Bleacher Report - Articles by Steven Ovadia

Rangers Not Scoring Goals: A Tale Five Seasons in the Making

Steven Ovadia — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:04:42 -0500

John Tortorella was supposed to change everything for the Rangers.

Where previous coach Tom Renney coached with a conservative, defensive posture, Tortorella is all about risk and offense.

Where Renney believed players should always be skating backwards, keeping their opponents in front of them, Tortorella demands his skaters always move forward.

Conceptually, the two coaches could not be more different. Yet, realistically, they're both getting the same results.

During the 2005-06 season, the Rangers pushed their way into the playoffs, breaking a seven-year playoff drought, mostly on the strength of Jaromir Jagr, who scored 54 of the 250 Ranger goals that season. In other words, one player accounted for almost 22 percent of the goal production. The combined goal production of Petr Prucha and Michael Nylander, that season's second and third-leading goal scorers, did not equal Jagr's output that season.

Renney funneled the entire offense through Jagr. Everything was about getting him the puck and shutting the other team down. Renney rolled four lines and counted on Jagr to do his damage every four shifts or so.

Now, looking at the current season, we see an almost completely different team (defenseman Michal Rozsival is the lone holdover from the 2005-06 team) under a philosophically different coach. And yet, we see Marian Gaborik with 16 goals on the season, representing 25 percent of the 64 goals scored for the Rangers this year. If you add up the goal totals of Vinny Prospal, Ales Kotalik, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto, the team's second, third, and fourth-leading goal scorers, they're equal to what Gaborik is producing.

Tortorella rides Gaborik, giving him as much time as he can handle and keeping on the ice as frequently as possible.

How can the same team have the same problem, five seasons apart? What is it that makes the Rangers struggle with scoring so often? And lest you think two aberrational seasons were selected here, please take note the Rangers had just one 30-goal scorer in the intervening 2006-08 seasons.

It's hard to blame the players, since there's almost no overlap between the two seasons.

You can't really blame coaching, since there are two different coaches using two different systems, and both getting the same results.

In terms of variables, that just leaves management and/or organizational culture.

Management is certainly a huge factor in the Rangers' problems. Under the NHL salary cap system, GM Glen Sather has tended to shy away from bona fide goal scorers. Sure, he's spent a lot on free agents, but almost all of them have had fatal flaws. Jagr came to the Rangers when it seemed like his career was over. Michael Nylander and Martin Straka were brought in more for Jagr's companionship than ability. Scott Gomez seemed a sure thing, but Chris Drury was better known for his two-way play than his ability to put up numbers. Prospal, Markus Naslund, and Brandan Shanahan were both older players looking to prove they still had a little more gas in their tanks. And Gaborik's injury history made him a huge risk.

So looking at Sather's moves, while some of them worked brilliantly (Gaborik, Prospal, Jagr, Nylander, Straka, and Shanahan), others were OK (Naslund), and others were train wrecks (Gomez and Drury), none of them seemed guaranteed to improve the team.

The free-agent signings that did work seemed more happy accidents than deliberate planning. And for whatever reason, Sather has taken an all-or-nothing approach to free agency, routinely choosing to take the one (or two) best high-risk free agents available, rather than spreading money around on more consistent, if less prestigious, forwards.

At the same time, Sather has not developed much young forward talent. The injured Brandon Dubinsky has just three goals on the season. The healthy Ryan Callahan has the same. Artem Anisimov, playing his first full NHL season and is more of a defensive center, has four goals.

Uneven free agent signings and undeveloped youth make it hard to find scoring—especially across seasons. As the Rangers have seen, it leaves them with no core to count on.

Organizational culture might also play a huge role in the Rangers consistent inability to score. It seems Rangers don't feel the need to play down low, with opposing creases usually free of Rangers jerseys. Meanwhile, goalie Henrik Lundqvist has spent the bulk of this season getting bumped like a broken snack machine. Organizationally, it often looks like players come to the Rangers not expecting to have to fight for position or to stand-up for fellow players. They play like scoring is an option, not a requirement.

