A season in transition

Sporting News, The, Oct 14, 1996 by Larry Wigge

When last we left you, Uwe Krupp ... a defenseman ... a German born defenceman at that ... fired a shot that had eyes and sneaked through several bodies before eluding Panthers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck to clinch the Stanley Cup for the first-year Colorado Avalanche. The goal came 4 minutes, 31 seconds into an exhausting third overtime to give the Avalanche a 1-0 victory and complete a four-game sweep.

Krupp's goal came sometime after 1 am., a time when eyes become harder to keep open and neck muscles begin to spasm after a long night of work. But goaltenders Patrick Roy and Vanbiesbrouck were involved in a high-stakes game of show and tell at Miami Arena. Vanbiesbrouck did the unbelievable, and Roy countered with the impossible. Sort of like those Michael Jordan-Larry Bird commercials, only in this case it was nothing but netminding.

But that was last season. This season, the NHL should be even more entertaining. To start with-in an effort to create more offense--it has changed rules to allow defensemen such as Krupp to carry the puck without being mugged in their own zone.

"When I started watching the Avalanche early in the playoffs, I said, `This is my kind of team,' " says Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr, who made more than a few end-to-end rushes during his career with the Bruins. "I judge a team to watch by the way the defensemen work the puck--and everyone on that Colorado defense handled the puck with a purpose."

As a player, Orr saw defenceman Borje Salming bring his great skill to the NHL from Sweden in 1973. But in those days Europeans didn't bring their talent across the pond to put on display every night as they do now. Also, today's players are bigger, stronger end faster than the average player in Orr's era.

Big, strong, youthful forwards who go to the net like linebackers and defensemen, who don't handle the puck like it's a hand grenade, make the Avalanche a team to emulate, although Colorado's speed and talent is hard to accumulate. But the extra-Orr-dinary dimension we will see in the NHL this season is the mobility of defensemen and the importance of the transition game.

"For too long, we've seen defensemen with their faces up against the glass, hit from behind with no time to show off their talent," Oilers general manager Glen Sather says. "It's gotten so bad that even 10-and 12-year-old kid defensemen are afraid to handle the puck anymore. That will be different this season."

Last year, the NHL had some success in increasing offense by having referees crack down on interference in the neutral zone. It allowed players to pick up more speed and take advantage of their skills. Now, there's the move to unshackle defensemen.

Since 1987, opposing players have been allowed to move into the offensive zone, return to the neutral zone if they were offside, and then re-enter the offensive zone. The idea was to speed up the game and reduce the number of offside calls. What the rule did, unintentionally, was take away the puckhandling skills of the defensemen. Those defensemen now will be encouraged to handle the puck, and it could help open up the game if they speed out of their zone and get their team's offense in gear more quickly. In order to discourage defensemen from forcing too many offsides, the league has ordered that any such faceoffs will be back in the defensive zone.

"I've always felt that defense is the thinking man's position; it's sort of like being a quarterback," Maple Leafs defenseman Mathieu Schneider says. "But the rules have precipitated us from doing our job, showing our overall talent."

Last season, Brian Leetch and Ray Bourque were the only NHL defensemen to average a point per game. This season, the new rules will allow other defensemen to showcase their offensive skills.

Rats!

The Panthers made it to the finals with a great work ethic, outstanding goaltending and a rabid group of fans that kept excitement alive throughout the team's improbable playoff run. Against overwhelming odds, the Panthers upended Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

But the fans' exuberance-particularly their habit of throwing plastic rats onto the ice to celebrate goals-delayed games and turned off executives around the league.

"Nothing against the Florida fans or the Detroit fans, but the idea of throwing rats or octupi onto the ice created a messy and dangerous situation for the players," commissioner Gary Bettman says. "We don't want something artificial to take the game away from the skill of our great players."

Fans who are caught tossing rats or octupi on the ice will be warned first and then cause the home team to be penalized for delay of game if they persist in their rowdiness. This new rule to combat debris tossed onto the ice does not apply to hat tricks.

Taking a Flyer on Philly

Last spring, Eric Lindros had to watch all those players who went to Quebec for him in that blockbuster 1992 trade with Philadelphia excel in Colorado. The big center takes things like that personally, so the fire in his eyes will burn even brighter this season. Lindros doesn't like to answer questions about why he hasn't won it all yet.