From the Thumbnail, I was 95% sure this was going to be blasting the Championchip Devils teams & how they killed Hockey for a decade. What we got was a video I will point to every time the Trap is mentioned cause the stigma is real when it come to Devils & the Trap. Continue the great content & work man!
The devils only used the trap in 95 to win a cup ...in 2000 they were just by a mile the biggest fastest youngest team and possibly the best team in nhl history ... that team was beyond stacked ... ran 4 lines equally that all 4 lines could score with ease. ..plus that A line was just simply unstoppable.. best line I've ever seen ...no one ever talks about how dominant they were defensively... plus the madden pandalfo Berlin or nem line could shut down ever single top line in hockey giving the devils the ability to use the last change to put their a line against other teams weaker lines... the saddest thing was that the stars team was a pure dynasty waiting to happen ..if they just didn't have to face to devils they would have for sure won back to back cups ...
@@mostlycrazyallthetimethat's a strange way to spell Detroit Red Wings. The wings forced the league into the salary cap era. The devil's were just the only other team who could keep up.
I don’t think it was the Devils that should get the blame. It was the Panthers the next year, a hilariously unskilled team that trapped their way to the SCF and showed everyone that the trap could overcome your roster limitations and get you into contention. That’s when everyone started doing it.
It's not, because every video you've ever done has the same quality. Even looking at your first video, you are so well spoken, researched and just, well, perfect. It is downright criminal you have so few subscribers. You combine documentary levels of research with an easily digestible format, as you also sprinkle in some dry comedy like pausing to ask "What is that" to those inflatable hockey player things during the NYI vs TOR series, or cutting yourself off to say "Oh my god _____ just suckerpunched" (I couldn't quite remember the video but it was funny). You seem to perfectly capture the energy and emotion of every series or season you cover, really making me feel for the teams playing even though the series is 20 years old and the players are long since retired. You're like EMPLemon but with a much better speaking voice
The Neutral Zone Trap is one of those styles that can perfectly work in playoff hockey with the right personnel. I think we all noticed how offensive style hockey doesn't usually work well in the playoffs. The Neutral Zone is that one style where everyone gets pissed and the people who use it just say, "If you don't like it, try to beat it."
personally, i think teams running defensive styles is good for the league. The more variation in strategy, the better. With the rules we have now, the trap is much less effective so its not nearly as game breaking as during the 'dead puck era' The more players get used to playing against defensive strategies, the more they'll learn to counter it thus pushing the game forward. this push and pull is essential for the growth of the sport, and i'd argue that there aren't enough defensive teams.
@@Potent_TechmologyThe Problem was that to win the Cup last year would have required the Oilers scoring first in 4 out of 7 games as the Panthers 1-2-2 trap was unbeatable all season long with a lead. Offense is sexy, but defense wins championships almost every year with the 2022 Avalanche being a recent exception.
@@BobbyBoucher228 people keep saying defense wins championships and I just don't agree with that anymore. the Predators would've won in 2017 if that was the case. the Golden Knights and Panthers scored their way to championships, and as scoring continues to rise, I think there will be more teams like the Avs and Knights who are heavy up-front, have offensive-styled D-men on the top 2 line, but yet lack a world-class goalie.
Idk. People tend to overrate how defensive they were. They had some absolute lethal weapons on offence. Elias, Mogilny, Gomez, Nieuwendyk, Arnott. They were the highest scoring team in the league in 2001 when they won.
Part of what made the Devils trap so effective was because of Brodeaur's ability to come out of the net and play the puck. If you did manage to dump the puck past the D men, Marty would simply come out of the net and clean it up. Even if they somehow got into the zone cleanly, they still had to deal with one of the greatest goalies of all time.
Both the 2019 Blues and the 2024 Panthers used the 1-2-2 trap when they got a lead and both were devastatingly effective at shutting down offensive chances with their defensive systems. Also even with the trapezoid rule if you have a good puck handling goalie like Binnington, a team can stop the majority of offensive chances with a good puck handling goalie who can stop teams from dumping and chasing and force them to carry the puck in the zone resulting in a lot of turnovers and odd man breaks with the 1-2-2 trap in place. If you look at the Panthers record when they had a lead last year it shows just how effective the 1-2-2 trap can be in modern hockey with a lead and a team who can execute the trap defense to perfection in every game.
@@Potent_Techmology he's talking about the devils, you know, the teams everyone thinks cheated their way to 3 stanley cups because hurr durr "the trap"
Really enjoyed the video, but do want to point out a glaring omission. The 1993 Montreal Canadiens. After the two offensive Penguins team won back-to-back cups, the 93 Habs won playing the trap. HC Jacques Demers even once told the story how GM Serge Savard told him “don’t say the word trap to the media because you won’t hear the end of it”. Lemaire was an assistant GM on that Montreal team. Took the New Jersey job the following season. In fact, if you look at goals scored per game, the biggest season to season drop was after the 93 season, when half the NHL moved to the 1-2-2.
