2011 NHL Playoff Predictions: Why Defense and Goaltending Win Championships

This season's NHL playoffs have seen some offensive explosions to be sure. But come playoff time, is the offense or the defense/goaltending more important to ensure victory?

This is the age-old question that has raged since sports were invented. Supporters of the offense will tell you that a 1.00 GAA means nothing if your team can’t find the back of the net, but the defense will tell you that a 1-0 victory is as impressive as a 7-4 victory in the playoffs.

Perhaps this is one that is best settled by looking at the traditional measures of excellence that are awarded by the NHL at the conclusion of every season.

It would seem that those teams who have the season scoring leader (Art Ross Trophy) or most valuable player (Hart Trophy) should have a decided advantage in Stanley Cups, right?

Well it appears that isn’t as safe a bet as one would think. In the past 10 years, the Stanley Cup has only seen two teams win the Cup while boasting the Hart Trophy winner on their roster as well: the 2001 Colorado Avalanche with Joe Sakic and the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning with Martin St. Louis.

Combine that with the fact that the same results are true if you look at teams with the Art Ross Trophy winner on their Stanley Cup roster; you would keep St. Louis and the Lightning on that list but insert Evgeni Malkin and the 2009 Penguins in place of Sakic’s 2001 Avalanche.

Now, compare that to teams that have had either a Vezina, Norris or Jennings Trophy winner on their roster and the number jumps to six teams that have won the Stanley Cup and also collected one of those trophies at season's end.

Obviously, these statistics could be subject to various different degrees of outside factors affecting their validity but they are more definitive than simple subjective feelings towards the subject.

To be fair, no team is going to come out and say which they would rather have, but think about the teams that have dominated the Stanley Cup Playoffs over the last...say 20 years.

The New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche were teams that perennially found themselves firmly entrenched as favorites to make deep runs in the playoffs. The similarity between them: defense and goaltending.

Total Vezina and James Norris Trophies won by players on their rosters: 26.

Total Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies won by players on their rosters: two.

In fact, if you dig deeper, then you see that the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils have zero offensive trophies for their players during their playoff domination.

Furthermore, when Peter Forsberg won his Art Ross Trophy and Milan Hejduk secured his Rocket Richard Trophy, it was in a season that the Avalanche did not win the Stanley Cup.

As the new generation of NHL stars make their names in the league, the last few Stanley Cup champions have not boasted sure-fire Hall of Famers in net or on the blue line.

However, as scoring seems to be making a comeback in the NHL and teams are finding depth in scoring talent all over their rosters, it seems to make defense and goaltending all the more important.

When Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby entered the league, they were reinventing the offensive game for the next generation of hockey fans. Still, for all of their talent and offensive spark, they only have one Stanley Cup between them.

Again, this is a tricky subject to try and be definitive on and the case for defense is made even harder because the league currently lacks a lot of star power in net or on the blue line.

Suffice it to say, though, that a team like the Vancouver Canucks this season should hope that Roberto Luongo outshines the likes of his high-scoring Swedish captain.

Having the ability to stop the other team from finding the back of the net seems to be a much better formula for hoisting the Stanley Cup than knowing the way there yourself.