For as long as anyone can remember, the NHL has been a copycat league. Teams that win the Stanley Cup, in general, have enormous influence over the style of play that is seen as successful in the NHL, perhaps most notably in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the New Jersey Devils inspired a decade of defensively oriented hockey. It wasn’t until the post-lockout years, when the 2006 Hurricanes set the template that was later perfected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in their three Cup wins, that puck movement became paramount.
Defense is winning championships, yet again, in the NHL
