c9777666
Registered User
- Aug 31, 2016
- 19,892
- 5,875
Devils win Cup in 1995, neutral zone trap, etc. and yet in 1995-96 it was essentially a goal happy season.
Panthers make Cup Final but don’t win in 1996 and suddenly goal scoring goes WAY down.
I find it ironic that it wasn’t the team that championed neutral zone hockey but rather the team that followed up was when everyone went the other way,
Plus, they say champions are those who copycats.
I mean, you would have thought Colorado winning the Cup would have signaled to other teams “clutch and grab did not win this time, let’s go the other way.”
Team A zigs, everyone else zags
Team B zigs, everyone else zigs
Interesting logic looking back IMO. Because goal scoring was already increasing in the 80s before Edmonton’s first Cup. It’s not like the early 80s, everyone copied the Islander style when they won 4 Cups with a less than high octane approach (Arbour will never be confused as an offense-first coach historically, it seems like).
NYI, a solid well balanced club that championed defense a lot, wins back to back Cups..... and the following year the league average for goals goes up to 8, go figure.
So how does one explain how it was Florida that apparently woke up teams to play this way and not the Devils? Because the Devils interestingly went through some ebbs and flows following 1995:
They did not win another Cup under Lemaire, then opened up the offense a little more in 2000, but then went back to that under Pat Burns in ‘03 with arguably an even higher emphasis on their strength (won the Cup with not one player hitting 20 playoff points and a much maligned PP)
Panthers make Cup Final but don’t win in 1996 and suddenly goal scoring goes WAY down.
I find it ironic that it wasn’t the team that championed neutral zone hockey but rather the team that followed up was when everyone went the other way,
Plus, they say champions are those who copycats.
I mean, you would have thought Colorado winning the Cup would have signaled to other teams “clutch and grab did not win this time, let’s go the other way.”
Team A zigs, everyone else zags
Team B zigs, everyone else zigs
Interesting logic looking back IMO. Because goal scoring was already increasing in the 80s before Edmonton’s first Cup. It’s not like the early 80s, everyone copied the Islander style when they won 4 Cups with a less than high octane approach (Arbour will never be confused as an offense-first coach historically, it seems like).
NYI, a solid well balanced club that championed defense a lot, wins back to back Cups..... and the following year the league average for goals goes up to 8, go figure.
So how does one explain how it was Florida that apparently woke up teams to play this way and not the Devils? Because the Devils interestingly went through some ebbs and flows following 1995:
They did not win another Cup under Lemaire, then opened up the offense a little more in 2000, but then went back to that under Pat Burns in ‘03 with arguably an even higher emphasis on their strength (won the Cup with not one player hitting 20 playoff points and a much maligned PP)
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