The Dead Puck Era

[Canadiens1958]

Would like to take a serious look at the period in NHL history known as "The Dead Puck Era" or TDPE.

For the purposes of this thread we will view TDPE as the period between the two work stoppages that have marked the history of the NHL.

In an effort to salvage a season and playoffs in 1995 various compromises were made in terms of player development, team structure, strategies, rules etc. Likewise in 2005 various compromises, similar to the aforementionned, and rule changes were made to generate renewed interest.

The following factors are open to consideration - other contributions are more than welcome.

Defensive Systems
Coaches turned to defensive systems because of the time constraints of the short season of the following the end of the work stoppage in 1995. Granted defensive systems were around for ages but the success of teams in 1995 accentuated there use.

Blending of Hockey Philosophies
The end of the Soviet era in Europe allowed for a mass influx of the leading European hockey players into the NHL. These players brought their skills but they also brought different backgrounds, styles and hockey philosophies. Combined with the changes in North American Hockey - especially the influence of the American and US university game, hockey entered a transition period during which these various factors blended.

Knowledge and Technology
Catchall from the increased use of video, growing number of specialty coaches, sports medicine and training, equipment improvements.

The Imitators
The previous twenty years featured significant changes in the way the game was played. Significant contributions were made by Bobby Hull - curved stick slapshot, Bobby Orr - generating offense from the defense. Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux - generating offense from parts of the rink that were previously considered to be "useless ice". Example would be Wayne Gretzky generating offense from behind the net. Many coaches and aspiring hockey players tried imitating Wayne Gretzky by trying to generate offense from behind the net but very few had the skills or understanding to do so.
Did these failed efforts reduce offence.

Hockey Expansion
Not the NHL but hockey in general grew rapidly, too rapidly in some instances.The three CHL leagues lacked players and coaches turned to defensive hockey in an effort to compete and survive with the result that the NHL entry drafts from this era had very few high end offensive talents.

Rule Changes
How did the various rule changes impact offense? Theory and result issues.

Comments appreciated.

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[Hawkey Town 18]

Puckhandling Goaltenders

I don't think goaltenders handling the puck originated in TDPE, but it probably peaked/was perfected during that time. I'm not sure what category you would want to put it in, but it definitely reduced offense.

 

[Blades of Glory]

I don't think goaltenders handling the puck originated in TDPE, but it probably peaked/was perfected during that time. I'm not sure what category you would want to put it in, but it definitely reduced offense.

It didn't originate in the dead puck era, but Martin Brodeur perfected defensive puck-handling, especially on the penalty kill, when he would simply stop a dump-in and shoot it down the ice.

In the 1980's, Grant Fuhr was known as a great passing goalie, often quickly dumping it to Paul Coffey or even pushing it up ice. I think he had 14 assists in a season, which is still a record for goalies. The difference was Fuhr handled the puck primarily for offensive purposes i.e starting the rush.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Defensive Systems
Coaches turned to defensive systems because of the time constraints of the short season of the following the end of the work stoppage in 1995. Granted defensive systems were around for ages but the success of teams in 1995 accentuated there use.


Hockey Expansion
Not the NHL but hockey in general grew rapidly, too rapidly in some instances.The three CHL leagues lacked players and coaches turned to defensive hockey in an effort to compete and survive with the result that the NHL entry drafts from this era had very few high end offensive talents.

Not to engage in semantics, but from what I recall of that era we can take out the words "defensive system" and insert "grab a guy around the waist and put your arm over his stick if he's within 30 feet of the puck".

On the rare occasion that I force myself to watch a replay of one of those early 2000s bore-fests, I'm really amazed at how many things didn't seem like penalties to me at the time. Water-skiing, the old hold-the-stick-in-your-armpit move, guys pinned to the boards for 5 seconds at a time. Constantly throughout the game, to the point that the refs were only calling the most flagrant cases. No wonder there was so much trouble scoring, you couldn't make two passes in a row without someone getting dragged to the ice.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I've always contended that the real reason the majority of the league went to defensive systems was the great salary imbalance between the teams.

When teams like Detroit, Colorado, Philly, and Toronto (and the Rangers...heh) could buy up so much of the offensive talent, lower budget teams needed to use defensive systems to compete. The Devils in 95 and the Panthers in 96 showed that a team with less offensive talent (offensive talent is the expensive kind) could compete and win using a defensive system.

Of course, the counterargument is that two of the highest priced teams (Dallas and Detroit) were also two of the most defensive-minded.

