Jacques Lemaire....the architect of the dead puck era

[sawchuk1971]

If the Red Wings won the cup in 1995, maybe the neutral zone trap would not be adopted by other teams?

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[Yozhik v tumane]

Wouldn’t the unfavored Devils making it that far still inspire others?

Would the Panthers opt for a run-and-gun scheme and fail to make the finals the next year?

 

[Michael Farkas]

Teams were playing this way well before the 1995 Devils...it was happening regardless.

DPE isn't centered completely around a single NZ forecheck formation.

 

[Gorskyontario]

I think the 96 panthers had a much bigger impact on defensive systems.

 

[MadLuke]

According to Lemaire, it was in vogue quite a bit before 1995, including himself when he was playing hockey for Bowman in the 70s, they won a lot and allowed very few goals with it which popularized it in the nhl.

 

[carjackmalone]

The architect of the DPE was Roger Neilson

 

[Johnny Engine]

I've said it many times, it was caused by Bill Ranford having a bad game on April 24, 1996.

In all seriousness, like others said it was a combination of factors, from systems, to the short shift game, to salary disparity, to decisions by referees.

 

[Gorskyontario]

According to Lemaire, it was in vogue quite a bit before 1995, including himself when he was playing hockey for Bowman in the 70s, they won a lot and allowed very few goals with it which popularized it in the nhl.

Watch the 70s habs and the Lemaire devils, if you can't see a difference in tempo.

 

[buffalowing88]

I've said it many times, it was caused by Bill Ranford having a bad game on April 24, 1996.

In all seriousness, like others said it was a combination of factors, from systems, to the short shift game, to salary disparity, to decisions by referees.

Salary disparity is the elephant in the room here. Markets where great players weren't going to sign with in the early-90s led to a shift. Devils, Sabres, Panthers, etc.

These are teams that can suddenly utilize a strategy that mitigates skill from the guys who wouldn't go there to begin with.

 

[hacksaw7]

There were other factors that contributed to the awful drop in scoring post 1994. Goalies started to really get absurdly inflated with their pads. Garth Snow...heck look at Mike Vernon circa 1989 and then Vernon 1995.

Also the stupid and unnecessary crease rule, where good legitimate goals were disallowed because a player had his toe in the crease. That's all. Didnt have to touch the goalie. It was no goal if you had even a skate anywhere in the crease. This unfortunately discouraged players from going to the net aggressively as they used to...goalies could now see a lot more shots that in the past might get by them due to screens etc

clutching and grabbing in general became much more tolerated

 

[Gerulaitis]

JACK LeMAIRE:
The Man Who Killed the Puck

 

[Crosby2010]

I never have thought that goalies all of the sudden got better. I hated that lazy argument. It was "Well, the goalies are just better". Ah, no. They have more padding. They aren't better or faster. Look at how the goalies in the original 6 era moved. A lot less equipment, they were quick. Garth Snow's pads as someone mentioned were well known to be inflated. Look at the 1997 playoffs. He's like the Michelin Man there. Try and find me a nice save Snow made in his career rather than one that bounced off of him. Ironically it was Brodeur who seemed to move quick in this era and who had noticeably smaller pads. Just check out a picture of him and compare it. Brodeur seemed to like that better I guess.

