What?  No quote from 6 years ago?

Posted by Heaton on 11/15/09 at 02:17 PM ET

and yet the devils beat the pens 4-1 the last 2 times.

The Devils trap rep is ridiculous.  In 2000-2001 they led the league in goals for and goals against.  yet they were still accused of trapping. 

The A line (elias-arnott-sykora) was one of the best in the league from 1999-2000 to 2000-2001.

The reason other teams failed and hockey changed was not because the devils trapped, it was because other teams failed at emulating the NJ.  The Devils had offense and defense.  Copycat teams had the defense but lost the offense.

The Devils last year played played with offense.

The Devils only trapped in 2-3 games this year, and that was because they were missing their top 2 defensemen (Martin and Oduya), Pandolfo, Neidermayer, Elias (for 13 games and he is not 100% yet.  The Devils have had control of the puck for the majority of most of their games this season. 

And almost every in the league goes into shut down mode when they are up with 5-10 minutes left in a game.

The only time in recent years that the devils trapped was under Claude Julien.  And that was a pathetic year because despite winning games they played horribly.  They didn’t start playing well until the last 5-10min of almost every game.  They only won because they had the talent to score when they tried.

Posted by sam on 11/15/09 at 02:35 PM ET

Oh, how cute. A newly minted Penguins fan [they’re ALL the rage these days] who thinks he knows something espousing talking about the trap.

Please, watch a Devils game now and in 1995. They are NOT trapping AT ALL this year.

Being in good positioning, knowing when to sit on a lead vs. when to go for the jugular, and causing unforced turnovers is not playing the trap. That’s playing good hockey.

Friggin knucklehead. “Hurf durf, I’d rather watch the Penguins play anywayz”

Give credit where it’s due. Im a Ranger fan and even I can. The Devils are playing with a slew of injuries and other players not at 100% but still in, and they’re playing phenomenally well.

Posted by Bobbie on 11/15/09 at 02:36 PM ET

In the 1999-2000 season, which was right in the middle of the “Trap Era” (’95-’04) and the second time the Devils won the Stanley Cup they LED the conference in goals and finished second overall in the league. Now that might sound good but all it shows is that they took the rest of the league and coaching systems with them into TRAP HELL.
Compare: Detroit’s 278 goals for (led league) in ‘99-’00 is a far from the 348 that Calgary scored just 10 years earlier, or even worse - the NHL record 446 goals for that the Oilers scored 16 years earlier in ‘83-’84.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/15/09 at 03:00 PM ET

You’re confusing the trap with obstruction. They aren’t the same thing. The trap, like the left wing lock, is only a positioning strategy. It gives players the chance to compete effectively in the neutral zone without the puck. If they get outworked along the boards, out-skated, out-hit… well the trap is meaningless then isn’t it? It’s up to the players to compete. Obstruction was the real problem.

And modern goaltending equipment had maybe a bigger impact on scoring than all the obstruction. It removed the fear, allowing a higher class of athlete to play the position and made the butterfly style of goaltending possible. Not to mention how ridiculously oversized the stuff was back before lockout (it’s still too big).

Obstruction, better goalies, and better goalies with huge, oversized pads is what killed scoring.  Also add in too many expansion teams that diluted the talent pool for a while, which meant a greater number of teams that had to obstruct and interfere to survive.

Obviously the goaltending situation isn’t going to change. They’re going to keep getting better. Hopefully the league can continue to reduce the size of the equipment, and keep obstruction from creeping back in.

Posted by bd on 11/15/09 at 05:07 PM ET

Obstruction’s crept back in.  Players who see opposing forecheckers heading their way can “seal” them to the boards without the puck once again, and hooks, pulls, tugs, and grabs are going uncalled with more and more regularity.

It’s not the goaltenders’ fault, either...Advanced video scouting and micromanaged coaching has changed the fabric of the game as well, as has the now-prevalent “dead puck” theory that you, “Can’t teach offense” but can mold any player into a serviceable defensive dynamo. 

I’d argue that you can’t really blame one factor over the other.  Better-conditioned players, equipment changes for both players and goaltenders, expansion, the salary cap, advances in coaching and video scouting, the prevalence of, “I can’t possibly learn how to become a better scorer” thinking, the fact that offensive gaffes tend to result in scoring chances against, and those tend to mean that coaches and players can lose their jobs for making mistakes...It all counts.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 11/15/09 at 07:30 PM ET

The trap, like the left wing lock, is only a positioning strategy.

Well said.

Obstruction is a major issue as are those that George mentioned.

But I do remember Babbles saying that there are basic offensive strategies you can teach. We all know about the cycle, setting up the point shots, etc.. I’m not sure how many actually don’t “teach offense;” I would assume they mean the kind of insanity players like Dats and other super stars pull.

Posted by Osrt on 11/16/09 at 12:58 AM ET