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Bleacher Report article on the NJ Devils


Shtikl

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The guy missed another possible reason that defensive hockey was winning out over offensive hockey styles back then. The reason he missed is that there weren't a lot of great offensive forwards in the league around that time compared to now. Now we have few quality defenders and more game breaking forwards so it's tougher for teams to compete with a purely passive defense system.

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The guy missed another possible reason that defensive hockey was winning out over offensive hockey styles back then. The reason he missed is that there weren't a lot of great offensive forwards in the league around that time compared to now. Now we have few quality defenders and more game breaking forwards so it's tougher for teams to compete with a purely passive defense system.

so true and something that's just not examined.

much as the hitting explosion in the late 90s and early 00s in baseball was likely fueled by the fact that there just weren't many great pitchers in the league at that time - now it seems like every team has 2 promising young arms - hockey has had a similar ebb and flow.

used to be we criticized the flyers for not having a #1 D man - transport eric desjardins to this league and he's a no doubt #1 d man.

Edited by Triumph
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Take it easy on the guy. He's young and stupid. He should spend more time cutting his hair and not buttoning the top button rather than analyzing the significance of a 1995 energy line.

His entire argument is invalid based on these comments:

James: It's cute how you made no mention to the 1999-2000 Devils Stanley Cup team, the one that led the Eastern Conference in goals scored, and second only to the Red Wings in the entire league.
Bernie: This isn't about the 1999-2000 Devils team, Lemaire was no longer the coach.

We're not talking about the 1999-2000 team because Lemaire was not the coach, but we can talk about the 2002-2003 team .. because Lemaire was ... still not the coach?

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New Jersey Devils At Fault for the Decline of the Pre-Lockout NHL

by Bernie Horowitz (Scribe)

Bleacher Report (blog?) -- 2008 July 20

"what they did was selfish" -- oooh, sour grapes? Are there teams in the NHL that aren't selfish??

The "Trap-ezoid" was instituted also because of the play of Brodeur. He was the perfect complement to a defensive system. The Devils are trend setters and should be respected for that and not made to be the cause of the decline of hockey...

:dance:

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He didn't answer my question to his reponse that the Rangers trotting out Straka means they counterattack while the Devils going with Pando means the Devils sit back. I wanted to know if that was the case then why did the two teams score almost the same amount of goals last season? The only 2 reasons could be that the Devils offensive talent was superior enough to trump the stifling system or that the Rangers also played a passive system.

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You can say what you want about the Rangers signing all those Kasparaitises and Holiks, but that's hardly what led to the lockout if you think about it. The problem was that so few teams were profiting, as you read in the Levitt Report.

I'm embarrassed to share the same generation as this guy.

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Here was my reply to him....

"So, if your argument hinged on the 1995 team, why do you bring up the 2003 team? Or the 96 Panthers? Or the 99 Sabres? Or the 04 Flames? It seems to me you only included teams that fit the argument, and avoided teams (2000, 2001 Devils) that did not.

Are you suggesting that instead of playing a disciplined, team-based defensive system, they should have maybe bought a bunch of free agents and traded their future away, selling their soul for one shot at glory, ala the 94 Rangers? Seven players on that team won the 1990 Cup with the Oilers. Why is importing the heart of another team more acceptable than operating on a reasonable budget?

You know what causes a lockout? Inflated salaries that are caused when Bobby Holiks are making 9 million dollars. When someoone sends a ridiculous offer sheet to Joe Sakic. When a team is posting an 80 million dollar payroll and not even making the playoffs in a league where 16 of 30 teams qualify. That knocks salaries out of wack. That causes lockouts."

I also want to point out the guy directly under mine, who corrected the 'stats' Bernie used for the Crash Line. I'm not sure where Bernie got his 'stats' from.

Bernies stats...

McKay led the group with a goal and two assists in twenty games. Holik came next with no goals and three assists in twenty games. Peluso had one goal and no assists.

Actual stats...

McKay... 4 goals, 8 assists (19 games), Holik... 4 goals, 4 assists (20 games), Peluso... 1 goal, 2 assists (20 games). BTW... only 8 PIMS for Peluso in the playoffs, haha. Surprising.

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Haha what an idiot. My favorite quote "My explanation for the result is as follows: one team understood something about the game itself the other did not: that teaching untalented players to perform a simple task repeatedly could beat a team that did not employ a strategy tailored to respond in kind"

Yea no talent with Marty Nieds Stevens 3 Hall of Famers

Edited by spyro
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We're not talking about the 1999-2000 team because Lemaire was not the coach, but we can talk about the 2002-2003 team .. because Lemaire was ... still not the coach?

It's a little-known fact that Pat Burns is actually Jacques Lemaire's clone, with significant weight gain, plastic surgery and a completely different temperament (not to mention accent). Amazing the things medical science can do these days.

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