Fine. I’ll take that trade-off. If I want to watch boring, defensive hockey that produces a consistent winner, I’d be a Devils fan.

You can make the exact same argument about strongly defensive-based systems. The Baltimore Ravens were the most pro-defensive and anti-offensive team in NFL history and they went 1 and done in the Super Bowl. The Wild have played a pretty unbalanced defensive first system prior to this year for as far back as I can remember. They only got past the first round of the playoffs once. The Devils haven’t made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs since the lockout. I guess maybe you could throw Anaheim in there too but they were 1 and done with their Stanley Cups as well and they were a really weird team with outstanding defensemen, an outstanding goalie and 1 great forward line. Off the top of my head I can’t think of another Cup winner like that and nobody has followed that model since. Whether your statement holds true for basketball is beyond me as I care almost nothing about the sport.

Has won one cup in 15 years, and isn’t available. By system I meant JA. He has had just over a year and a half and has never really had the type of players to run it effectively. It’s a pressure system with an offensive focus.

No offense taken! I’m trying to put up more polls so folks have a way to contribute without commenting, but we’re always happy to have comments on the site.

Often, one of the four of us can’t get here to update the site as information becomes available, so we more than welcome the updates and corrections. I wish I could be a full-time Thrashers blogger, but sadly, financial realities make that impossible.