Looking at these factors, it's no wonder the Rangers have either failed to score consistently or have had to lean on one player to do the bulk of their scoring. What is surprising is that management has seemed content to let the team suffer the same ills the past five seasons.

Changing players hasn't helped the issue, nor has changing coaches. The Rangers continue to make the playoffs, but never seem in danger of getting very far. Eventually fans and ownership will want more from the team and Sather will have to figure out a way to solve a problem he seems to have been ignoring for quite some time.

Solid Coaching Often Not Sexy Enough for Young NHL Players

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:13:16 -0500

Columbus forward Nikita Filatov left the Blue Jackets, choosing to finish the season playing in Russia.

According to Puck Daddy , a huge part of the issue was coach Ken Hitchcock's defensive system, which apparently felt too constricting to the free-skating, offense-minded Filatov.

Meanwhile, under Hitchcock, the Blue Jackets are off to their best start ever.

Over in New York, coach John Tortorella, who gives his players free reign to take as many offensive risks as they want. The Rangers are 4-6 in their last 10, with the only real offense coming from Marian Gaborik. Rookie defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who started the season brilliantly, has just three points in November and is -5 for the month.

It raises an interesting point: Offensive-minded players like offensive-minded coaches, but it doesn't always translate into wins and/or success. Especially with younger players.

Scott Gordon is pushing a high-risk offensive system on a very young Islanders team, and so far, it's only translated into a lot of ties. It could be years before we see the impact his system is having on the development of his players. He could be producing future offensive giants, but he could just as easily be producing talented skaters who have no idea how to play defense; in essence, human pylons.

The NHL is finally transitioning out of its defense-oriented period. More and more coaches are trying to win with stretch passes. Less and less coaches want battles fought in the neutral zone. But still, we're seeing the value of system-oriented hockey.

Over in Phoenix, Dave Tippett has revived the Coyotes simply by instituting a system that lets his young players know where they need to be and when they need to be there—something the team lacked under previous coach Wayne Gretzky.

And out in New Jersey, Jacques Lemaire has found considerable success, especially out on the road, coaching an interesting defensive system that relies on offense, smart passing, and puck-control, almost like a trap that takes place in the offensive zone.

Younger players, like Filatov, don't seem to appreciate the value of systems and schemes, which is a shame, since a lot of times, system-oriented hockey is what takes a career to the next level. Say what you will about the Devils and their style of play, but their system-driven hockey has produced an awful lot of NHL studs over the years.

There's no guarantee Filatov would have ever played his way into Hitchcock's good graces in Columbus, and perhaps he was right in bailing out of the situation, but it would have been great if he had seen fit to stick it out. What if Filatov had learned more of a two-way game? What if he had learned the comfort that often comes from playing in a system? Hitchcock really could have elevated Filatov's game, giving it more dimensions.

Any young players watching the evolution of their equally young cohort in New York will also have to think about the value of a strong coaching style — especially if the Rangers rookie defensive corps continues its stagnation.

Hitchcock might not be the most fun coach in the NHL, but his coaching style prepares players to survive in the NHL. Filatov might not find that same benefit in Europe.

Filatov will certainly put up more goals in Russia this year, but odds are, his game won't improve by simply embracing a style he already knows.

Does the NHL Have A Future In Europe?

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:32:06 -0500

Whose ears didn't perk up when they heard Markus Naslund was coming out of retirement to play with Peter Forsberg for Modo in the Swedish Elite League? Both are even reportedly playing for free.

Not many fans wanted to see either return to the NHL, with both players past their primes. But there's something exciting about the two playing for Modo, matching up against a level of talent that isn't quite NHL caliber.

More and more players are leaving the NHL for Europe. Some, like Jaromir Jagr, left for money. Others, like Kevin Dallman, left because of a lack of NHL offers . And others, like Forsberg and Naslund, just want to play close to home.

