How has the NHL game changed without the two-line pass rule?

[PROGFAN66]

I remember reading from my favorite hockey player Bobby Orr that he did not like eliminating the two-line pass rule for safety reasons and making the traditional center line less important in the game.

The game is faster, every team now employs a long passing game or stretch pass tactic and scoring has increased. You see more controlled set breakouts or option breakouts as well.

However, due to the increase speed of the sport there is an issue with more dangerous hits.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Devil's advocate... It hasn't been a net good for hockey.

It's increased the speed of the game but not necessarily the skill or entertainment factor. The 2 line pass rule wasn't holding any skilled players back and has led to more dump and chase hockey

I'd argue it's increased the frequency and severity of concussions because of how much more speed the players carry. The forces involved in the hits are exponentially higher now

 

[tinyzombies]

A huge plus for the sport, games are much more fun. It's hard to tell if that's because the players are more skilled through the entire lineup and can all shoot now because of the sticks, or if it's because of rule changes. Not being able to touch the guy in front has had a huge impact too.

 

[The Panther]

I think it definitely led to more head-injuries and concussions (Crosby as the poster boy) in the first five years or so after it was implemented. After a period, either players adapted or the game cleaned up so much that this has become less of an issue.

I can see the pros and cons either way, so I'm never really decided on how I feel about it. The game was far more entertaining circa 1989 to 1994 (with the 2-line offsides rule) than it has ever been since, so no can convince me that putting the rule back means "boring hockey" (seriously, has hockey ever been more boring than around 2011 to 2016? I couldn't stay awake through game sevens.)

Certainly the stretch passes make the game look faster, but it's really a mirage, as it's just players whipping the puck down the ice, not actually skating or stickhandling any faster.

On the other hand, I recall being annoyed at whistles for 2-line offside passes, at times, when I was a kid, because it seemed a cheap way to stop the play.

(I have no strong opinion about it either way. What I do dislike about the current game is the sticks. I frickin' hate any hockey stick that isn't 100% wood.)

 

[Big Phil]

I think what it has done among other things is increase the icing calls more than ever. Not only that, I think the linesmen are as clueless as I've ever seen with these icings. I don't know how many times I've seen it where the player clearly turns away from the puck and then pretends to chase it only to have it cross the line. Immediate icing. Or a player who can very clearly skate much faster than they are is gliding back to get the puck and the linesman is watching him knowing that he is plodding along. Much of this happens because of long passes that are aborted and go the length of the ice. This didn't happen before the red line was removed nearly as much.

 

[mrhockey193195]

The biggest negative in my opinion is that you no longer have to "get out of your zone" in order to dump the puck in and change lines. Now, you can be hemmed in your own zone, recover the puck, and have a guy fly to the red line and tip it down. No icing, immediate relief of pressure. Before, if you get that puck behind your net, you have to find a way to make a play and get it out of your zone first.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

The game was far more entertaining circa 1989 to 1994 (with the 2-line offsides rule) than it has ever been since, so no can convince me that putting the rule back means "boring hockey" (seriously, has hockey ever been more boring than around 2011 to 2016? I couldn't stay awake through game sevens.)

YMMV on whether years 2011-2016 or 1998-2004 were more fun, but ahead of the lockout trap systems were employed by more than 80% of teams in the NHL, and I think removing the red line decreased the effectiveness of those systems.

You’re right that hockey has been entertaining both with and without the red line, but I’m not arguing the rule meant boring hockey by default, it was that more and more teams were playing boring hockey at the time and removing the red line helped open up the ice, stretch defenses, made offensive star players shine a bit brighter, and it brought some of the excitement back into the game.

Of course, trap defense hasn’t been eliminated from the surface of the earth and is still an efficient system for protecting leads, and I guess it’s possible you could reinstate the red line, enforce a hard stance on obstruction, and offset the stifling effects on scoring we attributed to the rule at the height of the DPE, but we should take into careful consideration what hockey looked like when the rule was changed.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I didn't like how you could make a three-line pass up the margin just to have a chip and no chase. It's just designed to setup a passive forecheck. Luckily, among forward-thinkers, head manning the puck died in a very public forum (and a very personal one to me) - I point to the 2013 Eastern Conference Final as the final nail in the coffin to head manning the puck. I don't care to ruin my day with the details of that right now...

