I implied it wasn't the cake walk it's often made out to be. You had smaller goalies with smaller gear, you also had less dilution.
If we start the dead puck around '95, Messier played about a third of his career in that era, Yzerman about half, Sakic more than half and Jagr about three quarters or better. I think my saying a 'fair amount' is reasonable.
Some teams did play systems, believe it or not. The Habs and Islanders didn't each win 4 Cups in a row by having no structure. Jacques Lemaire, god to the neutral zone trap that he introduced with the Devils mid-90s, mentioned in an interview that it originated with him and a half dozen other Canadiens in the '70s as a way to try and contain Orr, since Lemaire couldn't do it on his own.
Is McDavid a product of system coaching, or is he just McDavid? Defensive systems can squelch the offense of middling players, but every now and then a talent comes through that cannot be contained for long by any one system, simply because those playing the system are a tier below in talent to the player they're trying to contain.
Crosby's one of those guys, and so are the eight who've already accomplished this feat. That's all I was trying to say, without blowing the others off as if they had it easy because scoring levels were different in their day. Gretzky, Lemieux, Sakic, Yzerman, Messier and Jagr all carried part of their careers thru the dead puck and still managed the feat. This isn't an accomplishment of era, it's an accomplishment of skill + desire + longevity.