The NHL has largely ignored this migration, assuming that the best players will always want to play in the NHL. Which is true. Most players wanting to prove their mastery of hockey are going to eventually try and break into the NHL.

But what about players who have already proven their worth? What about players who had some kind of NHL following but have left for one reason or another?

The NHL doesn't care about European hockey because it doesn't impact the bottom line or the league's longterm health. But by largely ignoring European hockey, they're missing out on what could be an interesting opportunity—bringing a different kind of hockey to fans.

You might have heard the NHL has a television network, although it wouldn't be surprising to find out you didn't realize that. Right now, the network basically shows highlights and occasionally, re-broadcasts of games. Looking at the schedule, you can see they don't have much going on . There are probably certain test patterns that rate better.

So why not show the Modo games? Why not give fans the chance to see Naslund and Forsberg together again?

League management might not like the idea because of the belief broadcasting European hockey would cannibalize the NHL audience. But how many fans would give up their home team for the Swedish Elite League? The reality is, European games could draw fans whose teams were off that night, thus placing more eyeballs on hockey, if not the NHL.

Broadcasting European league games would also give NHL GMs a small bit of leverage with free agents. Say Ilya Kovalchuk threatens to leave the NHL for Europe. Kovalchuk's defection would be a blow to the league, but the blow is softened knowing that fans will still have access to Kovalchuk and his skills, on the NHL Network.

And perhaps, knowing that even by leaving the league, the league would still own a piece of him in some way, Kovalchuk would be more open to NHL offers.

The NHL has a precedent for this. They've shut down for hockey over the past few Olympics. They've begun the past few NHL seasons in Europe. The league recognizes the NHL isn't just about the NHL in particular, but hockey in general.

Getting more involved in European hockey would be an expansion of this idea, growing the hockey brand outside of the NHL context.

If the TV experiment is successful, what if the league decided to expand into Europe? What if, instead of an Eastern and Western Conference, there were Eastern and Western Hemispheres? Heck. Even an interleague All-Star Game would be pretty cool .

The NHL is desperately trying to maintain a franchise in Phoenix, where no one seems to care about hockey. Meanwhile, there's an entire continent the NHL has yet to fully explore. Players like Jagr, Forsberg, and Naslund see something in Europe. What do these players see that their former league doesn't?

Will Goalie Rick DiPietro Save the Islanders?

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:32:14 -0500

The most telling Islanders statistic is 2-6. That's their overtime/loss record, meaning eight of their first 18 games have gone into extra periods, with six of them losses.

That tells us a lot about the young Islanders. They're good. They're good enough to hang with most opponents for 60 minutes. They just run into problems after the end of regulation.

A lot of this is a symptom of their age. Their three leading point-earners were all born after 1983. John Tavares went straight from the draft to the Isles' top line.

A lot of the overtime trouble is also a symptom of coach Scott Gordon's offense. It's a relentlessly attacking style that has players converging on the net. There's not much backchecking, or defense. It's all about skaters converging on the opposing goalie.

So basically, unless the Islanders get a sudden influx of experienced NHL players, or Gordon decides to alter his coaching philosophy, it's looking like the Islanders are going to continue to survive off of the charity point.

But there is one factor that could prove to be game-changing for the Isles.

The variable that just might change their fortunes?

The return of goalie Rick DiPietro.

DiPietro is the team's star player, signed to a 15-year, $67.5 million contract. He played just eight games last season, and has yet to play this season, as he recovers, very slowly, from knee surgeries.

He's been practicing with the team, and could be just a few weeks away from an NHL return. And he'll be returning to a very different Islanders team. Previous coach Ted Nolan used a methodical, defensive system that never took advantage of DiPietro's two greatest attributes—his athleticism, and his ability to play the puck.

DiPietro is a courageous, occasionally reckless puck handler, unafraid to play the puck, and often brilliant with a stretch pass. A goalie like DiPietro, assuming he's returning in relatively peak condition, could spring the Islanders offense constantly, giving the team more of a lead to work with.