Very frustrating. I knew MTL continued to use it but I didn't realize it went all the way to their next Cup win. Even digging into my sources for this video again, there's no mention of it I can find of them using it in 1992-93. Guess it was just a blind spot. Thanks for bringing it up.
@ Kudos to you for digging that deep, even more so for finding all of the old footage. For the 93 team, Demers would speak about it more in the French media, as he was an analyst for RDS for years. And finally, I love all the work that went into showing the link to how former players became coaches/managers and carried it with them. A similar timeline could be made with the development of young players, and “letting them develop as opposed to rushing them”. My timeline goes from Sam Pollock (70s Canadiens) to Bill Torrey (80s Islanders) to Jim Devellano (90s Red Wings) to Ken Holland (2000s Red Wings) to Steve Yzerman (2010s Lightning), not to mention Bob Gainey (2000s Canadiens), Stan & Scotty Bowman (2000s Blackhawks), Jim Nill (2020s Stars) and on and on.
Man I loved those NJ teams so much. Kind of ironic that what is a weakness today (defense and goaltending) was their greatest strength back then. I can’t stand how teams never give NJ the credit they deserve just because they emphasized defense over offense.
Very good take. It’s not the fault of the trap but rather the circumstances surrounding it. Tbh, remove the obstructing and two-line pass rules from that era and there would be way, way more scoring.
Now we are in an era where really aggressive forechecking teams are considered boring because they choose to get pucks in deep, whereas the trap made that a good option for the opponent. "We should get a guy like Connor McDavid" is not a viable team building strategy for the vast majority of the league because there aren't enough of those players to distribute, so building a team around a strategy to offset the disadvantage of not winning the draft lottery in a franchise altering year makes a lot of sense. It's ivory tower nonsense to look down on a team without true superstars for, you know, trying to win however they can. Like, what are they supposed to do, lie down and take their beating?
Absolutely incredible work again. Your way of documenting this part of hockey history is incredibly important, I think. I don't know if you'll take this as a compliment or not, but -- what I'm left with is a dozen questions. Is there any way you can put together a similar video on how breakouts evolved in step with this, especially in that peak 1999-2004 era, and/or on the Soviet system of play and how it took over the NHL during the '90s as well? I don't want to tell you what to do here, it just screams to me that this is how your story continues.
Excellent video as always. I'd like to add another reason why the trap became so widespread during the 90s: Expansion. The league added 9 teams in a decade. Those teams weren't well constructed like the Knights and Kraken were. Those teams had to deploy a trap in order to avoid losing 8-1 every night. The less said about the 03 series between Anaheim and Minnesota, the better.
Great video. Written in a way that flows is easy to listen to, and is packed with info while still being incredibly entertaining. Above all else, it is well-researched. Love to see it.
Oh, I love those retrospective videos. Top notch quality as always. Thanks! Personally, though, the late 90s-early 00s NHL was my favourite NHL of all. I loved the aggression and literal battles on the ice to physically smother your opponent. And when the big guys had a lot more to say :) Today they want to make it almost contactless which doesn't sit well with me. I'm from Europe so maybe I'm just used to seeing few goals. Or maybe I'm just getting old, but two big hits and seeing the players and the fans react to it excites me sooooo much more than a 10-goal game. The two-line pass was the worst rule of all-time, agreed. BUT BUT BUT the trapezoid is the NEW worst rule of all-time. Completely takes such an exciting dimension away from the game. Goalies need to be set free again :)
First time coming across your videos and always wanted to know more about the dreaded trap. Thank you for this insanely well researched vid. Reminds me of alt shift x but for hockey
I have never clicked on a video so fast in my life. As a lifelong flyers fan, having to play against this horseshit for so many years made me want to pull my hair out strand by strand. But it also taught me two very important things about hockey... 1. Scott Niedermayer is a real life cheat code 2. Team defense and depth scoring wins championships, not great goaltending or high-end scoring. While the latter DOES help, it doesn't help like the former does.
mr pinholes i am profoundly intoxicated and am unable to watch this currently however upon my return home i will be partaking, let you know what i think then
I want 95-04 hockey back so bad, big hits, great defense, clutch and grab, actual greats manage to play through it. Now you can't play defense, you can't throw a big hit without having to fight or end up in the box, guys end up getting called for tripping for a clean hip check. It means that defense relies on flailing your stick around and hoping to block shots. It puts the risk of injury on your team instead of the opposing one and that shouldn't happen.
