Left Handed Larceny

It's a Trap!

By Eric Berkenpas

Photo Cred www.wikipedia.com

There are several variations of the defensive scheme of trapping in hockey, all of which are used to some extent by almost every team. The idea behind a trap is to force the puck to a condensed area of the ice and limit, ideally to the point of elimination, any option other than dumping the puck for the offensive player. In the broad scope of things, there are three different types of traps. There is the Low Trap, the High Trap and the Neutral Zone Trap. Since this article will be covering the Neutral Zone Trap, I will refer to it in the future as the NZT.

The idea of the NZT is that the center forces the puck carrier towards either board and cuts off good passes towards the middle of the ice. the strong-side winger then pinches up and takes away the boards forcing the carrier to get rid of the puck by either dumping it in or making a pass to the middle of the ice. Should a pass get through, the weak-side winger and defender will cut off options for the new puck carrier forcing him to make another pass or dump the puck in. In doing this, the defense is 1) forcing potential bad passes to the middle of the ice which can lead to a good odd man rush, 2) forcing an early dump in which may lead to icing and/or 3) slowing down the faster, more skilled players who like to carry then puck through the neutral zone. The best part about the NZT is that there is no good option to easily counter it every time. The NZT will be tough to break every single trip up the ice.



Photo Cred www.startribune.com

Jacques Lemaire, head coach of the New Jersey Devils from 1993-1998 and then again from 2009-2011, was the first coach to officially implement the NZT. The Montreal Canadiens used a form of it back in the day but never officially named it, so we will stick to saying that it officially started with Lemaire. Lemaire saw quick returns in New Jersey as he lead his team to their first ever Stanley Cup victory in the abbreviated 1995 season. Lemaire instilled a defensive minded approach to hockey in New Jersey from the moment he stepped behind that players bench and it has remained there to this day. After the Devils won their first Stanley Cup, complaints emerged throughout the NHL over the NZT that the Devils played and they were criticized for "making the NHL boring". It doesn't take a hockey genius to notice that any time you are watching the Devils play anyone, the game is slow, boring and low scoring. Even recently, there were instances of revolt against the NZT. Just last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning under head coach Guy Boucher, adopted a 1-3-1 version of the NZT. The following video shows what Chis Pronger and the Philadelphia Flyers thought of this:


                  


Jacques Lemaire started something in the NHL that has really gotten under peoples skin even in present day. After the 2004-2005 lockout, the  NHL eliminated the 2-Line pass rule and added a trapezoid behind the net that goalies could not play the puck outside of in an attempt the quicken the pace of the game and weaken the effectiveness of the NZT among other things.

Photo Cred devils.nhl.com

Regardless of rules that the NHL puts into place, the New Jersey Devils will insist on playing the NZT and will be very careful to sign players who fit right in to their style of play. It helps to have a world class goaltender in Martin Brodeur in net to clean up any lapses in defense, but New Jersey, since the tenure of coach Jacques Lemaire has been a heavily defensive minded team and have been very successful. Over the past several seasons, the team has lost the likes of Brian Rafalski, Paul Martin, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik, Scott Niedermayer, Zach Parise, Scott Stevens and Petr Sykora among others. Those are some very good players who most teams would feel the loss of. New Jersey, however, has always been able to manage after losses of key players. This is directly related to the style they play and the players they get who fit into that style. Call it cheap if you want, but the Devils organization from top to bottom is built to perfection around defense, specifically, the Neutral Zone Trap. Other teams have tried it and done well with it, but none will ever be as persistent or successful with it. If you want to beat the Devils, you will have to find a way to break the trap.