FULL SPEED AHEAD?
Team North America’s exciting style was talk ofWorld Cup, but NHL not ready to go there
With its extraordinary mix of speed and skill — and a good share of youthful recklessness thrown in — Team North America opened eyes and dropped jaws at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
They were a throwback to the halcyon days of the 1980s Oilers, a relentless blur of odd- man rushes, bold moves to the net and end- to- end action. It was a glimpse into what hockey could and, in the eyes of many, should be.
The 23- and- under hockey wunderkinds were the story of the tournament, beating Finland, narrowly losing to Russia and knocking off mighty Sweden in overtime. The last two were among the most exciting games imaginable. Everyone loved watching them play — the fans, their coaches, their opponents.
‘‘ They’re totally different,’’ Canada coach Mike Babcock said. ‘‘ I like watching that team because there’s tons of skill. I like winning more, though.’’
In otherwords, wide- open hockey is fine for made- up super teams in international competitions, but it just won’t play in theNHL.
‘‘ Ideally, we would all love to play that style of hockey,’’ said Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, who was one of the co- managers of Team North America. ‘‘ The challenge is finding guys with enough talent to do that.’’
There’s no doubt the game is trending toward more speed and skill and away from so- called grit and physicality. The Hawks won the Stanley Cup three times with a team built on speed and skill, navigating their way past bigger, heavier teams. And the Penguins raced to the Stanley Cup last spring.
Meanwhile, just two years removed from their second Cup in three seasons, the lumbering Los Angeles Kings already look like hockey dinosaurs.
Hawks star Patrick Kane thinks the shift to a more skilled game is inevitable.
‘‘ I don’t see why not,’’ he said. ‘‘ I don’t see why the skill can’t keep getting better and the game can’t keep getting faster and more freewheeling and fun to watch. I think everyone was entertained by it; everyone wanted to watch. So why not put out a good product like that and help grow the game even more?’’
But NHL coaches aren’t about to unleash their players anytime soon. For all of the Hawks’ skill and speed, coach Joel Quenneville still preaches defense first. Babcock is one of the most defensive- minded coaches in the league, too, turning his ridiculously talented Canada team at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 into a remarkable — and borderline boring — defensive juggernaut that choked teams out in the neutral zone.
The NHL is all about taking away time and space. And it’s worth noting the only reason North America didn’t advance to the World Cup semifinals was a six- minute stretch during the second period against Russia in which the young guns completely broke down defensively.
For Oilers coach Todd McLellan, it was freeing to let his North America squad run wild. And with Connor McDavid leading the way on both of his teams, McLellan is hoping to resurrect the feel of thoseWayne Gretzkyled Oilers teams of the 1980s.
But he’s also a realist. And he said holding his players accountable defensively always will be a priority.
‘‘ The [ 1980s Oilers] are a good comparison,’’ McLellan said. ‘‘ It’s just that that generation is so long gone. The league is different now.’’
Thefact is, though, players are faster and more skilled than ever. The overall talent level clearly is better than it ever has been. It’s the culture of hockey that has to change for Team North America’s riveting style to become the norm, not the rare — and exciting— exception.
‘‘ Everybody likes to just have fun on the ice and play that way,’’ Hawks defenseman Ville Pokka said. ‘‘ That’s what everybody wants to do.’’ Well, almost everybody. “I just want to win,” Babcock said.