1996 Pens-Panthers series: Harbinger of DPE?

[The Panther]

Last night, I was watching the highlight pack of the 1996 Pens/Panthers Conference series...

...and I was thinking that this series is like the start of the Dead-Puck Era.

Okay, the Jersey "trap" went into partial effect in the 1995 Finals, but that's an established team with several good players -- and a team that (in 1995) could really score. But the Panthers in 1996 were your classic third-year post expansion team, like the model for the current Golden Knights: solid veteran goaltender (Vanbiesbrouck) and a bunch of grinders.

Florida's top scorer (Mellanby!) that season, had 70 points, while Pittsburgh had Lemieux and Jagr, plus other skilled players. To be fair, Florida actually scored a solid 254 goals, but that was 108 fewer than Pittsburgh's, so it was obvious what Florida's strategy was.

Pittsburgh was rusty in game one and lost, but then built up a 3-2 series lead. That should have been enough, but the Panthers survived in game six at home, and then you flip a coin in game seven (Panthers won).

But, man, looking at those old highlights... the amount of holding, hacking, tackling, and interference on Lemieux & Jagr is stunning. This was around the time Mario started complaining about the state of the League, and he certainly had a point. Basically, the refs were complicit in "grind over skill" as a way to market hockey, and I do wonder if this series was one of the things that (finally) started the NHL down the path towards cleaning up the game a bit.... albeit we suffered 8 years of dead-puck era before anything conclusive happened.

Even though the Pens weren't ready to go in game one and had their defensive / goaltending lapses in this series, I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that I'm sure they'd have won this series if today's reffing-style was in place.

The rats-on-the-ice thing was annoying as hell.

(Not meaning any disrespect to Florida, who were great in this series. Then again, maybe it's karma for the DPE because the franchise hasn't won a playoff series since!)

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[LightningStorm]

Okay, the Jersey "trap" went into partial effect in the 1995 Finals, but that's an established team with several good players -- and a team that (in 1995) could really score. But the Panthers in 1996 were your classic third-year post expansion team, like the model for the current Golden Knights: solid veteran goaltender (Vanbiesbrouck) and a bunch of grinders.

You nailed it 100% when it comes to the comparison of this Panthers team and the Devils from the previous season. While many point to the Devils shocking upset (and sweep!) of the Red Wings the season before as the start of the DPE, especially with the Devils being the main image of it, I've always said it was this Panthers team that really kicked it into full gear, and completely concur with you. In addition to the differences you already mentioned between the 2 teams, there's also the difference in how the league reacted to them.

After the Devils won the cup in 1995, the trap wasn't necessarily viewed as a harbinger of things to come. As you mentioned, the Devils could still score, so they could beat you in more ways than the trap. There was no guarantee for it's viability once coaches attempted strategies to counter it, something the Devils 1995 postseason opponents didn't have time for. Teams obviously didn't really seek to copy it the following season with how high scoring the 1996 season was.

But the 1996 playoffs proved not only that the trap was viable, but that a team without elite talent like the Panthers could ride it all the way to the finals, and even beat a very talented and skilled team like the Penguins along the way. The following 1997 was when scoring really plummeted as teams started trapping, clutching and grabbing on a wide scale.

 

[VanIslander]

I knew in January of that year that Florida was a playoff team.

An aggressive forecheck, efficiently-coached long bench, 100% effort every shift and good goaltending is a formula for success. Captain Gainey and Roy in 1996; captain Scrudland and Beezer in 1996; coach Ruff and Hasek in 1998 and 1999; Peca and Laviolette did it on Long Island in 2002; Pronger and Roloson in Edmonton in 2006; coach Gallant and Fleury in Vegas in 2018. There are certainly more examples.

 

[Staniowski]

Yes, that Florida team was an important part of the evolution of defensive hockey that produced the DPE.

Backing up, though....scoring had been declining for a decade, pretty consistently. Teams were playing more defense generally. Then the '95 Devils set the (then) modern blueprint for an ultra-defensive team game. The Devils had pretty decent talent, a lot of solid players.

The '96 Panthers were not very talented and were successful playing the style they did.

But I think the DPE was inevitable when the talented teams - Detroit, Dallas - also were playing very tight team defense. Now you had the less talented teams playing defense to success and also the more talented teams playing defense to success.

In '97-'98, scoring dropped almost 10% from the previous season.

 

[Florbalista]

4:59, Mario sums it up in one syllable.

5:38, Why you don't want Jagr to defend.

 

[VanIslander]

Harbinger?

Habs '93
Devils '95

The writing was on the wall.

 

[Hobnobs]

Harbinger?

Habs '93
Devils '95

The writing was on the wall.

tbh 94 canucks as well.

 

[Michael Farkas]

My first thought was "no...Devils in '95, Habs in '93, some other squads with a little lesser success...Florida was just part and parcel in the process..." but then I re-thought it, Florida's success made it "accessible" not that the '93 Habs or '95 Devils were stacked beyond belief, but they were quality teams...two of the best goaltenders of all time (though, we didn't know it yet in New Jersey) at their back...

