The evolving game

[Calvin]

I tend to pooh-pooh some of the articles that SI puts up on hockey, no disrespect meant to the late Kelley or the other writers, but the pieces do seem dumbed-down for the non-hockey-fanatic-masses

 

This however was an interesting dissection of how the game has changed over the last couple of years since the post-lockout run and gun we played so well.. I'd be interested to hear what y'all think of it, and what the Sabres can do tactics-wise to adapt

 

Darren Eliot>VIEW FROM THE ICE

 

The return of neutral zone sludge

 

Let me first say that NHL officials have the toughest job I can think of in the sport -- and that's just in the night-in night-out grind of ensuring that the games are safe and equitable. But referees have also become the custodians of the game -- the ones who are charged with keeping it moving forward in its evolution. That added burden is becoming harder, if not impossible, to bear.

 

After the neutral zone trap was widely blamed for choking scoring, and excitement, out of the game, officials were asked to unflinchingly uphold a strict standard of rules enforcement after the 2004-05 lockout. Games in the "New NHL" were initially power-play fests, and players adjusted as officials became more comfortable calling what had historically been considered soft hooking, holding and interference penalties. The result was more pace. Skating was accentuated on offense -- and it became a necessity on defense -- when use of the stick as a deterrent and leverage tool was all but abolished. The game improved immensely when players were forced to move their feet whether their team had the puck or not.

 

The unforeseen negative was the number of high-speed collisions that led to the ongoing focus on hits to the head. Intended or not, with the newest safety mandate front and center, interference has more than crept back into the defensive equation. On some level, this is a natural reaction to the fear that the game will lose its physical nature due to enforcement of the headshot rule. Interference as physical play subliminally becomes acceptable again as guys fight for their ice, but fighting for ice without the puck was what the 2005 rededication to the rulebook was all about.

 

Speed away from the puck was the main idea and it is the essence of the game at its best. Yet, neutral zone sludge is slowly beginning to build up across the league. The only way that happens is when defensive players who have little or no speed are allowed to clog lanes and slow their faster opponents by neutralizing them with subtle grabs, blocks and nudges instead of being forced to defend with equal quickness.

 

Offensive forechecking suffers when the area between the bluelines becomes a gauntlet of human speed bumps and rumble strips. Less speed means less quality time in the offensive zone, and that quality time is what the league wants. See: the recent ingenious tweaks to face-offs on icings (no personnel changes for the offending team) and for penalty calls (an offensive zone face-off no matter where the infraction occurred). But those are controlled situations that aid the offensive team. The intention of the 2005 no-interference mandate was to help the offense while play was underway.

 

The eyeball test tells me the game is now backsliding too much. Five players idling in the neutral zone in a 1-3-1 configuration has become more prevalent than the stretch pass. I even saw up-tempo aficionado Peter Laviolette of the Flyers pull all five of his guys into the neutral zone for long stretches recently. And why not? It conserves energy because less skating is involved. Defensive players are getting away with more while moving their feet less.

 

I'm not blaming the coaches. If they can gain an advantage, they have to take it. Guy Boucher is bogging down the ice from blueline to blueline, but he has his Tampa Bay Lightning in first place atop the Southeast Division and is challenging Laviolette's Flyers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Boucher's team gives up the fewest shots on goal in the NHL. His formula works.

 

It wouldn't have in 2006, though, when Laviolette jumped his peers by embracing stretch passes and aggressive two-man forechecking while leading the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup. Defensemen had to turn and skate to retrieve the puck, with no obstruction of the offensive player's path until they both arrived at the puck and engaged in physical play at that point. Forwards had to backcheck to establish inside position on attackers away from the puck, without contact.

 

A little tug here, a little rub there, or an innocuous pick on a player anywhere might not seem like much. It may even seem more allowable now so that we don't eliminate all physical play from the game. But the cost is immeasurable when it comes to freedom, flow and room for the most skilled players to operate. The fine line between physicality and obstruction falls -- maybe unfairly -- on the referees. The line is blurred now, not in definition, but in execution. How do I know? Forget empirical data and watch, as static defensive positioning gains a foothold. That shouldn't happen if speed in the game is zealously preserved.

 

That's my call. It won't matter, though, if more calls aren't made at ice level.

[PASabreFan]

I tend to pooh-pooh some of the articles that SI puts up on hockey, no disrespect meant to the late Kelley or the other writers, but the pieces do seem dumbed-down for the non-hockey-fanatic-masses

 

This however was an interesting dissection of how the game has changed over the last couple of years since the post-lockout run and gun we played so well.. I'd be interested to hear what y'all think of it, and what the Sabres can do tactics-wise to adapt

 

 

A lot to think about. Thanks for posting that. I guess I don't understand what the trap has to do with the writer's beef with enforcement. The trap isn't illegal. It should be. The NBA or NFL would have banned it by now. Oh yeah, Ruff does it too. Boudreau has installed it at times even.