I’m highly critical of a lot of these newer YT hockey channels ran by dismissive young fans who think hockey began in 2010 and generally look down on us older fans who don’t appreciate the soft skill, flashy type of hockey like they do. This channel, however, is top notch. This is quality over quantity. No clickbait thumbnails and titles. Just high quality, well researched, well narrated, unique content. I appreciate that you don’t focus on pumping out the same lazy, predictable, clickbait videos multiple times a day for views. Keep this up and you’ll surpass all the others in time and it’ll be sustainable. Excellent work as always 👍
First of all, this video is terrific. Subscribed. But I feel the need to add a footnote to the end on the remnants of the old trap in the modern NHL in the 1-3-1 scheme. Guy Boucher as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning implemented what's come to be known as the 1-3-1; the clip you use of the Flyers comically not breaking out against it (38:48) is from a game played against the Boucher Lightning on November 9, 2011. This strategy relies on a fairly weak forechecking presence with 3 skaters trying to force a turnover in the neutral zone or a dump-in before the defensive blueline. The one defender behind is focused on making the retrieval. Besides Boucher, this has not been a common all-situations system for NHL teams, but when it is a team's default system, it's usually because the team is trying to win despite a deficit in talent. As recently as the 2023-24 NHL season, the Los Angeles Kings under Jim Hiller deployed this strategy. It was a sensitive topic in post-season interviews (the players hated it), but in defense of the coaching staff, if you know your first round opponent is going to be the McDavid-Draisatl Edmonton Oilers, well... maybe you gotta play a certain way to win, because you're not going to win trading chances against those guys off the rush. Anyway, more interesting to me is that the 1-3-1 may not be the default scheme for NHL teams except for some unique circumstances, but it is part of most teams' Defend Lead systems. As you've pointed out, the removal of the two-line pass rule, the implementation of the trapezoid, and referees calling obstruction more aggressively (especially in the first season post-lockout) did a lot to change the trap-counterattack as status-quo successful all-situations strategy in the NHL. However, it is still a useful posture for teams trying to reduce the overall number of events in the game and introduce a slower pace. Most NHL teams trying to defend a 2+ goal lead will opt for it, because it does slow the game down and create a game-state of fewer chances for everyone, even if the team chasing the lead will get the better half of the ratio of those chances. However, it's notably no longer a strategy associated with status-quo winning hockey at the NHL level, the way it was during the peak dead puck era of the late '90s. Instead, it's a style associated with winners trying not to concede goals or, really, losers. Check out the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 7 overtime against the Boston Bruins in the 2024 playoffs. Before David Pastrnak's winning overtime goal, the Leafs have one forward weakly defending a breakout, three Leafs standing straight-legged on their blueline, and Morgan Rielly back, unable to tie up a streaking Pastrnak retrieving a puck bounced off the end-boards on a set play. Anyway, great video! Thank you! (I also think the end of the dead puck era isn't so clean-Jamie Benn won the Art Ross in 2014-15 with 87 points-but I completely understand not wanting to tie up the runtime of this video in tedious litigating of the true end of the dead puck era. Or, rather, that's probably a subject for another great video on this subject!)
Amazing work good sir! Watching this took me back to some fond (and not so fond) memories of watching hockey as a wee lad back in the 90's and early 00's. I love hockey but the NHL is so poorly run, it is ridiculous how long it took for them to address the lack of rule enforcement. Looking forward to your next video!
I remember reading an article in 2005 about how cracking down on obstruction would destroy ice hockey as an entertaining game. The piece was by a well-respected hockey journalist and argued its points well. He just did not realize how skilled 21st century players are and what they can do when allowed to skate and handle the puck.
I would have liked to see a bit about the 2004 Lightning and their play style. Everyone thinks of his press room antics and mind games with players now, but John Tortorella wanted to be proactive on offense and overcome the trap (or at least as much as you could in the dead puck era). They finished 3rd in scoring with a good-not-great roster and obviously won the Stanley Cup. All the rule changes and the salary cap coming in for 05-06 really stopped their title defense before it could get started. They were built to conquer the old NHL, not the new one.
how did you find that video of the canadiens oilers game with the announcer making a passing comment about the trap???incredible great job. also as isles fan thanks for correctly pointing out they were the last true dynasty in the nhl
Big thing about goalies like Brodeur coming out to play the puck is that you couldn't hit them. At least not without receiving a knuckle sandwich to the dome. They were invincible when moving the puck which made them so lethal
You forgot to mention that rapid expansion watered down the product on the ice because of the lack of talent, and that free agency meant that keeping a team of superstars together forever was no longer possible. This made the trap a necessity to keep a team competitive in a new market that cost several hundred million dollars to establish. And let's not forget a few great names: Brodeur, Hasek, Roy, Belfour, Luongo. That right there was probably a couple of hundred fewer goals per season. And that's your "Dead Puck Era" in a nutshell.
I thought about it, but I'd already featured him three times lol I had a running list of all the teams I could identify that ran with the trap from 1985 onwards, and you bet the 01 Wild were there!
Biggest upset in all sports ..maybe minus the patriots beating the rams ...funny how both focused on team defense . .. that rams team just like the redwings had no idea what hit them
One more thing to add that I didn’t really see mentioned is the fact that the butterfly’s widespread adoption also coincided with the dead puck era and definitely fed into it. You suddenly weren’t guaranteed to score every time you got a 2 on 1
I thought about mentioning the effects of superior goaltending but I figured that it had more of an effect on scoring and not much effect on making the game slower, which was the cardinal trait of the DPE. It was definitely there though!
another banger. respectfully, did our back and forth on your devils/flyers video inspire this video at all? edit: nvm, commented mid-video. I see the direction you went here.
