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First round of NHL playoffs underscores the truth: 'D' wins championships |
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You’ve heard it said time and again in hockey (and many sports, for that matter), but the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs proves it: defense wins championships. We can and should debate whether leagues and systems that limit the ability of elite offensive talents is good for any game/entertainment product, but the grand majority of the eight series that have been completed this spring demonstrate that even a squad chock-full of goal-scoring leviathans is usually disposed of by a superior defensive group.
Look at the Anaheim Ducks, who produced more than a half-goal-per-game than their first-round opponents in Nashville and still wound up on the losing end of that series. Look at the defending-champion mighty Blackhawks of Chicago, who also had a better goals-for-per-game average (2.86) than their first-round foes from St. Louis (2.71), yet were eliminated by the Blues and their deep and multitalented defense corps. Look at the Philadelphia Flyers, who put a scare into the Eastern Conference’s best regular season team, and who might have pulled off the post-season’s biggest upset were it not for a brutal showing from goalie Steve Mason (.852 save percentage, .409 goals-against average). At one point or another in each of those three series, the team that eventually was eliminated appeared to have a solid shot at winning, but was ultimately undone because of poor defense (and of course, some puck luck).
Indeed, virtually all of the winning teams in the first round moved on to the next round because their defense was better. The New York Islanders rode the hot hand of goalie Thomas Greiss to outlast the Florida Panthers. The Pittsburgh Penguins received stellar netminding from Matt Murray to defeat a New York Rangers team whose blueline issues were exposed (and who didn’t have star goalie Henrik Lundqvist in peak form to cover them up). The Sharks outplayed the Kings thanks in large part to San Jose goalie Martin Jones outplaying veteran Jonathan Quick. Despite injuries to star players up front and on the blueline, the Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated Detroit because the Bolts allowed nearly 10 percent fewer goals-per-game than did the Red Wings.
Yes, there was an anomaly to the defense-wins-championships rule in the Stars/Wild series, which was won by Dallas on the strength of its overpowering offense. But once you get past the Stars’ collective ability to put the puck in the net, you realize their goals-allowed-per-game playoff average of 2.83 was the fifth-worst of any post-season team this year. To be fair, just below them in that category (at 2.86) were the Blues – now their second-round opponents – but, on paper, at least, St. Louis’ blueline (including Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Kevin Shattenkirk and Colton Parayko) is markedly better than Dallas’.
Similarly, although the Ducks weren’t anywhere close to a highly-paid collection of turnstiles in their own zone against the Predators, when you compare Anaheim’s group of defensemen (led by Cam Fowler, Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm) to Nashville’s (which features Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm), you can understand why the Preds had just enough to pull out that Game 7 victory and face the Sharks in Round Two. Nashville coach Peter Laviolette had more horses to throw onto the ice for longer than did Bruce Boudreau, and that matters more than a little at this time of year.
None of this is to suggest offense doesn’t play a role in playoff success. The Penguins likely would be vacationing right now were it not for Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh’s array of scoring threats. San Jose knocked off the Kings by averaging a full goal-per-game more than L.A. However, there were three teams – Washington, Tampa Bay and Nashville – who finished in the lower tier of goals-for-per-game average in the first round and still are competing for a Cup.
This is why some people are driven berserk when NHL teams say they’re just looking for “the best player available” come entry draft time. If you’re at the top of the draft and Auston Matthews is there for the choosing, of course you’re going to go with a phenom such as the consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s draft.
But if you’ve got a choice between two players who can have the same relative impact in their position on the ice, why wouldn’t you default to defensemen? You can work different types of forwards into different systems, but very few teams can boast of a defense corps such as St. Louis’ or Nashville’s.
Drafting by position isn’t at all a bad thing when it comes to taking care of your own zone. Excelling at defense isn’t going to drive TV ratings, but it’s more likely going to drive your organization deep into the post-season. And that’s what counts.
Blogger •NHL Columnist • 
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