Instead of the forwards waiting for the defense to settle the puck, and then send it out into the neutral zone, DiPietro would allow everyone to take off out of the zone early, waiting for him to hit them before the opposing blue line.

Now the Islanders shouldn't get too excited about DiPietro's potential value. His health has always been questionable, and assuming he'll return relatively healthy is a relatively huge mental leap. Plus, his high-risk style often leads to his creating scoring opportunities for opposing teams.

Forwards and defensemen could end up spending a lot of time, and energy, trying to cover up his mistakes. And with defenseman Radek Martinek, the team's steadiest blueliner, out for the rest of the season, there won't be much of a safety net for DiPietro's puck-playing explorations.

DiPietro's return is by no way guaranteed to make the Islanders a better team, but for a team that really has no other prospects (they're already talking about trading Doug Weight ), DiPietro could be the team's only chance to start winning games in regulation.

Or at least not losing in overtime.

Jean-Sebastian Giguere Doing Everything to Save His Job Except Playing Well

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:32:15 -0500

Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere is upset about suddenly finding himself in a polygamous goalie situation, with he and Jonas Hiller competing for the starting job.

Giguere told the LA Daily News , "I'd rather retire than be a back-up goalie ."

The issue is the remaining $13 million on the final two years of his contract coupled with the emergence of Hiller as a starter.

The wild cards in the equation? Hiller is a free agent after this season and Giguere has a no-trade clause.

Giguere is playing a very sophisticated game. The Ducks know they can't afford two goalies. It's to their advantage to let Hiller and Giguere duke it out. If Giguere wins, they can let Hiller go in the offseason. If Hiller wins, they can trade Giguere and his mammoth salary, getting a nice short-term rental to help them in the playoffs. Perhaps that shut-down defenseman they lost when they traded away Chris Pronger.

By demanding the starting job, Giguere is trying to force Anaheim's hand a bit earlier. If the Ducks buckle, he'll get a solid shot to keep his job. If they don't give in, he might actually retire, and the Ducks lose him for nothing.

But would Giguere retire? Probably not, especially knowing he could start on any number of NHL clubs. Giguere knows if he wants to stay in Anaheim, this is probably his last and best chance to win back the starting job.

Giguere has always been a charmed goalie. The first-round pick of Hartford (13th overall) in 1995, he wound up being traded from Calgary to Anaheim in the summer of 2000 with Anaheim recognizing Giguere was ready to be an NHL-quality starter. And the Ducks were correct as Giguere eventually pushed Anaheim goalie Guy Hebert out of his starting spot.

So Giguere might be more aware than most just how easy it is for a young, hot goalie to push out an established veteran. And Giguere isn't being unduly paranoid about his lack of job security. Hiller has been great for Anaheim, with a .919 save percentage and a 2.76 goals against average. And in 46 games last season, Hiller put up a 2.39 goals against and .919 save percentage. Giguere's numbers have been nowhere near as strong. In fact, they've been downright bloated.

Giguere's back is against the wall and he correctly sees that he's on the fast track to a back-up role. By announcing his dissatisfaction, he's trying to buy a few starts to prove he's still a top NHL goaltender. Since Anaheim probably would love to trade him, assuming he'll waive his no-trade, they might be open to spotlighting him for other teams. Giguere is probably hoping it won't come to that.

Goaltending is a tough job. They succeed and fail in a horribly public way. Giguere can't be blamed for trying to hold onto his starting role, but at this point, it seems like he's playing a very long shot. Plus, it's never a good sign when a goalie finds himself playing management and the media more than he's actually playing the puck.

Speed Won't Kill Leafs, But It Might Not Help Either

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:46:03 -0500

Ron Wilson has tried just about every coaching technique at his disposal to get the Leafs going.

His latest plan? Speed.

Wilson inserted John Mitchell into Toronto's "top" line, putting the fast Mitchell between the quick Jason Blake and the speedy Phil Kessel.

