NHL Evolutions: The LA model is done

[LGR4GM]

Sutter and the LA model I think is outdated. I could be wrong about this. Let's not focus so much on Sutter but more on the model the Kings have used. 

 

They typically like larger players who are decent skaters. They prefer to be a very physical team. They do a lot of chipping and forechecking. Now I think that this was great for the 4 year span of 2010-2014. The league couldn't deal with it and they won. The reason I do not think it works as well now is because of the of the evolution of the NHL. In 2005 when the NHL came back it was a faster, more skating focused league. Large pilon defenders were obsolete and continue to be so. Now for the first 10 years there was a integration of the new NHL player. Fast, quick thinking, good skating. Now good skating isn't just speed, it is also agility, lateral movement, and quickness. As we roll forward into 2017 this means that the players starting to play in 2005 and who learned to be good skaters and such are entering the league in higher and higher numbers. We see it all the time. How many top draft picks can't skate? Reinhart has spent years working on his and to be honest he isn't that bad. Guhle is good in part because of his skating. 

 

So where am I going with this? The LA model I think won't be as effective going forward because of the speed of the game as it has now come to be played. Defenders are becoming faster and more agile. Forwards duck out of those big hits more often than not. That is why I wouldn't want the kings system here. Chipping the puck in, battling to get it, and winning the battle because you have big power wingers is not as effective as say the Chicago or Pittsburgh model. 

 

Thoughts? I would love to hear counter arguments to this.

[Eleven]

I'm trying to think of the last time a team built like that made it to the finals.  I'll bet it was within the last year.

[CallawaySabres]

Multiple superstars and puck moving D is how you win the Cup. We have 1 of each and a loooong way to go

[LGR4GM]

I'm trying to think of the last time a team built like that made it to the finals.  I'll bet it was within the last year.

Making the finals isn't good enough for me. Either you won it or you didn't. I don't think the SJ Sharks are in that mold however.

[Doohicksie]

Making the finals isn't good enough for me. Either you won it or you didn't. I don't think the SJ Sharks are in that mold however.

 

You're not Liger. You're Schrödinger's cat.

[LGR4GM]

 

You're not Liger. You're Schrödinger's cat.

Could be... or I could not be.

[Doohicksie]

Exactly.
 
 
Well, approximately.
 
 
Let me ask Heisenberg.  Maybe he knows.

[LGR4GM]

Someone else posted this already but 

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/nhl-ioc-olympics-1.4054346

"When asked point blank in Helsinki about the NHL's involvement in South Korea, IOC president Thomas Bach passed the buck to Rene Fasel and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

"That is between the federation and the NHL. We are happy to accommodate a positive result at any given time," Bach shrugged. "The international federation has committed itself to take over the costs for travel and insurance of the players. This is what happened in the last five Olympic Games, so I hope that this time it works."

It didn't work, because the NHL, its conditions met, refused to kiss the ring of the IOC. They won't shut down the league and interrupt the schedule because, they say, it's a hardship for the league and its owners."

[That Aud Smell]

Good effin thread here.

 

I have nothing to contribute at this time.

Multiple superstars and puck moving D is how you win the Cup. We have 1 of each and a loooong way to go

But this.

[Taro T]

I'm trying to think of the last time a team built like that made it to the finals.  I'll bet it was within the last year.

& pretty sure one of those won it 3 years ago as well. ;)

[WildCard]

Multiple superstars and puck moving D is how you win the Cup. We have 1 of each and a loooong way to go

And a good head coach. The last poor one to win it? Take a guess...