 

[Loto68]

It was a combination of expansion and talent dilution. I truly believe that during the final two rounds of expansion, the new owners got Bettman to agree to make things easier for them by "leveling the playing field" so they new teams wouldn't be so bad as to lose unseemly sums of money.

 

[Big Phil]

Jacques Plante has often been credited for being the first wandering goalie

 

[Canadiens1958]

Rule Changes

Not to engage in semantics, but from what I recall of that era we can take out the words "defensive system" and insert "grab a guy around the waist and put your arm over his stick if he's within 30 feet of the puck".

On the rare occasion that I force myself to watch a replay of one of those early 2000s bore-fests, I'm really amazed at how many things didn't seem like penalties to me at the time. Water-skiing, the old hold-the-stick-in-your-armpit move, guys pinned to the boards for 5 seconds at a time. Constantly throughout the game, to the point that the refs were only calling the most flagrant cases. No wonder there was so much trouble scoring, you couldn't make two passes in a row without someone getting dragged to the ice.

Would consider the described as Rule Changes subtopic "Interpretations".

The NHL was constantly fighting within itself in this regard. Be it the toe in the crease type rules, application of existing rules, speeding the game up by slowing it up scenarios etc.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Value of Talent

I've always contended that the real reason the majority of the league went to defensive systems was the great salary imbalance between the teams.

When teams like Detroit, Colorado, Philly, and Toronto (and the Rangers...heh) could buy up so much of the offensive talent, lower budget teams needed to use defensive systems to compete. The Devils in 95 and the Panthers in 96 showed that a team with less offensive talent (offensive talent is the expensive kind) could compete and win using a defensive system.

Of course, the counterargument is that two of the highest priced teams (Dallas and Detroit) were also two of the most defensive-minded.

You touch a very interesting point. After the second work stoppage and the salary cap the NHL is coming to grips with the concept of the value of talent.The NFL moved this way a few years after the introduction of its salary cap.

Simply if the player is the 20th highest paid center in the league then he better rank in the top 20 centers in terms of performance(internal team rankings), otherwise changes have to be made. The guaranteed part of NHL contracts precludes draconian change - cutting the player but players get moved to other teams.

Eventually the filtering process will generate results.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Talent

It was a combination of expansion and talent dilution. I truly believe that during the final two rounds of expansion, the new owners got Bettman to agree to make things easier for them by "leveling the playing field" so they new teams wouldn't be so bad as to lose unseemly sums of money.

The actual talent has always been there from a league standpoint. Getting the talent together and playing as a team is another issue.

Basic problem with any expansion is that it finds a place for expansion coaches and management in the league.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Speaking about expansion; the dead puck era definitely allowed some young expansion teams the opportunity to compete with the more talented establishment. Look at San Jose and Ottawa; within 2-3 seasons of entering the league, they were consistent playoff contenders despite the handicap of going through an expansion draft and taking other teams' trash. The playing style was very suited to physical teams that played strong defense, even if they lacked offensive firepower. See Darryl Sutter's Sharks and Jacques Martin's first few Ottawa teams. Another example is Jacques Lemaire leading the Wild to the Conference Finals in their third year in the league.

That's so different than the style of play that the 1967 Expansion Class had to deal with. Only Philadelphia, Buffalo, and St. Louis were able to mold their team into a consistent winner in a league with stacked teams in Boston, Montreal, and Chicago, and only the Flyers, who played the Fred Shero-physical and defensive style, were able to actually challenge those teams for Stanley Cups. Vancouver, Pittsburgh, LA, Oakland, and Minnesota weren't relevant for the first 10, sometimes 20, years of their existence.

 

[seventieslord]

It was a combination of expansion and talent dilution. I truly believe that during the final two rounds of expansion, the new owners got Bettman to agree to make things easier for them by "leveling the playing field" so they new teams wouldn't be so bad as to lose unseemly sums of money.

The number of "bad players" entering the league from 1991 to 2001 was actually not that much, most of those spots created by going from 21 to 30 teams was filled by Europeans, not just the "next-best" north americans.

Lower scoring can be attributed to a number of things but talent dilution should not be to blame. Lower competition level should mean higher scoring. It always has throughout history.

 

[Fredrik_71]

TDPE certainly influenced the draft concerning size. Big guys got the edge on smaller fast and technical players.

I hated hockey during this era. So many good hockeyplayers carried around a rucksack of one to two guys a whole game (e.g. Forsberg). And d-men just reeled in and bearhugged forwards ala Kjell Samuelsson. Seeing Jags stats playing the bulk of his career outside the TDPE would have been interesting.

/Cheers