Speed is an important strategy in hockey, but also one of the more misunderstood ones.

Speed for the sake of speed doesn't mean anything in and of itself. Games are won on the number of goals scored. There are no points awarded for the fastest forward on the ice.

So let's look ahead to Wilson's new speed line. He has his top line on the ice and they've caught an opposing team in a change. There's a three-on-one for Toronto crossing into the offensive zone.

The lone opposing defenseman sees three Leafs flying down the ice at him: Kessel, who finished last season with 36 goals, but is just returning from an injury; Blake, who has one goal on the season; and Mitchell, who also has no goals on the season. Who does Wilson think the defenseman is going to play?

He's going to play Kessel and bank on Blake and Mitchell not being able to finish.

And that's the thing about speed: it's just one ingredient in a successful NHL line. If no one can finish, you're no better off than if your forwards are the last ones into the zone.

Pascal Dupuis of the Penguins is a great example of this. He's a fast skater who's never had more than 20 goals in a season. His speed hasn't translated into offense, despite spending plenty of time over the years on the Penguins' top two lines.

John Madden of the Blackhawks is another example. In his prime, he was shockingly fast, but it never translated into huge offensive numbers. To be fair, though, Madden used his speed to play a much more defensive game.

Coaches talk about speed like it's some kind of magical spell. It can put players in a great position, but it only works if players finish their chances.

Not everyone in the NHL enjoys speed, though. Ottawa GM Bryan Murray recently blamed the NHL's injury epidemic on the speed of the NHL game .

While he didn't call for the reinstatement of the two-line pass ban, he did seem to yearn for the NHL's slower, more deliberate days.

But back to Toronto's odd-man rush. Ideally, with the defenseman playing Kessel, either Blake or Mitchell should be able to score. But will they? That's what Wilson needs to worry about.

Wilson sees a problem with his team and he's trying to fix it. But when he watches the Leafs, does he really think the problem is guys entering the zone too slowly? Or is it more that the players in the zone can't get opposing defenses moving out of position?

Will a fast line help Toronto win games? Or will they just get more frequent chances not to score?

Speed probably won't hurt the Leafs, but Wilson needs a better plan to figure out how it will help them.

Vinny Lecavalier Comes Full Circle for Tampa Bay

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:09:26 -0500

Vinny Lecavalier is under siege in Tampa with Rick Tocchet seemingly angrier and angrier with the franchise center.

Twelve games into the season, Lecavalier had a goal and nine assists. He's been demoted from the top two lines. He's been called out by Tocchet. Puck Daddy has a great summary of the drama here .

The only thing that hasn't happened is a benching, and that could happen soon. Don't be fooled by Lecavalier's strong game against Toronto Tuesday night. Lecavalier is struggling.

The question everyone is asking is how this could happen to Lecavalier. But a better question is why hasn't this happened sooner?

People think of Lecavalier and they think of a lot of things. The 2004 Stanley Cup. The 11 year/$85 million contract. The 52 goal season in 2006-07. The 40 goal campaign in 2007-08.

But before all of that, Lecavalier was a huge disappointment in Tampa. Selected number one overall in 1998, he had a solid rookie year, but nothing like the rookies years that would be had by Alex Tanguay, Scott Gomez, and Simon Gagne, all of whom were drafted behind Lecavalier. But Lecavalier went straight from the draft into the NHL and maybe that was too much pressure for him.

By 2000, Lecavalier seemed to have adjusted to life in the NHL. So much so, the Lightning traded away Chris Gratton and made Lecavalier team captain. Lecavalier was just 19, at the time, the youngest captain in NHL history. He would finish that season, his second, with 25 goals and a minus 25 plus/minus.

That would be Lecavalier's best goal production year until 2002-03, when he scored over 30 goals for the first time in his career.

