D can make simple short passes and the team can move up the ice as a unit instead of as a disjointed mess...and of course, the team wins more.
In games where they don't give enough support, the opposition tends to get extended possession time in the attack zone as the D is often left alone to try and break a forecheck and they're often left with limited options to clear the zone or to pass and break out when they manage to get possession...a guy like Grosssmann, who doesn't have the skating/puck handling ability to easily skate it out himself and who doesn't have the puck moving acumen to be able to hit open guys with stretch or other types of skilled passes, will tend to struggle the most when the support isn't there.
So, I guess a question might be, are Grossmann's poor stats more a manifestation of the Flyers lack of support in the D zone than they are a reflection of his own poor play? Is it acceptable to say that the Flyers need to do a better job of supporting the D so a defensive d man like Grossmann's limitations aren't as exposed or is it preferable/better strategically to say that the Flyers should get rid of those types of players, like Grossmann and Schenn, in favor of guys that have more skill in moving the puck and driving possession so they don't need the forward support as much?
I find that, more often than not, when the Flyers the forwards are skating hard and coming back to support in the D zone, such as in the past few games, the team's issues with defense and breakouts tend to disappear and guys like Grossmann don't look bad at all (he made several good, basic first passes and the breakouts were fine).
So, I guess it's a question of what type of team, what type of system you want to run...where the forwards come back and support the d consistently or one where you load up with mobile, puck moving types to try and get away with less (defensive) support from the forwards? In looking at the results when the team plays with defensive discipline and the forwards skate and come back to offer consistent support, they're pretty good, so I'd say that's a viable option...not so sure about the alternative. What if you have a D corps full of mobile, puck movers AND they get consistent support from the forwards? Hmmmm....