It wasn't just you, four or five Devils fans took issue with how the Devils were portrayed as well. However they too couldn't clearly articulate why, so I dismissed it. However it did occur to me that I pooh-poohed the trap at the beginning of that video so I wanted to do it justice in a separate one. Unfortunately, many people are also making presumptions before watching the video here, as well :( it is what it is
Incredible video. I think you missed two more causes of the dead puck era, but were on the mark otherwise. Those are 1. Goalie equipment getting much bigger 2. Goalies en masse adopting the butterfly You also go on to address it indirectly, but the fact that there were so many bad new teams that had to find a way to keep up was in fact a huge part of the development of the dead puck era as well. And you can tell that the NHL even managed to fix this with expansions in vegas and seattle, even if whiny fans of other teams think those teams' fans need to "earn their fandom" through rooting for a bad team.
I thought about including the goalies and their increasing effect in the crease, but they had more of an effect on scoring than the actual speed of the game, which is what the other 5 points affected the most. But those two factors definitely affected scoring, and continued to for about 20 years. Thanks for watching!
"easy to implement" =/= "successful". It's an easy strategy to pick up and be decent with, but that doesn't mean you will win 3 championships in 8 years. The Devils did it because they were a good team. Especially in 2000, from what I hear.
Mr Graham. Hello I am once writing you again in requests for a Analysis of the WCF of 2015. This series was a 4-3 series win for the Blackhawks of Chicago versus the Ducks of Anaheim. As a side note this is comment 17 month 4 of my original request. Thank you for your understanding.
I was hoping for a mention of the LA Kings "dynasty" that almost prevented me from becoming a hockey fan as a kid, I couldn't stand watching their games.
From the Thumbnail, I was 95% sure this was going to be blasting the Championchip Devils teams & how they killed Hockey for a decade. What we got was a video I will point to every time the Trap is mentioned cause the stigma is real when it come to Devils & the Trap. Continue the great content & work man!
The devils only used the trap in 95 to win a cup ...in 2000 they were just by a mile the biggest fastest youngest team and possibly the best team in nhl history ... that team was beyond stacked ... ran 4 lines equally that all 4 lines could score with ease. ..plus that A line was just simply unstoppable.. best line I've ever seen ...no one ever talks about how dominant they were defensively... plus the madden pandalfo Berlin or nem line could shut down ever single top line in hockey giving the devils the ability to use the last change to put their a line against other teams weaker lines... the saddest thing was that the stars team was a pure dynasty waiting to happen ..if they just didn't have to face to devils they would have for sure won back to back cups ...
Agreed
Yes. It's been my favorite so far. I always wondered how the Trap worked. Great explanation
@@mostlycrazyallthetimethat's a strange way to spell Detroit Red Wings.
The wings forced the league into the salary cap era. The devil's were just the only other team who could keep up.
I don’t think it was the Devils that should get the blame. It was the Panthers the next year, a hilariously unskilled team that trapped their way to the SCF and showed everyone that the trap could overcome your roster limitations and get you into contention. That’s when everyone started doing it.
Me: Can't wait to hear about the 95 Devils and 96 Panthers.
Graham: So in 1915...
In my humble opinion, this is my best video to date.
agreed, so well researched
Every single video that get posted on your channel is your better to date, I don't know how you keep getting better and better. Keep up!
Debatable, top 3 at least ❤
It's not, because every video you've ever done has the same quality. Even looking at your first video, you are so well spoken, researched and just, well, perfect. It is downright criminal you have so few subscribers. You combine documentary levels of research with an easily digestible format, as you also sprinkle in some dry comedy like pausing to ask "What is that" to those inflatable hockey player things during the NYI vs TOR series, or cutting yourself off to say "Oh my god _____ just suckerpunched" (I couldn't quite remember the video but it was funny). You seem to perfectly capture the energy and emotion of every series or season you cover, really making me feel for the teams playing even though the series is 20 years old and the players are long since retired. You're like EMPLemon but with a much better speaking voice
real
This man simply does not miss
The Neutral Zone Trap is one of those styles that can perfectly work in playoff hockey with the right personnel. I think we all noticed how offensive style hockey doesn't usually work well in the playoffs. The Neutral Zone is that one style where everyone gets pissed and the people who use it just say, "If you don't like it, try to beat it."
Basically 1997-2004: “you can win without offense if you put all your eggs in the defensive basket”
It also works because the refs swallow the whistles in the playoffs so you can clutch and grab way more than in the regular season...
The New Jersey Devils have entered the chat
56 minute Pinholes Graham vid when I have an hour and a half lunch break? Fuck yeah.
personally, i think teams running defensive styles is good for the league. The more variation in strategy, the better. With the rules we have now, the trap is much less effective so its not nearly as game breaking as during the 'dead puck era' The more players get used to playing against defensive strategies, the more they'll learn to counter it thus pushing the game forward. this push and pull is essential for the growth of the sport, and i'd argue that there aren't enough defensive teams.