Lecavalier was coasting, refusing to live up to his potential and his leadership responsibilities. He held out before the 2001 season, returning to the team toward the start of the season. The holdout cost Lecavalier his captaincy, though. He wouldn't wear the 'C' again until the start of the 2008 season.

It's easy to look at Lecavalier and see a player who's fallen on tough times. But if you look at his career, the past few seasons we saw a Lecavalier who was uncharacteristically focused and driven. Lecavalier now doesn't seem stuck in a rut, so much as he seems back to normal.

And now the Lightning have to figure out how to get him going again—assuming that's even possible.

Tocchet seems to be taking the same approach coach John Tortorella took with Lecavalier and is trying to publicly berate and shame him into playing better. The good news is that it worked for Tortorella. The bad news is Lecavalier probably developed quite a thick skin over all of those years of benchings and screaming.

Worse yet, the young and impressionable Steve Stamkos, off to a very strong start in Tampa, is getting a ringside seat for this circus. Will Lecavalier's lack of a work ethic soon rub off on young Stamkos?

The Lightning have the ingredients for quite a little disaster. The franchise that thought Barry Melrose could still coach must figure out how to keep their franchise player from spending the next decade wading in mediocrity.

Let's see if the Lightning can find Lecavalier's on-switch one more time.

Injuries Don't Seem To Stop Any NHL Teams

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:22:10 -0400

Evgeni Malkin. Ilya Kovalchuk. Marc Savard. Patrik Elias. Marian Hossa. Simon Gagne. Johan Franzen. Daniel Sedin.

Some of last season's best forwards?

Sure. But they're also players who have already been injured this season.

Some of the NHL's best players seem to be followed by some kind of injury cloud. Malkin is the latest victim, expected to be out for weeks with a shoulder injury.

This season, successful NHL teams will probably have one common trait: depth among their Top-Six forwards. This season isn't about the talent NHL teams have—it's about the talent they have to fill-in for their injured talent.

Injuries are not new to the NHL. And it's a given that goalies are going to be injured, given the nature of their work. But have we ever seen so many top-flight forwards injured so early in the season?

Obviously, no team wants to lose their best player, or even just one of their best players, for any amount of time. But what's been interesting is how well all of these teams have managed to deal with losing major players.

Franzen is out until March with a torn ACL, and while the Wings aren't off to a strong start, goaltending has been more of an issue. Franzen is missed on the second line, but having Todd Bertuzzi as a fill-in is a pretty nice option.

Marian Hossa has yet to play a game for the Chicago Blackhawks and they're 7-4-1. (Rumor has it he wants to make sure they won't win the Stanley Cup before he'll skate with the team.)

And the Penguins will barely have time to miss Malkin with Jordan Staal in the second line center slot.

NHL teams have never been deeper and it's making for a fascinating season. Even in Atlanta, where they lost the irreplaceable Kovalchuk, there's a lot of hope in the play of rookie Evander Kane, who seems capable of holding the fort while Kovalchuk is out.

One positive outcome of the NHL's salary cap is that NHL GMs seem to constantly think about redundancy. Even as some GM sign players to 40-year contracts, other GMs seem to know just about every player can be replaced, and they're constantly trying to figure out how to replace talent in the cheapest way possible.

It remains to be seen how some of these teams will deal without star players over the long haul, but just the fact that a team like Atlanta isn't giving up on its season and seems to think it can make a go of it until Kovalchuk returns to the lineup is a great thing.

As teams see how unheralded players have the potential to step up, perhaps GMs will stop with the crazy-long contracts and the huge amounts of money. Maybe they'll finally see there's more than enough talent in the NHL and you don't have to pay a lot for a well-known name when you can get a comparable player at a much more reasonable price.

Maybe these injuries will show that the NHL has a lot more stars than they thought, and that entire team salaries don't have to be spent on six players. Maybe these injuries will show the NHL that hockey is actually a team sport.

