from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,

Truth is, creativity isn’t dying in the NHL. It’s being murdered by the coaches. Fans here rant about Michel Therrien and his much-maligned system, but that system is the norm. The rarity is a coach like Nashville’s Peter Laviolette or Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper who will give talented players some room for manoeuvre. When there’s no room for a P.K. Subban or a Taylor Hall in your “system,” maybe it’s the system that should go.

It’s not that today’s players aren’t skilled or that what we’re seeing from Toronto isn’t good hockey. It’s an incredibly fast and physical game, but it’s all paint-by-numbers. Babcock’s method in international hockey is to take all that skill and use it to strangle an opponent, the way a python squeezes its prey. An early goal or two can turn it into a rout, but the plan is more the 1-0 or 2-1 game. It’s effective, alright — but it’s about as much fun as a tax audit.

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