Now, we're seeing more of the intent of opening up the game and we're see it harnessed. In a couple of instances here (just because it's handy), you can see what the head man guy is doing...he's pushing back the defense to allow for clean entries. You develop speed behind the puck (a largely Soviet concept). Clean entries allow for room high in the offensive zone, space high in the offensive zone allows for cross net-line passes, cross net-line passes lead to offense.



I don't attribute the two-line pass removal to head injuries. I attribute that to the "no touching" rules that we had coming out of the big sleep. If you can't disrupt speed and turn skates and break strides at all, everything turns into a charge. Charges are illegal because players tend to, ya know, die. The game got too fast for its own good too fast. It took about 7 to 10 years for the league to catch up from a talent perspective. So you had the doldrums of this era (around 2009-2014 or so I guess) where just 25-second-men went out there and skated around as fast as they could to destroy instead of create. Now that the message has been passed down to the developmental leagues and youth hockey, you see depth players are able to skate and handle the puck at speed...not just top liners.

Look at the last five years...we're at 2007 levels of scoring, and over. We get 31 shots per game per team on average. And when you adjust for difference of average attempt, that's the most in league history...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I didn't like how you could make a three-line pass up the margin just to have a chip and no chase. It's just designed to setup a passive forecheck. Luckily, among forward-thinkers, head manning the puck died in a very public forum (and a very personal one to me) - I point to the 2013 Eastern Conference Final as the final nail in the coffin to head manning the puck. I don't care to ruin my day with the details of that right now...

Now, we're seeing more of the intent of opening up the game and we're see it harnessed. In a couple of instances here (just because it's handy), you can see what the head man guy is doing...he's pushing back the defense to allow for clean entries. You develop speed behind the puck (a largely Soviet concept). Clean entries allow for room high in the offensive zone, space high in the offensive zone allows for cross net-line passes, cross net-line passes lead to offense.



I don't attribute the two-line pass removal to head injuries. I attribute that to the "no touching" rules that we had coming out of the big sleep. If you can't disrupt speed and turn skates and break strides at all, everything turns into a charge. Charges are illegal because players tend to, ya know, die. The game got too fast for its own good too fast. It took about 7 to 10 years for the league to catch up from a talent perspective. So you had the doldrums of this era (around 2009-2014 or so I guess) where just 25-second-men went out there and skated around as fast as they could to destroy instead of create. Now that the message has been passed down to the developmental leagues and youth hockey, you see depth players are able to skate and handle the puck at speed...not just top liners.

Look at the last five years...we're at 2007 levels of scoring, and over. We get 31 shots per game per team on average. And when you adjust for difference of average attempt, that's the most in league history...

True, but I'd argue the shot totals are misleading. Many are poor quality shots from low risk areas. A bunch of pucks thrown at the net from the perimeter isn't good hockey. I prefer quality of quantity.

I mean, all the scoring exploits we love to talk about and wax poetic on happened with the 2 line pass rule so it couldn't have been that punitive.

The big issue was (and still is to a degree) that coaching choked all creativity out of the game *cough* trap *cough*

 

[Michael Farkas]

Compared to the highest shot total seasons, the shot quality now is much higher. Look at shot distance among forwards in 1964 vs today.

The last several years have seen creativity favored more in my opinion. The exception being 3v3 overtime.

You'll know that hockey men want overtime "back" when you see a push for removing the loss of a loser point for pulling your goalie in overtime.

 

[The Macho Man]

I remember reading from my favorite hockey player Bobby Orr that he did not like eliminating the two-line pass rule for safety reasons and making the traditional center line less important in the game.

The game is faster, every team now employs a long passing game or stretch pass tactic and scoring has increased. You see more controlled set breakouts or option breakouts as well.

However, due to the increase speed of the sport there is an issue with more dangerous hits.

I need to see something to support this. People say it as if it is axiomatic but I recall plenty of dangerous hits pre-lockout. It's not like most blow-ups happen at the tail end of stretch passes. They tend to happen on breakouts and zone entries, which aren't any different (and if anything there is one less "zone" to need to cross with control).

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Luckily, among forward-thinkers, head manning the puck died in a very public forum (and a very personal one to me) - I point to the 2013 Eastern Conference Final as the final nail in the coffin to head manning the puck. I don't care to ruin my day with the details of that right now...

I’m pretty sure you’ve explained this brilliantly already in the thread I started on the torpedo system, maybe a year ago.