Gaborik Unleashed: How the Minnesota Wild Almost Ruined Hockey

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:30:31 -0400

Watching Marian Gaborik's explosive start to this season (10 goals, 18 points in his first 12 games—Rangers fans have to be hoping this isn't the end of the line for him ), I've had a recurring thought: How does Gaborik not have a 50-goal season?

That thought is usually followed by the realization Gaborik played for the Minnesota Wild for eight seasons, all of them coached by the notoriously defensive-minded Jacques Lemaire. Now playing for the notoriously offensive-minded John Tortorella in New York, Gaborik finally has the freedom to fully live up to his full scoring potential.

It's been exciting to watch, but it raises an interesting question: Is it in the best interest of the NHL for its best offensive players to languish in defensive systems? Would Gaborik's 42-goal season in 2007-08 been 50 goals under a different type of coach?

Hockey is a complex game with a lot of variables. Scoring is key, but so are defense and goaltending and line combinations and special teams. But fans love scoring. It's universally loved by fans and by non-fans. And if you look at the changes in officiating and rules that the NHL has instituted post-lockout, just about all of them are designed to promote scoring.

So if the league wants to see more scoring, how could they let an exciting player be hidden for so long? How could they let a coaching system smother a possible marketing hook?

Gaborik is hardly the only example of offensive talent being smothered by coaching. The Devils have also done this before. Up until last season, the Devils tended to play defense-oriented hockey. But even frequently relying on a trapping style, the myriad of Devils coaches have found ways to keep their offense-minded forwards (usually Patrik Elias) putting up decent numbers. But defensemen have really suffered in the system.

You can see the suffering in the numbers of defensemen Brian Rafalski and Scott Niedermayer, two longtime Devils who eventually left the team to play in more offensive systems.

Niedermayer averaged over eight goals and 28 assists per season as a Devil. As a member of the Ducks, he's averaged over 12 goals and 36 assists per season. And keep in mind, Nidermayer's time as a Duck has been in his later years, where he's well past his prime.

Rafalski averaged around six goals and 38 assists per season with the Devils. With Detroit, he's averaged over 11 goals and 45 assists per season over the past two seasons, meaning Rafalski has nearly doubled his per season goal output in a different kind of system.

So what can the league do about this? Unfortunately, not much. For one thing, for certain players, like Rafalski, you don't realize just how good they are until they're playing someplace else.

But also, the league can't step in and tell coaches to coach differently. That could set a dangerously bad precedent. However, the league can talk to owners about marketing, and how a high-flying scorer can translate into more fans buying tickets, buying t-shirts, and even watching games on TV. And hopefully, owners will share that information with their coaches.

Defense is an important part of the NHL game, and no one wants to see it disappear. But it's best for the league when players play up to and past their potential—either defensively or offensively.

Great players should be allowed to put up great numbers and fans should get to see that.

New York Rangers Attempt To Re-Create 2001-02 Red Wings, Frankenstein Style

Steven Ovadia — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:11:10 -0400

Hot on the heels of the report the New York Rangers offered Chris Chelios a spot on their AHL team , right around the time they offered Mathieu Dandenault an AHL tryout , there's only one logical conclusion to be drawn: the Rangers are trying to rebuild the Cup-winning 2001-02 Red Wings.

Crazy you say? What about the fact that Brendan Shanahan, another member of that Wings team, is skating in New York, trying to catch-on with a Cup-contending team in the area .

New Jersey has already cut him loose once this season. The Flyers are capped out. The Islanders couldn't contend for the Calder Cup, let alone the Stanley Cup. The only other team in the area is the Rangers, where Shanahan played for two seasons.

And while it seems there's no room for Shanahan on the Rangers, at least not among their top nine forwards, let's not forget that it seems to have been former coach Tom Renney who didn't want Shanahan re-signed. GM Glen Sather always appeared to be a big fan of the winger with over 650 career goals.

And if Shanahan were to be re-signed by the Rangers, perhaps he would play on a line with Sean Avery, another member of that Cup-winning Wings team. And while Avery didn't see any playoff time that year, he did play in 36 regular season games for Detroit.

