Paul didn’t say the NHL would change itself, he said it shouldn’t. Guy needs to get a grasp on that concept.

Posted by Nathan on 12/12/07 at 07:42 PM ET

That’s pretty cool, Paul.  I’ve been waiting for the day that somebody calls Sleek an idiot, not that there will be much debate there.

Posted by Earl Sleek on 12/12/07 at 08:19 PM ET

Nathan - Well, to be fair to the guy, I probably didn’t quote enough of his original piece.  He’s arguing that if the league wants to increase scoring, then Paul’s ideas are “cuckoo”.  But I do disagree with that. And you’re right—changing things like the net size and accomodating 4-on-4 hockey would sure as hell become the NHL changing itself.

Earl - I’ll call you an idiot if you like. But one of my favorites…

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 12/12/07 at 09:05 PM ET

The joking about post concussion is a little scary, the Bruins have been the butt of many backward ABC jokes of recent. One component of Hockey should be changed, mouth guards need to be designed by a jaw doctor, not a tooth doctor, there is a big difference. We are now working to have the head and neck specialist of the N.E. Patriots present his procedure to the NHL dental association. Many AHL and NHL players are already seeing the benefits of this sleep guard style appliance. Patriot players report virtually no symptoms of concussion, knowing what we know now about the long-term affects of concussion there should be more emphasis on this higher level of care. Go to http://www.mahercor.com for a recent radio interview that explains the procedure, straight from the inventors mouth.

Posted by Mark from Boston on 12/12/07 at 10:10 PM ET

I completely disagree with Pollard’s comments because his point proves Paul’s argument--unless coaches and players are willing to change their mind-sets, no matter what is “done” to the game to “increase offence,” somebody will always find a new way to defend against it. 

Four-on-four all the time?  I don’t know if he’s watched an overtime where a team that played horribly has the chance to earn two points because they tied the game late, and as they’re less skilled than their opponent, they play a four-men-back trap.

Bigger nets?  If you can’t lift your shots 12 inches off the ice, the butterfly defeats 80% of the shots you take, regardless of how tall or wide you make the net, and that’s doubly true with shot-blocking defencemen and forwards clogging shooting lanes.  Moreover, if you can’t generate a secondary scoring chance (rebounds, tips, screens, puck retrieval and a second shot), I don’t care if the nets are soccer-sized--guys can block and goalies will get in front of single, un-screened shots over and over and over again. 

It’s gotten to the point where people are so frustrated with what they perceive to be a lack of offence due to rule changes or the lack thereof that they’re suggesting that more obstruction will bring offence back into the game, which, combined with trap hockey, is a terrifying proposition. 

Noting that a 9-8 game is much easier for a reporter to cover than a 2-1 game because he or she doesn’t have to pay as much attention to the subtleties and small nuances that change momentum and lead to the plays that decide games, and just has to report goals instead, and given the fact that the scoring levels we saw from 1980-1994 are a fourteen-year anomaly in a league which has averaged between five and seven goals scored per game for the vast majority of its 91-year history, and adding in the combination of advanced scouting via video and the proliference of structured defensive systems, how exactly are the coaches and players not going to adjust to any legislated change, no matter how extreme, if they’re still allowed to employ scouting staffs who can dissect both team, line, and player tendencies months in advance of meetings with opponents>?

The problem here is simple, and it’s become law over the last hundred years of so: coaches and players believe that defence can be taught, but offensive skills are innate.

I know this isn’t Red Wings-friendly territory, but the examples I have at hand are Wings related, so hold your nose, Alanah.

Tomas Holmstrom came into the league barely able to skate and almost inept, save his ability to stand in front of the net and withstand abuse from opposing defencemen.  Over the years, he’s become the league’s best net-front man, a shot-tipper and goalie-screener not seen since the days of Dino Ciccarelli--who wasn’t nearly as good at mimicking goalie positioning or holding his temper.

How’d he get so good at what he does?