 

It's the owners' fault for hiring guys who are damn near destroying the game, for the purpose of winning hockey games at any cost. They say Wang on Long Island was kidding about putting a morbidly obese 500 pound guy in goal, but I'm not so sure he wasn't serious. Where does it end? Talk about shitting on your own lawn.

[nobody]

I was so happy as a fan of hockey when the league started calling the obstruction/interference penalties. Beyond what it did for the Sabres - it really made the game fun again. If the league doesn't want to go back to calling everything; then perhaps a compromise would be to get rid of offsides. Allow a player to stand next to the opposing goaltender waiting for a pass coming out of his own zone and we'll see how much clogging of the neutral zone will happen.

[Kristian]

I was so happy as a fan of hockey when the league started calling the obstruction/interference penalties. Beyond what it did for the Sabres - it really made the game fun again. If the league doesn't want to go back to calling everything; then perhaps a compromise would be to get rid of offsides. Allow a player to stand next to the opposing goaltender waiting for a pass coming out of his own zone and we'll see how much clogging of the neutral zone will happen.

 

You don't even need to go to such drastic measures, all you would need to do is make off-sides similar to how it works in soccer - Whether a player is offsides or not is decided on where the receiving player is located the instant the pass is made, not when the player receives the pass.

 

For instance, this would make it possible to send a long pass to a teammate hugging the other blueline and allow him to enter the zone the second the pass is away, rather than wait for the puck to reach him before entering the zone.

 

More work for the linesmen, but that's what they're there for.

[Two or less]

I was so happy as a fan of hockey when the league started calling the obstruction/interference penalties. Beyond what it did for the Sabres - it really made the game fun again. If the league doesn't want to go back to calling everything; then perhaps a compromise would be to get rid of offsides. Allow a player to stand next to the opposing goaltender waiting for a pass coming out of his own zone and we'll see how much clogging of the neutral zone will happen.

 

I agree, and Larry Quinn tried to fight the fight as well.... from the legendary Jim Kelley-

 

Sources tell SI.com that Jacobs took some offense during the recent Board of Governors meetings in Pebble Beach, CA, when Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn was making an impassioned plea about opening up the game. Quinn was said to be making a point regarding how the Sabres have recaptured their fan appeal in the Buffalo market and elsewhere in the NHL with a more fast-paced attack style. In essence, Quinn told Jacobs and New Jersey Devils GM and (governor) Lou Lamoriello that, with all due respect, their teams -- which generally play a trapping, defense-first style of game -- are boring and fans just don't enjoy watching them.

 

Link- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jim_kelley/12/13/bruins.sabres.notes/index.html?section=si_latest

[bob_sauve28]

They did away with the stupid two line off side pass, how about doing away with the offside altogether? Ok, maybe have it so that one a team enters the zone and the defensive team gets the puck out the offensive players have to leave, but what really is the point of having everyone "onside" at the blueline. I'd love to see them at least experiment with getting rid of it

[X. Benedict]

Actually, Laviollete's Left Wing lock often does look like a trap when a team gets past the fore-check....always has, even after the lockout with Carolina, it turns into 3 zoned trap in the neutral zone.

[wonderbread]

Actually, Laviollete's Left Wing lock often does look like a trap when a team gets past the fore-check....always has, even after the lockout with Carolina, it turns into 3 zoned trap in the neutral zone.

smartypants. :pirate:

[North Buffalo]

I have to agree with Eliot, I have seen a lot more clutching and grabbing as well as stick work on the behind the scenes or off puck offensive players than before and that can seriously disrupt a play. The fact that refs are not calling it is like not calling a defensive holding penalty because the pass was thrown in the other direction. It limits options and offense and that is too bad. The game is much better when it is a skating game, might as well bring back the goons who can't skate like Derian Hatcher once he was past his prime.

[Calvin]

You don't even need to go to such drastic measures, all you would need to do is make off-sides similar to how it works in soccer - Whether a player is offsides or not is decided on where the receiving player is located the instant the pass is made, not when the player receives the pass.

The offside rule is already a very contentious issue in international soccer - more often than not nowadays with players' speed bad calls are getting made. Hockey, on a smaller playing surface and much faster speeds, would be a nightmare to implement that offside rule in. Plus, would it be a reviewable call? And if reviewed in the offense's favor, the advantage is still lost.. so what then, an offensive zone faceoff?