2 line pass was the modern day 'no forward pass'
now if we could only get rid of the other trap...izoid
The best defensive teams make it to the Cup. Even in recent years this is proven true.
@@FelixWheatfield Oilers made it on the PP and refs calling PIMs
@@Potent_TechmologyThe Problem was that to win the Cup last year would have required the Oilers scoring first in 4 out of 7 games as the Panthers 1-2-2 trap was unbeatable all season long with a lead. Offense is sexy, but defense wins championships almost every year with the 2022 Avalanche being a recent exception.
@@BobbyBoucher228 people keep saying defense wins championships and I just don't agree with that anymore. the Predators would've won in 2017 if that was the case. the Golden Knights and Panthers scored their way to championships, and as scoring continues to rise, I think there will be more teams like the Avs and Knights who are heavy up-front, have offensive-styled D-men on the top 2 line, but yet lack a world-class goalie.
The New Jersey Devils are like the San Antonio Spurs of the NHL. They won their titles with a calculated, military-esque strategy.
And it made games a chore to watch
@@chrisuncleahmad666 oh come on, watch the 2014 spurs and tell me that's a chore
The 2000-2001 devils were a fun two years of really good hockey.
Idk. People tend to overrate how defensive they were. They had some absolute lethal weapons on offence. Elias, Mogilny, Gomez, Nieuwendyk, Arnott. They were the highest scoring team in the league in 2001 when they won.
@ they lost that cup to Colorado in 7 but you’re point stands. They were the highest scoring team that year.
Part of what made the Devils trap so effective was because of Brodeaur's ability to come out of the net and play the puck. If you did manage to dump the puck past the D men, Marty would simply come out of the net and clean it up. Even if they somehow got into the zone cleanly, they still had to deal with one of the greatest goalies of all time.
Wooo happy Halloween to you too graham thanks for the vid as always
@@fqrez239 Happy Halloween!
Both the 2019 Blues and the 2024 Panthers used the 1-2-2 trap when they got a lead and both were devastatingly effective at shutting down offensive chances with their defensive systems. Also even with the trapezoid rule if you have a good puck handling goalie like Binnington, a team can stop the majority of offensive chances with a good puck handling goalie who can stop teams from dumping and chasing and force them to carry the puck in the zone resulting in a lot of turnovers and odd man breaks with the 1-2-2 trap in place. If you look at the Panthers record when they had a lead last year it shows just how effective the 1-2-2 trap can be in modern hockey with a lead and a team who can execute the trap defense to perfection in every game.
"Hustlin' Cheevers" is my favorite thing ever
Did the neutral zone trap make the game less fun to watch? Yes.
Did it win my team three Stanley Cups? Also yes. So I’m not complaining.
hmm which team are you a fan of? I can't immediately whittle it down to exactly 1 before watching the video
@@Potent_Techmology he's talking about the devils, you know, the teams everyone thinks cheated their way to 3 stanley cups because hurr durr "the trap"
Rofl...the devils only ran the trap in the 95 cup run... 2000 2003 they were not using anything close to a trap. .stop being so lazy ..
You mean 1
How ia this guy producing that detailed and researched videos with only 15k. Give that men an audience already!!!
0:20 If I remember correctly, the seventh player on the ice was the Rover, which I’m pretty sure Hobey Baker was one at some point.
You are correct and the Rover acted like a bridge between the defense and the offense, kinda like a midfielder in soccer.
Another reminder that those early 2000s Flyers black jerseys are goated and need to come back
Really enjoyed the video, but do want to point out a glaring omission. The 1993 Montreal Canadiens. After the two offensive Penguins team won back-to-back cups, the 93 Habs won playing the trap. HC Jacques Demers even once told the story how GM Serge Savard told him “don’t say the word trap to the media because you won’t hear the end of it”. Lemaire was an assistant GM on that Montreal team. Took the New Jersey job the following season. In fact, if you look at goals scored per game, the biggest season to season drop was after the 93 season, when half the NHL moved to the 1-2-2.
Very frustrating. I knew MTL continued to use it but I didn't realize it went all the way to their next Cup win. Even digging into my sources for this video again, there's no mention of it I can find of them using it in 1992-93. Guess it was just a blind spot. Thanks for bringing it up.
@ Kudos to you for digging that deep, even more so for finding all of the old footage. For the 93 team, Demers would speak about it more in the French media, as he was an analyst for RDS for years.
And finally, I love all the work that went into showing the link to how former players became coaches/managers and carried it with them. A similar timeline could be made with the development of young players, and “letting them develop as opposed to rushing them”. My timeline goes from Sam Pollock (70s Canadiens) to Bill Torrey (80s Islanders) to Jim Devellano (90s Red Wings) to Ken Holland (2000s Red Wings) to Steve Yzerman (2010s Lightning), not to mention Bob Gainey (2000s Canadiens), Stan & Scotty Bowman (2000s Blackhawks), Jim Nill (2020s Stars) and on and on.
