First as a disclaimer, my viewpoint has a bias built into it because the team I see the most is the Hurricanes, and they won it all with a certain kind of style in the only full season we have seen after the rule changes/officiating changes. Also being an Eastern Conferencer, I use mostly those examples.

So the new NHL is for skating right? And since you cannot tackle, hold, hook guys flying by you, guys that can carry the puck are at a premium right? And this obviously defines the model for the best post-CBA defenseman to be a puck carrier who can skate like mad right?

I am not so sure.

Here is the thing. While the clutching and grabbing obviously impeded puck carriers in the old NHL, I think the bigger thing was that darn red line. To pass the puck through the middle of the ice, the puck had to go off 1 stick to another (defensive zone to your side of red line) and off that stick to another (your side of red line to other side of red line). With about 25 feet in each of those pass zones, it was very easy to clog things up and make those passes impossible. The clutching and grabbing part of defense actually came into play more if you navigated the first 2 passes well and had a player or 2 with a step at the other blue line. So a puck carrier had a somewhat better chance navigating the landmines because he could use his skates to gain an extra line or 2 and eliminate the need for so many passes.

Now fastforward to the NHL. With no redline, there basically is no rule that limits where, how far the passes can go. The puck obviously moves faster than guys can skate. There will be exceptions to every rule, but by and large I think the defensemen who fare best OFFENSIVELY AT EVEN STRENGTH (powerplay is a different animal as is playing defense against the other team's rush) in the no redline NHL game are the ones who are the best decision-makers and puck passers, not skaters a

In Carolina's offense, the job of the defenseman on the breakout was largely to get possession of the puck first (obviously) and then move it quickly to a forward who was pointed up the ice. While some of the homerun passes did come from defenseman, most of the Canes rushes were triggered by a short, harmless but quick first pass by a defenseman to a forward still in the defensive zone but pointed up the ice. Give Cory Stillman or Ray Whitney the puck with a little bit of space, a view of the whole ice, no red line to limit what he can do with it and a couple of linemates who can skate and good things will happen. And in fact they did, often. Perhaps the most telling fact in support of my opinion is that Oleg Tverdovsky (perfect example of puck carrier who can skate fluidly) found his way to healthy scratch for most of the playoffs while non-skaters like Commodore, Aaron Ward, Wesley and Wallin fit fine on the Canes high-speed, skating team and were more than capable of starting the rush up the ice.

I think you get a similar story if you also look at Buffalo who is also a team built on speed and puck movement. The 05-06 team included blueline regulars like Lydman, McKee and Numminen who hardly the type to fly down the ice end to end. Again, the speed and puck carrying did not so much come from the back end but rather from that first forward who got the puck quickly before the defense could even get turned around. Watch how many times you see heady Jaro Spacek's #6 cruise into the picture from the back end of the ice for the celebration after Briere, Afinogenov, etc. do their thing this year.

The 05-06 Senators are another decent example. Of Chara, Redden, Philips and Meszaros which would you call a speedy puck-carrying defenseman? Exactly. Again, their role was to get the puck to Spezza, Alfredsson, Heatley, Havlat, etc. in a hurry so they could get some space and a view of the ice before the defense got organized.

I capitalized OFFENSIVELY AT EVEN STRENGTH on purpose. The powerplay is still a different animal that requires playmaking within the offensive zone. And I do think raw skating speed in the 'no clutch and grab' NHL is very useful on the defensive side of the puck when playing defense on the other team's rush, but I will still take decision-making over raw speed.

So keep your fluid skating puck carrying defenseman and give me this:

--- Above all else, the ability to make good, quick decisions. From this comes about everything else I need...

--- The ability to make a good quick first pass to a forward headed up the ice without coughing the puck up a ton trying to accomplish the "quick."

--- The ability to sort out a rush the best way possible to limit the other team's 3-on-2s to mostly harmless shots from a bad angle rather than tap ins from an uncovered player standing in the crease.

For those out West, I apologize for the Eastern Conference bias. While I do watch the West as much as I can, I do see a lot more of my conference. I left the door wide open for you to comment on what you see the same or different out West.

So with that, tell me if you agree. Tell me I am way wrong. Tell me where you see something different or the same with your team and the NHL hockey you watch.

Go Canes!

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