Florida was just an expansion team, they had nothing really going for them prior (Habs were in the '89 Final, finished 1st in '92; Devils were in game 7 OT of the '94 ECF)...this was group of roughians, fresh from the sewer, led by a guy with no head coaching experience in the NHL...

And they took down the league's best offense on a big stage. That combination made it accessible...Anaheim would duplicate it, Minnesota would duplicate it, these low-end teams with budget lineups (as opposed to teams like Philadelphia and Dallas who would grind teams down, but with some star power) really gave them a shot against teams like Detroit or Dallas or whomever...

So I don't think it's the genesis of DPE shenanigans...but, I think it made it accessible...it provided the road map to competing in an unbalanced league...

 

[barbu]

I guess teams realized how far you could push the boundaries of nhl refeering. Similar to politicians today.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Whenever I get into an HFBoards argument about how rule changes are going to ruin the game, I'm reminded that there were high-profile hockey people who adamantly opposed calling penalties on the things you see in that video. Everyone talked a big game in the preseason, then come playoff time it's "you gotta fight through that stuff, it's the Stanley Cup".

 

[frisco]

Most definitely. Florida taking out superior talent like Philly and Pittsburgh really set the blueprint for defensive/trap hockey that would be emulated by countless teams. Granted that style of game had always been around but real tangible evidence that you could play this way and beat The Legion of Doom, Lemieux, Jagr, et al, with expansion-esque quality players was this Panther team. This was especially true in the playoffs where the lack of enforcement of "obstruction" is magnified. Also, Pittsburgh (coached by a weak tactician in Eddie Johnston) never adapted over the course of seven games playing right into Florida's hands.

My Best-Carey

 

[billybudd]

Yeah, that series is when the DPE started for me, in my mind. Distinction between them and, say, the championships Devils, is that the Panthers made the finals with mostly average players and a journeyman goaltender. I felt like this caught the attention of every team that wasn't already playing this type of hockey and clued them into the fact that the barrier to entry of winning games this way was quite low. Regular season hockey 1995-96 vs 96-97 looked very different to me.

 

[VanIslander]

Regular season hockey 1995-96 vs 96-97 looked very different to me.

There wasn't much change in scoring then.

The biggest change was two to three seasons earlier: in 1993-95 when average goal scoring dropped from 3.63 to 3.24 to 2.99. That's a huge drop from the two seasons right after the Habs checked their way to the cup (the harbinger).

There was another significant drop later: in the 1997-98 season, from 2.92 to 2.64.

 

[VanIslander]

The Panthers cup run wasn't the harbinger, it was the handwriting on the wall.

 

[c9777666]

While many point to the Devils shocking upset (and sweep!) of the Red Wings the season before as the start of the DPE, especially with the Devils being the main image of it, I've always said it was this Panthers team that really kicked it into full gear, and completely concur with you. In addition to the differences you already mentioned between the 2 teams, there's also the difference in how the league reacted to them.

After the Devils won the cup in 1995, the trap wasn't necessarily viewed as a harbinger of things to come. As you mentioned, the Devils could still score, so they could beat you in more ways than the trap. There was no guarantee for it's viability once coaches attempted strategies to counter it, something the Devils 1995 postseason opponents didn't have time for. Teams obviously didn't really seek to copy it the following season with how high scoring the 1996 season was.

Also, keep in mind, 1995 was a shortened season. Perhaps the thinking was that the trap was a short season wonder.

Interestingly, after 1996, Florida lost the Cup Final, yet teams did not copy the team that WON the Cup Final.

 

[Tarantula]

Also, keep in mind, 1995 was a shortened season. Perhaps the thinking was that the trap was a short season wonder.

Interestingly, after 1996, Florida lost the Cup Final, yet teams did not copy the team that WON the Cup Final.

Likely since most teams were closer to the Panthers in talent level. About the time I did stop watching a lot of hockey as well.

 

[billybudd]

There wasn't much change in scoring then.

The biggest change was two to three seasons earlier: in 1993-95 when average goal scoring dropped from 3.63 to 3.24 to 2.99. That's a huge drop from the two seasons right after the Habs checked their way to the cup (the harbinger).

There was another significant drop later: in the 1997-98 season, from 2.92 to 2.64.

It looked worse. And yeah, there was a big change in scoring, particularly at the top end.

2 ~150 point players vs 0.
12 100 point players vs 2.
8 50 goal scorers vs 4.

 

[Hobnobs]

My first thought was "no...Devils in '95, Habs in '93, some other squads with a little lesser success...Florida was just part and parcel in the process..." but then I re-thought it, Florida's success made it "accessible" not that the '93 Habs or '95 Devils were stacked beyond belief, but they were quality teams...two of the best goaltenders of all time (though, we didn't know it yet in New Jersey) at their back...

Florida was just an expansion team, they had nothing really going for them prior (Habs were in the '89 Final, finished 1st in '92; Devils were in game 7 OT of the '94 ECF)...this was group of roughians, fresh from the sewer, led by a guy with no head coaching experience in the NHL...

