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Thanks. The game has definitely moved toward skill. Are teams still playing the “leftwing lock” counter-attack style? Used to drive me nuts in the 80’s & 90’s when some pretty good offensive teams got throttled by a center ice mugging.

The game of hockey has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Some of those defensive systems from the 1990s were made obsolete when they changed the rules in 2005 and eliminated the red line for off-side plays from the defensive zone. Basically, the violation for a two-line pass was eliminated from the rules, so players can now pass out of the defensive zone all the way to the opposing blue line instead of just to the center red line.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the approach to "playing defense" has been turned on its head. Now, instead of focusing on playing defensively in the neutral zone and in the defensive zone, teams look to play "defense" by maintaining possession of the puck and keeping the other team from generating offense that way. Team Canada played this system to perfection in winning the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics. Their "defensive line" was a group of offensive players who weren't known for their defensive skills but did a superb job of keeping the puck in the offensive zone for long stretches of time.