These videos take a lot of work, but I feel a lot smarter after watching them. You've outdone yourself once again, my friend!
The BobbyBroccoli of Hockey
Absolutely astonishingly well crafted documentary once again, thank you!
Man I loved those NJ teams so much. Kind of ironic that what is a weakness today (defense and goaltending) was their greatest strength back then.
I can’t stand how teams never give NJ the credit they deserve just because they emphasized defense over offense.
Very good take. It’s not the fault of the trap but rather the circumstances surrounding it. Tbh, remove the obstructing and two-line pass rules from that era and there would be way, way more scoring.
seeing the length of this vid got me seriously excited, gotta love vids that take an in-depth look on the topic 🙏
This video was a great listen. Loved the late 90's hockey.
Now we are in an era where really aggressive forechecking teams are considered boring because they choose to get pucks in deep, whereas the trap made that a good option for the opponent.
"We should get a guy like Connor McDavid" is not a viable team building strategy for the vast majority of the league because there aren't enough of those players to distribute, so building a team around a strategy to offset the disadvantage of not winning the draft lottery in a franchise altering year makes a lot of sense.
It's ivory tower nonsense to look down on a team without true superstars for, you know, trying to win however they can. Like, what are they supposed to do, lie down and take their beating?
Absolutely incredible work again. Your way of documenting this part of hockey history is incredibly important, I think. I don't know if you'll take this as a compliment or not, but -- what I'm left with is a dozen questions. Is there any way you can put together a similar video on how breakouts evolved in step with this, especially in that peak 1999-2004 era, and/or on the Soviet system of play and how it took over the NHL during the '90s as well? I don't want to tell you what to do here, it just screams to me that this is how your story continues.
Babe wake up, Pinholes Graham uploaded
Thanks man, life long fan and player, you did a great job explaining all that
Hustle big cheev! Recently found out I'm distantly related to him, love to see old clips of him!!
pinholes, you are the john bois of hockey. top chedder content, man. keep up the phenomenal work. the subs will come.
i appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into putting these videos together! it feels weird that this great content is free
Excellent video as always. I'd like to add another reason why the trap became so widespread during the 90s: Expansion. The league added 9 teams in a decade. Those teams weren't well constructed like the Knights and Kraken were. Those teams had to deploy a trap in order to avoid losing 8-1 every night. The less said about the 03 series between Anaheim and Minnesota, the better.
Crazy to see how much better your videos are getting with every video! this is some type of Jon Bois video right here ✌
i love the layout of this video, reminds me of that history of the mariners video!
Finally I can watch this 🎉
Happy Halloween yall🤙🏽
Great video. Written in a way that flows is easy to listen to, and is packed with info while still being incredibly entertaining. Above all else, it is well-researched. Love to see it.
Fantastic video! Keep it up, dude!
Absolutely amazing video. Well written, well edited. Feels like something Jon Bois would put out.
Pinholes Grahan is such an underrated channel
Watching again , unreal work
Fantastic video! You've really done a thorough research on this topic and presented it to us is a top notch package. Thank you 🙏🏆
Woooo Halloween and a pinholes graham video
Oh, I love those retrospective videos. Top notch quality as always. Thanks!
Personally, though, the late 90s-early 00s NHL was my favourite NHL of all. I loved the aggression and literal battles on the ice to physically smother your opponent. And when the big guys had a lot more to say :) Today they want to make it almost contactless which doesn't sit well with me.
I'm from Europe so maybe I'm just used to seeing few goals. Or maybe I'm just getting old, but two big hits and seeing the players and the fans react to it excites me sooooo much more than a 10-goal game.
The two-line pass was the worst rule of all-time, agreed. BUT BUT BUT the trapezoid is the NEW worst rule of all-time. Completely takes such an exciting dimension away from the game. Goalies need to be set free again :)
6:54 that stanley cup win brought about the tossing of octopi at red wings games as good luck
this is the greatest hockey video on all of youtube btw
it's a halloween miracle. thanks for another awesome vid dude
First time coming across your videos and always wanted to know more about the dreaded trap. Thank you for this insanely well researched vid.
Reminds me of alt shift x but for hockey
Lets go! Its a Halloween miracle! We've all gotten trick or treated with a damn near hour long Pinholes Graham masterpiece!🎉
Incredible work man, keep it up
Great video, thank you for your research and timing
Great video man really well done!
Love your videos, keep up the great content!
I personally think the most controversial style is the Flyers of the 1970s.
I am so excited to learn about this
Edit: yep, great video. As always
This is a work of art
Wow, this is an instant classic
Holy not-quite-Jon-Bois, Batman.
Literally stole his entire format and style.
Well done dude I'm happy to give you my sub
Quality video brudda love it
The thing that made the devils so hard to play against is Brodeur nullified dump ins all the time.
I have never clicked on a video so fast in my life. As a lifelong flyers fan, having to play against this horseshit for so many years made me want to pull my hair out strand by strand. But it also taught me two very important things about hockey...
