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Today's NHL and the Baskin-Robbins Effect |
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Follow Paul on Twitter: @PaulStewart22
I like ice cream as much as the next person. I don't know about you, though, but whenever I've gone to a Baskin-Robbins, I've looked at many of 31 flavors listed and they don't sound even the slightest bit tempting.
Inevitably, I found myself thinking, "Is THIS really ice cream?"
I have to be honest. Increasingly in recent years, I've found myself thinking much the same thing about NHL hockey. We've got 30 teams -- it's about to be 31 -- more stats, more technology, more and more specialized coaching yet to do we have a better sport for it? I would have to say no.
How many truly beautiful goals get scored in today's game: goals off the rush, tic-tac-toe hookups, etc? Relatively few, because fewer and fewer such plays get made. There's so little operating space, so much emphasis on blocked shots, so many beanpole goalies turned the Michelin Man in oversized gear and so much over-coaching and over-caution. The goals that do get scored are usually on deflections, screens, juggled rebounds or caroms off the end boards into the slot.
Not all, but a large percentage of coaches (understandably, given the revolving door nature of the job) seem to be ruled by job fear. They over-coach and over-structure their systems and manage their personnel accordingly. It's all about risk avoidance to many coaches and, to the stat-heads, it's all about taking solace or unduly fretting over shot attempt differentials instead of shots that, gasp, actually go in the net.
In the meantime, the NHL's efforts to make the game faster and faster paced have succeeded in one regard but their bottom line objective -- increasing scoring -- has backfired.
The league keeps adding one ill-considered and short-sighted rule after another.
For officials, there is less and less room for judgment. The awful automatic delay of game penalty for accidentally shooting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone -- but no mandated penalty for semi-intentionally putting it in the players' bench -- is but one example of where a rule is both contradictory and counter-intuitive.
For players, there is less and less room for creativity except for where the game's superstars are given leeway to do so by the coaches.
Tinkering with rules hasn't really helped. The elimination of the two-line pass did not increase scoring or ultimately reduce the number of whistles. The touch-up rule (created years ago, then eliminated, then brought back again) may have reduced offside plays but also ultimately contributed to an erosion of defensemen's passing skills.
I saw this process starting years ago, though, while I was still an active referee. I remember a young Zdeno Chara catching grief from Islanders coach Mike Milbury because he attempted a couple of passes that got picked off rather than, as the coach demanded, chipping the puck high off the glass (which has gotten higher and higher over the years, incidentally). When he was an NHL defenseman, banging the puck around the wall was Milbury's bread and butter, so he carried that philosophy into his coaching.
"Do yourself a favor," I said to Chara during a stoppage of play. "Do what he wants."
"But it wasn't a good play," Chara protested. "All i could have done that way was maybe ice the puck."
Nowadays, even when teams can't change lines after an icing and with the risk of the automatic delay of game call, I see those aerial chips off the boards being used not only for clearing attempts to relief pressure but also for attempted breakouts (which fail more often than they work).
In the meantime, woe to the young defenseman who hasn't been indoctrinated yet in structure, structure, structure; the one attempts to skate the puck to safety and gets stripped of the puck or who tries to zip a pass that gets picked off. Just make the "safe" play, kid, or you're going to be hot water.
It used to be that skilled players were allowed to make their mistakes -- and learn through self-assessment and coaching on what would or wouldn't work from them at the NHL level. Sadly, that's being lost more and more. Even trailing (but with the game still within reach) in the third period, there's an emphasis on playing it safe....with corresponding trust given to the players who don't really push the envelope. Again, this does not apply if your name is Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Erik Karlsson, etc. For the rest of the guys, though, it does.
There are still great plays made and great players in the league. The athletes are faster and in better shape than ever. There are still some games that are riveting and dramatic.
All in all, though, can I really say that today's average NHL game is better-played, with more skill on display and, above all, more entertaining than the ones from 70s, 80s and 90s? Sadly, no I can't.
I say it with no malice. Actually, it makes me sad. We can all do better.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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