And they took down the league's best offense on a big stage. That combination made it accessible...Anaheim would duplicate it, Minnesota would duplicate it, these low-end teams with budget lineups (as opposed to teams like Philadelphia and Dallas who would grind teams down, but with some star power) really gave them a shot against teams like Detroit or Dallas or whomever...

So I don't think it's the genesis of DPE shenanigans...but, I think it made it accessible...it provided the road map to competing in an unbalanced league...

tbf. A lot of teams were using when Florida had their success. Tampa and Caps made the playoff on it. Sens brought it in with Martin that same season. Sabres used it in 96.

 

[VanIslander]

Sabres used it in 96.

Nope. Coach Nolan did not trap. There was no clogging the neutral zone.

Instead, he introduced an aggressive 2-man forecheck, dump and chase, with one dman pinching to contain the puck at the point. (The Sabres had poor defensive dmen but good offensive dmen in Zhitnik and Galley, so it worked. Forwards like Barnaby and May gladly dumped and chased into corners and banged scappily to recover).

In effect it was a perpetual powerplay accompanied by odd-man rushes against. It was a high-risk, high-reward style that worked with such solid goaltending. Nolan would go on to later do it in Long Island to the chagrin of the GM Snow and owner Wang who expected their offensively weak lineup to get a high draft pick but Nolan coached them to the playoffs. Nolan coached the same aggressive forecheck for Latvia, which was close to upsetting Canada in an Olympic knockout round match (until Pronger's 3rd period goal proved to be the difference).

 

[Wings4Life]

1994/95 was the start of the DPE, and the Devils were the harbinger. 1996 was just a blip similar to 2005-06.

 

[tony d]

I think it helped with the dpe but the 1995 Devils Cup win really introduced us to the trap and other parts of the DPE.

 

[Hobnobs]

Nope. Coach Nolan did not trap. There was no clogging the neutral zone.

Instead, he introduced an aggressive 2-man forecheck, dump and chase, with one dman pinching to contain the puck at the point. (The Sabres had poor defensive dmen but good offensive dmen in Zhitnik and Galley, so it worked. Forwards like Barnaby and May gladly dumped and chased into corners and banged scappily to recover).

In effect it was a perpetual powerplay accompanied by odd-man rushes against. It was a high-risk, high-reward style that worked with such solid goaltending. Nolan would go on to later do it in Long Island to the chagrin of the GM Snow and owner Wang who expected their offensively weak lineup to get a high draft pick but Nolan coached them to the playoffs. Nolan coached the same aggressive forecheck for Latvia, which was close to upsetting Canada in an Olympic knockout round match (until Pronger's 3rd period goal proved to be the difference).

Nolan employed a 1-2-2 trapping system. Now you could be right that he hadnt yet developed it fully for the 96 season. His principle was the same however. "Clutch and grab with everything you got guys"

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

1994/95 was the start of the DPE, and the Devils were the harbinger. 1996 was just a blip similar to 2005-06.

You could really even point to 93-94 as the start. Anaheim and Florida join the league, huge drop in scoring, rise of NJ (lost to NYR in the conf finals).

NJ was significantly more skilled than Florida though. That's why i think Florida's success in 96 had more of an effect with nearly every team switching to a defensive system overnight. Realized they don't need guys like Stevens, Niedermayer, and Daneyko to be a great defensive team.

 

[The Panther]

You could really even point to 93-94 as the start. Anaheim and Florida join the league, huge drop in scoring, rise of NJ (lost to NYR in the conf finals).

There wasn't really a big drop in scoring in 1993-94 when compared to 1990-91 or 1991-92 (0.24 fewer per game). It's just that it wasn't as crazy as 1992-93, which was kind of a one-off for reasons discussed before in various threads.
3.45 per game -- 1990-91
3.48 per game -- 1991-92
3.63 per game -- 1992-93
3.24 per game -- 1993-94
2.98 per game -- 1995 = short, work-stoppage season
3.15 per game -- 1995-96
2.91 per game -- 1996-97
2.63 per game -- 1997-98

That's why I think the DPE's harbinger was the '96 playoffs and the 1996-97 season.

NJ was significantly more skilled than Florida though. That's why i think Florida's success in 96 had more of an effect with nearly every team switching to a defensive system overnight. Realized they don't need guys like Stevens, Niedermayer, and Daneyko to be a great defensive team.

That's what I think, too. The significance in scoring going down is not that scoring goes down; the significance is when teams with less talented players figure out that they can make the Finals with those less talented players.

 

[sr edler]

tbh 94 canucks as well.

94 Canucks trapped? I wish (not really) they were.

94 Canucks had a lot of big rough guys though (Momesso, Antoski, McIntyre, Antoski, Hunter, Odjick, Antoski) but only forwards. We (I never say "we" when talking about my favorite team otherwise but I'll make an exception here) didn't have any nasty defensemen though but they still looked big and nasty when playing the Jets compared to Housley, Olausson & Company.