1. Scott Niedermayer is a real life cheat code
2. Team defense and depth scoring wins championships, not great goaltending or high-end scoring. While the latter DOES help, it doesn't help like the former does.
That’s how the 03 Devils won the Cup with one of the weakest forward corps ever
A defense without an offense
mr pinholes i am profoundly intoxicated and am unable to watch this currently however upon my return home i will be partaking, let you know what i think then
I hope someone else is driving you...
@@PinholesGrahamthank god for public transit!
also common phg masterclass
The New Jersey Devils won a Stanley Cup in the nineties by riding the neutral zone trap and relying on Martin Brodeur to stop anything that got thru.
Another banger of a video🔥
Great work.
As a New Jersey devil's fan I am happy to say sucks to suck nerds
rags fans beside themselves after learning about 1985
I want 95-04 hockey back so bad, big hits, great defense, clutch and grab, actual greats manage to play through it. Now you can't play defense, you can't throw a big hit without having to fight or end up in the box, guys end up getting called for tripping for a clean hip check. It means that defense relies on flailing your stick around and hoping to block shots. It puts the risk of injury on your team instead of the opposing one and that shouldn't happen.
I’m highly critical of a lot of these newer YT hockey channels ran by dismissive young fans who think hockey began in 2010 and generally look down on us older fans who don’t appreciate the soft skill, flashy type of hockey like they do.
This channel, however, is top notch.
This is quality over quantity. No clickbait thumbnails and titles. Just high quality, well researched, well narrated, unique content. I appreciate that you don’t focus on pumping out the same lazy, predictable, clickbait videos multiple times a day for views. Keep this up and you’ll surpass all the others in time and it’ll be sustainable. Excellent work as always 👍
First of all, this video is terrific. Subscribed. But I feel the need to add a footnote to the end on the remnants of the old trap in the modern NHL in the 1-3-1 scheme.
Guy Boucher as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning implemented what's come to be known as the 1-3-1; the clip you use of the Flyers comically not breaking out against it (38:48) is from a game played against the Boucher Lightning on November 9, 2011. This strategy relies on a fairly weak forechecking presence with 3 skaters trying to force a turnover in the neutral zone or a dump-in before the defensive blueline. The one defender behind is focused on making the retrieval. Besides Boucher, this has not been a common all-situations system for NHL teams, but when it is a team's default system, it's usually because the team is trying to win despite a deficit in talent. As recently as the 2023-24 NHL season, the Los Angeles Kings under Jim Hiller deployed this strategy. It was a sensitive topic in post-season interviews (the players hated it), but in defense of the coaching staff, if you know your first round opponent is going to be the McDavid-Draisatl Edmonton Oilers, well... maybe you gotta play a certain way to win, because you're not going to win trading chances against those guys off the rush.
Anyway, more interesting to me is that the 1-3-1 may not be the default scheme for NHL teams except for some unique circumstances, but it is part of most teams' Defend Lead systems. As you've pointed out, the removal of the two-line pass rule, the implementation of the trapezoid, and referees calling obstruction more aggressively (especially in the first season post-lockout) did a lot to change the trap-counterattack as status-quo successful all-situations strategy in the NHL. However, it is still a useful posture for teams trying to reduce the overall number of events in the game and introduce a slower pace. Most NHL teams trying to defend a 2+ goal lead will opt for it, because it does slow the game down and create a game-state of fewer chances for everyone, even if the team chasing the lead will get the better half of the ratio of those chances.
However, it's notably no longer a strategy associated with status-quo winning hockey at the NHL level, the way it was during the peak dead puck era of the late '90s. Instead, it's a style associated with winners trying not to concede goals or, really, losers. Check out the Toronto Maple Leafs in game 7 overtime against the Boston Bruins in the 2024 playoffs. Before David Pastrnak's winning overtime goal, the Leafs have one forward weakly defending a breakout, three Leafs standing straight-legged on their blueline, and Morgan Rielly back, unable to tie up a streaking Pastrnak retrieving a puck bounced off the end-boards on a set play.
Anyway, great video! Thank you!
(I also think the end of the dead puck era isn't so clean-Jamie Benn won the Art Ross in 2014-15 with 87 points-but I completely understand not wanting to tie up the runtime of this video in tedious litigating of the true end of the dead puck era. Or, rather, that's probably a subject for another great video on this subject!)
