(Not to be confused with the Nashville Predators, who play more of a Control game)
Trap-Style Defensive Hockey: Natural Predator of the Chaos-Style Hockey Team
In order to understand the way I view hockey, you must first understand how I watch the games.
North American Pro Hockey is a goal-based game with a field of play separating two goals, and an object that must pass into one goal or the other for a score. In these types of games, position & movement (whether individual or coordinated) become the most important facets of the game. Furthermore, position & movement influence who will do well or poorly, not only in given situations but also over the course of the game.
In the case of hockey, the most intriguing aspect is that the game is played on ice. This detail removes much of the control a given player may have over the object, especially compared to Basketball or Lacrosse where a player will have much greater control. Basketball & Lacrosse (and to a certain extent soccer) are sports where teams may take their time setting plays up before the action begins, and then run a set play that has been carefully laid out and practiced ad nauseum. So the scheme can change from team to team or from situation to situation.
But hockey is so unpredictable in its nature that you can’t scheme more than a handful of scripted plays, and even then you will rarely run through the progression perfectly (despite what you may have seen in a certain investment firm’s commercials.) All professional teams have chosen to rely less on micromanaging a multitude of unpredictable events, and rely more on developing a basic philosophy about how to react. Playing Style has become the cornerstone of dictating how teams will try to use position and movement.
To elaborate:
Styles of Play break down into three major categories…
Control Hockey
Chaos Hockey
Trap Hockey
The perfect examples today of Control-Style teams are the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. These are teams that want to control the puck, obviously. They are forceful and decisive. On defense they take calculated risks when challenging attackers for the puck. They frequently engage in aggressive fore-checking, though only when they have the play backed up.  On offense, puck movement is the name of the game and player movement is almost always rigidly coordinated (or at least as rigid as you can get in a fluid, unpredictable sport.) They will play in triangles frequently so that the player with the puck will have passing options. They knife toward the net frequently, but typically in situations when they have two defenders at the blue line in case the play back-fires; and the knifing player is frequently a decoy to draw away defenders from a sharpshooter. In short terms, they are teams that try to blend talents of smart positioning and smart movement.
Good Chaos-Style teams are the Avalanche & the Washington Capitals. Chaos teams play up-tempo, damn the cannons, full speed ahead. They are resourceful and quick. On defense, they take numerous risks and almost always engage attacking players. They fore-check constantly in all situations, the goal being to move the game into its unpredictable tendency, and then quickly grab the upper hand. On offense, common strategies are Dump and Chase and Crash the Net. Chaos teams believe in a simple philosophy; no one knows what will happen on the ice, so the fact that they know no one will know is an advantage. (Try saying that three times fast.)  Chaos teams try to make position as useless as possible, and turn the game into a series of actions entirely composed of movement.
Some Trap-Style teams are the Florida Panthers & the bane of the Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild. Trap teams like the game to move slowly. Trap teams are cautious and patient.  On defense, they take firm positions and rarely engage an attacker until they have a clear advantage.  The fore-check is not used until it is a clear fore-check situation. On offense they will always leave two and frequently three defenders near the line, thus forcing their own attackers to play 3 on 4 or 2 on 3 hockey.  The philosophy is to play safely and eventually the other team will make a mistake. Trap teams try to remove as much movement from hockey as possible, and make the game entirely composed of positioning.
These three styles create a kind of paper, rock, scissors effect. Your typical Chaos team will beat your typical Control team consistently, while your typical Trap team will stifle the Chaos team while struggling mightily against the Control team (But Dan, how come the Red Wings beat us for so long? Simple. Because we sucked for a long time.)
This explains part of the sudden, though not unexpected (at least not by me), resurgence of the Avalanche. The Red Wings and Penguins are the last teams to win the Cup, and the league is beginning to copy some of what they do. Remember back in the Mid-ots when the Wings, Devils, Senators & Stars were all really dominant, and now all but one has fallen on hard times.  Remember the Avs were struggling to make the playoffs half the time, and the other half struggling for respect. It’s because everyone and their sister was playing Trap hockey, from Anaheim to Florida and St. Louis to Carolina (I even saw Edmonton play trap one game… seriously! Edmonton!) So a more balanced control team would rise to top by playing with a consistent advantage. But copy-catism isn’t just for the NFL or the major political parties, the NHL is changing to a more Control-Style of play to follow in the footsteps of recent Champions. Teams like the Avalanche, the Capitals, Edmonton (eventually), and the Rangers get a boost from being handed an advantage by the copy-cats, while teams like Florida, Carolina, and Minnesota sink to the bottom.  But the inherent mismatch of the Trap vs. Chaos still exists, which brings me to last week’s game versus the Wild.