At the end of every practice he participates in, he spends 10-20 minutes tipping shots.  The shots he doesn’t tip, he retrieves.  Sometimes he asks a brave defenceman to get nearby to “front” him, or he’ll get a goalie to agree to be annoyed by his presence so he can dance along the top of the crease.  Mostly, he stands in front of the net, keeps an eye on where his feet are, and lets his teammates shoot pucks at chest level, which, if you’ve seen Holmstrom’s tenacity during drills, is something they’re gonna want to do anyway, and is something they enjoy because they like to show off and pick the top corners from the blueline.

Every practice.  Every day.  The shots that get by or bounce off the boards, he retrieves or at least tries to get a stick on, which is why he’s so good at retrieving rebounds. 

Why are Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, for all their dazzling offensive skills, so adept at the foundation of their wizardry--winning pucks in scrums and man-on-man battles along the boards and behind the net?

Because they like to play keep-away with each other, and, of late, any teammate who wants to keep in.

The only rule is that you “lose” when the other guy gets the puck away from you and keeps it away, and then he can “lose” it right back to you, so the game goes on for five or ten minutes.

They don’t just slash, hack, and whack for position, though that’s part of it.  They stick their butts out, their legs out, their arms out, they protect the puck using their bodies, using their sticks, stickhandling and stickhandling like Pavel Bure, but doing so within close quarters, more than willing to elbow and knee and play-punch and bump each other, and, after a while, to wrestle and tackle each other with all the pure fun factor and giggling of ten-year-olds, not multi-millionaire professional athletes, all while stickhandling, puck-faking, dipsy-doodling, and trying to simply lift their opponent’s stick and power the puck away from them so that they can turn their bodies away from one another and start the game over again.  Sometimes the game ends with both guys on the ice, still jabbing at the puck (and often actually being able to stickhandle from their bellies or backs) until they either get the puck, get tired, or can’t stop laughing.

They do that at the end of every practice.

So all three members of the “Flying Circus” line are working on their skills.  It’s gotten to the point where, of course, Babcock’s taken notice, so Holmstrom gets a tipping drill in practice now, Pavel and Hank’s “wrestling” drills now include Filppula, Hudler, Kopecky, Draper, and Maltby (gee, those two guys ain’t bad along the boards), and the biggest thing you notice about a Babcock practice, aside from the fact that everything, and I mean everything, is done at a ridiculous pace, is that guys are laughing and giggling their way through it.

Developing offensive skills.  Having fun.  Being demanded to do everything fast, which makes you learn how to skate harder and stickhandle at higher speeds.  Babcock will repeat drills if he doesn’t like the pace, and he’ll revise them to increase the pace at which they’re done.

The Wings are led by a tremendous offensive line that practices and improves upon each player’s individual skill set on a daily basis.  Their coach demands both in-game speed and a “let’s have fun attitude” in practice. 

That stuff shows up in games, because offensive skills can be taught, developed, and learned. 

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, Jacques Lemaire is still trying to teach Marian Gaborik how to trap more effectively. 

You tell me which team’s more fun to watch. 

This is mental.  It’s all about changing coaches’ and players’ attitudes, all about Mythbusting the concept that only defensive skills can be taught, learned, or improved.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/13/07 at 03:42 AM ET

Yeah, all people have to do is practice and they can be as skilled offensively as Datsyuk and Zetterberg.  The only difference between Sidney Crosby and the 20 year olds playing at the Cube at 11pm on Wednesdays is practice.  It’s amazing noone’s ever thought of that in the 100+ year history of hockey, no?

The moral of the story is this: Dude, some things just can’t be taught.  Sure, you can teach someone to be better offensively than you could before, but there’s a galactic difference between doing that and being able to make a person into a legitimate offensive threat in the NHL.  You can, however, teach someone to be a significant defensive player.

Here’s something else: it’s easier to stop someone from scoring than to score.  The tasks themselves are wildly disparate in difficulty.

Not only are there about three to five instances where a defensive play made can interrupt a scoring opportunity per event, but even in simple one on one situations the skill required to beat a man and then the goaltender far exceeds the ability required to merely stay between a guy and the net and muddle said opportunity up.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 12/13/07 at 07:49 AM ET