But as the the style of play alone, the trap had been around probably going back to the 1940s Leafs teams coached by Hap Day. Punch Imlach to an extent with the Leafs in the 1960s as well. So lots of good teams had that sort of style, but no one ever thought hockey was boring until the mid 1990s. And I think it was just the clutching and grabbing that made it worse, meaning a team like the 1996 Panthers could beat much better teams. Lemaire is credited with it because of 1995, but I am thinking that style of play arrives regardless. The Panthers making the final is what I think contributed to one of the biggest changes from season to season. In 1996 there was still a lot of free flowing hockey. Mario had 161 points, Jagr 149, tons of players with over 100 and 50 goals. Three teams with over 300 goals, the Pens had 362. Plus the Devils missed the playoffs so it sort of looked like this "trap" was just a fad. Except for the case of the Panthers. When they beat the Pens it squandered the chance of the Pens and Avs playing each other in the Cup final. Probably the best Cup final we never had. Every one of the top 5 scorers in the NHL were on one of those teams. I am sure this happened a time or two in the original 6 days, but only in 1972 and 1974 did it ever happen post-expansion. And then we were a game away from it in 1996. I am thinking that this would have been an offensive showdown with a lot of exciting hockey. No matter who wins, the winners are the fans. And regardless the two highest scoring teams in the NHL are facing off. I have a hard time believing that teams start trapping the way they did the following season if the Cup final is two offensive powerhouses. But instead the Panthers gave hope to mediocre teams and that probably sped up the dead puck era.

 

[JianYang]

There were other factors that contributed to the awful drop in scoring post 1994. Goalies started to really get absurdly inflated with their pads. Garth Snow...heck look at Mike Vernon circa 1989 and then Vernon 1995.

Also the stupid and unnecessary crease rule, where good legitimate goals were disallowed because a player had his toe in the crease. That's all. Didnt have to touch the goalie. It was no goal if you had even a skate anywhere in the crease. This unfortunately discouraged players from going to the net aggressively as they used to...goalies could now see a lot more shots that in the past might get by them due to screens etc

clutching and grabbing in general became much more tolerated

Regarding the hooking and holding, I don't think the tolerance level changed much in the 90s compared to the high scoring 80s.... I just think way more coaches were emphasizing positional play in the 90s alot more and harnessed the full potential of what that tolerance level for infractions can do for a defensive structure.

I saw 90s as the start of more technical coaches in the league, rather than the guys who were almost all about trying to get an emotional response.

 

[MadLuke]

It is true that watching 80s playoff hockey, hard to believe that tolerance to hooking is what significantly happened to the 90s, maybe versus a specific season like 1996 versus those just before and after, the league made a special Mario Lemieux accept to play if we call things, a bit like 2006 vs a bit later one.

Maybe powerplay save percentage vs overall save percentage can give a bit of clue between goaltender size-equipment and defensive focus-trap-hooking. Lot of those factor can become negligible when a team is killing penalty, it is not like most team played strong 2 guy forecheck on the pk.

 

[Staniowski]

According to Lemaire, it was in vogue quite a bit before 1995, including himself when he was playing hockey for Bowman in the 70s, they won a lot and allowed very few goals with it which popularized it in the nhl.

Yes, there was lots of defense played before the '95 Devils, for many decades. Some similarities when comparing different teams and different eras, and many differences.

The '70s Habs, under Bowman, didn't play a set defensive system. Those teams could play good defense, but Bowman experimented a lot, changed a lot. It was very different from the '95 Devils, though. You can see it somewhat in Lemaire, himself, as a player, though.

 

[Staniowski]

The evolution of defensive hockey, and various defensive-concious systems, is a very big topic, and goes back many decades, and certainly many NHL teams were playing types of "trap" systems by 1995. The Habs won the Cup in '93 by playing a strong team defense, for example.

But, if Detroit was going to beat New Jersey in the '95 Finals, they'd basically have had to play like New Jersey.

So, even though there's a lot to talk about regarding the history of defensive hockey (and other factors that contributed to the DPE), the importance of the '95 playoff Devils (and Jacques Lemaire, in particular) should not be understated. They were VERY important, a landmark team in NHL history.

I had never seen a team like the '95 Devils, and there hasn't been a team like them since. At the time, they played the most intense and effective defensive system no doubt that any NHL team had ever played. The important point is that they produced a big defensive gulf between them and every other NHL team. They shocked everybody they played. The teams they played were largely helpless.

Teams can adjust to such defensive systems, but it takes time. The teams they played in the '95 playoffs couldn't adjust in time.

The team was hugely influential. Of course there have been great defensive teams since then, but the defensive gulf between the '95 playoff Devils and their opponents has never been matched.