It's not surprising that the Rangers are trying to re-create a Cup-winning team in New York. The organization did so to great success in 1994, when they won the Stanley Cup with a transported version of Sather's Edmonton Oilers dynasty.

Eventually, Rangers management figured out it would save them a few steps to just bring Sather over directly, rather than having him get players for Edmonton and then ship them to New York. In essence, they decided to cut out the middle man.

And now, since Sather's Cup-winning idea well seems to have run dry, he's now trying to transport another franchise over to New York.

What's puzzling is why the Rangers are focusing on such old players. Are they going to try and get Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull out of retirement? Will they spring Sergei Fedorov from the KHL? Is this whole plan some kind of bizarre Ben Gay product-placement scheme?

And most importantly of all, why target the 2001-02 team? Why not try and recreate the 2007-08 Cup-winning team, which is almost 10 years younger? Sure, the core players are all under 10-15 year contracts, but there must be some useful pieces there that aren't locked down for the next few decades.

And for that matter, if you're going to go old, why not just go for it and try and recreate the Islanders dynasty of the 1980s?

The Rangers actually started that project when they signed Islanders great Bryan Trottier to be coach in 2003. What not many people know is that Sather signed Trottier as a forward, while Trottier thought he was being signed as a coach. The whole thing became so awkward, Sather let Trottier coach and canceled his meetings with Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin, declaring the Islanders transplant unviable.

And of course, no one knows the status of the Rangers project to re-animate Rocket Richard.

Tippett and Phoenix Showing The Best Offense Is a Mobile Defense

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:33:26 -0400

The Coyotes have been very interesting to watch this season. And for once, the interest isn't driven by the chaos that seems to envelop the organization.

They're 5-2 under new coach Dave Tippett. Where Tippett is system oriented, previous coach Wayne Gretzky preferred a more freeform coaching style . Or rather, "style."

One huge difference between the coaching philosophies is Tippett's use of defensemen in the offense. Defenseman Ed Jovanovski has three goals, where last season, under Gretzky, he finished with just nine.

Tippett has become a big fan of the active defensemen philosophy :

If your defensemen aren’t involved ... I'm not talking about leading the rush, I’m talking about them finding opportunities to get people pucks at the net, on the power play they have to be involved, that’s the way it is right now.

It’s hard to score goals, and if you’re just going to rely on your forwards to score, you’re not going to get enough. So our defensemen, we’ve pushed them to make sure that they’re active in the offense, that they’re active on the offensive blue line but still defend very well.

More and more coaches are leaning on their defensemen to kick-in some offense. Over in New York, Michael Del Zotto has four goals, more than most of their forwards. And how much of Washington's march to the playoffs was driven by the work of defenseman Mike Green?

Tippett, and coaches like Tippett, have learned that goalies are just too big. You can't get anything past them—even while hanging out around the crease. The only players on the ice who can see daylight between the goalie and the net are the defensemen, who are behind the action. Smart coaches are capitalizing, telling their blue-liners it's OK to join the play. And they're seeing that active defensemen lead to wins.

Of course, the increasing importance of the offensive defenseman raises some interesting questions—like what happens when you lose one? The Penguins are going to be without Sergei Gonchar for six weeks as he rehabs a broken wrist. Last season, the Penguins were fine without Gonchar, while he suffered a dislocated shoulder, but the Penguins are losing an important offensive option that took a lot of pressure off of the forwards in the offensive zone.

Coaches around the league are trying to figure out ways to conquer these roving d-men. One thing I'm looking forward to is when coaches start keeping that third forward high in the defensive zone, waiting to turn a mishandled puck into a breakway. In fact, if this trend continues, the action will get further and further away from the net, until eventually players will be lined up along center ice, taking turns trying to score.

But until then, it's nice to see coaches thinking offense and not safety. It's nice to see players getting the green light to follow their instincts. And it's nice to see all of that paying off.