Amazing work good sir! Watching this took me back to some fond (and not so fond) memories of watching hockey as a wee lad back in the 90's and early 00's. I love hockey but the NHL is so poorly run, it is ridiculous how long it took for them to address the lack of rule enforcement. Looking forward to your next video!
post-halloween party drunk cooking mac and cheese, can't wait to sink my teeth into this vid
Sounds like a great time lol
Pineholes Graham uploaded, I can die peacefully
I remember reading an article in 2005 about how cracking down on obstruction would destroy ice hockey as an entertaining game. The piece was by a well-respected hockey journalist and argued its points well. He just did not realize how skilled 21st century players are and what they can do when allowed to skate and handle the puck.
great video
I would have liked to see a bit about the 2004 Lightning and their play style. Everyone thinks of his press room antics and mind games with players now, but John Tortorella wanted to be proactive on offense and overcome the trap (or at least as much as you could in the dead puck era). They finished 3rd in scoring with a good-not-great roster and obviously won the Stanley Cup. All the rule changes and the salary cap coming in for 05-06 really stopped their title defense before it could get started. They were built to conquer the old NHL, not the new one.
how did you find that video of the canadiens oilers game with the announcer making a passing comment about the trap???incredible great job. also as isles fan thanks for correctly pointing out they were the last true dynasty in the nhl
Big thing about goalies like Brodeur coming out to play the puck is that you couldn't hit them. At least not without receiving a knuckle sandwich to the dome. They were invincible when moving the puck which made them so lethal
Hustlin' Cheevers best Cheeevers 😤
I love the trap and defensive hockey the most
As A Devils fan, i always heard NJ is so boring blah blah when I was a kid. But I never bought it, winning is never boring ;) lol
You forgot to mention that rapid expansion watered down the product on the ice because of the lack of talent, and that free agency meant that keeping a team of superstars together forever was no longer possible.
This made the trap a necessity to keep a team competitive in a new market that cost several hundred million dollars to establish.
And let's not forget a few great names: Brodeur, Hasek, Roy, Belfour, Luongo. That right there was probably a couple of hundred fewer goals per season.
And that's your "Dead Puck Era" in a nutshell.
Did I forget?
33:18
40:43
Great vid - but was so hoping you get into the Wild with …who else but Lemaire!
I thought about it, but I'd already featured him three times lol
I had a running list of all the teams I could identify that ran with the trap from 1985 onwards, and you bet the 01 Wild were there!
Devils sweeping the Wings in the final is still one of the biggest upsets in NHL history
Biggest upset in all sports ..maybe minus the patriots beating the rams ...funny how both focused on team defense . .. that rams team just like the redwings had no idea what hit them
Babe wake up, Pinholes Graham just posted..
Interesting stuff. 🤔
One more thing to add that I didn’t really see mentioned is the fact that the butterfly’s widespread adoption also coincided with the dead puck era and definitely fed into it. You suddenly weren’t guaranteed to score every time you got a 2 on 1
I thought about mentioning the effects of superior goaltending but I figured that it had more of an effect on scoring and not much effect on making the game slower, which was the cardinal trait of the DPE. It was definitely there though!
There should be an honorable mention to the '03 Minnesota Wild, also coached by Lemaire. Used the trap to make the WCF.
Life long Flyers fan and yea....hate the neutral ice trap! 😉
Pinholes Graham is the Jon Bois of hockey
What music did you use in the Dallas stars section? Pretty jazzy
another banger. respectfully, did our back and forth on your devils/flyers video inspire this video at all? edit: nvm, commented mid-video. I see the direction you went here.
It wasn't just you, four or five Devils fans took issue with how the Devils were portrayed as well. However they too couldn't clearly articulate why, so I dismissed it. However it did occur to me that I pooh-poohed the trap at the beginning of that video so I wanted to do it justice in a separate one.
Unfortunately, many people are also making presumptions before watching the video here, as well :( it is what it is
Don't forget that a young Mike Modano played on the 91 North Stars...
Masterpiece
"Why just make it two games, why?" laughs in Concacaf Champions cup, UEFA Champions League, and several other Soccer knockout competitions
My favorite 1-3-1 trap moment is when the Flyers exploited the Lightning for using it in 2011.
Incredible video.
I think you missed two more causes of the dead puck era, but were on the mark otherwise. Those are
1. Goalie equipment getting much bigger
2. Goalies en masse adopting the butterfly
You also go on to address it indirectly, but the fact that there were so many bad new teams that had to find a way to keep up was in fact a huge part of the development of the dead puck era as well. And you can tell that the NHL even managed to fix this with expansions in vegas and seattle, even if whiny fans of other teams think those teams' fans need to "earn their fandom" through rooting for a bad team.
I thought about including the goalies and their increasing effect in the crease, but they had more of an effect on scoring than the actual speed of the game, which is what the other 5 points affected the most.
But those two factors definitely affected scoring, and continued to for about 20 years. Thanks for watching!
If the trap is easy why did no one pull it off as well as Devils?
"easy to implement" =/= "successful". It's an easy strategy to pick up and be decent with, but that doesn't mean you will win 3 championships in 8 years.
The Devils did it because they were a good team. Especially in 2000, from what I hear.
It was peak hockey
For all the wrong reasons
38:14 especially when Mike smith was passing to guys that could score
Mr Graham.
Hello I am once writing you again in requests for a Analysis of the WCF of 2015. This series was a 4-3 series win for the Blackhawks of Chicago versus the Ducks of Anaheim.
As a side note this is comment 17 month 4 of my original request.
Thank you for your understanding.
I was hoping for a mention of the LA Kings "dynasty" that almost prevented me from becoming a hockey fan as a kid, I couldn't stand watching their games.