If we can learn anything from the last three Stanley Cup winners, is that you must switch your starting goalies midway through the playoffs.
As most of my critics will contend, it takes me awhile to see some things in their proper context.
Sometimes they have a point. Trends would be a good case in point.
It's not that I don't look for them, but when you have your eyes fixed on day-to-day events in the National Hockey League, you sometimes miss the bigger picture, but this time I've got it.
The vision came upon me while I was watching Detroit goalie Chris Osgood skating around with the Stanley Cup on the ice at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena with, Dominik Hasek, the goalie he replaced, going right around with him.
That's the key, switch the goalies.
Look at the evidence, it's as plain as the smile on Detroit coach Mike Babcock's face. In 2008, Hasek starts the first four games for Detroit and then gives way to Osgood. Result? Stanley Cup parade. In 2007, Illya Byzgalov starts the first four games for Anaheim and then gives way to J. S. Giguere. Result? Stanley Cup parade. In 2006, Martin Gerber starts the playoffs for the Carolina Hurricanes and then gives way to Cam Ward. Result? Stanley Cup parade.
OK, I'm stretching the point a bit but if we learn anything from the Detroit Red Wings triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 Stanley Cup Final it should be that having a workhorse goalie isn't the be all and end all in regards to putting a Cup contender on the ice.
Nowadays you need more. You need balanced scoring, a team-wide commitment to defence, exceptional special teams play and a program that puts an emphasis on drafting and developing so that you can ice a team that can survive anything, including poor play by a goaltender.
Oh and it doesn't hurt to have a solid group of Europeans on your roster as well.
The days of Martin Brodeur, a Shooter Tutor for a backup and twenty-some guys named Bryan, Blair or Joe just doesn't get it done anymore.
Babcock made that perfectly clear while basking in the glow of his first-ever Cup win.
"I think Ozzie (goalie Chris Osgood) is a fantastic story," Babcock said. "You talk about us, but when you pull your goalie in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, that usually means you're going fishin' in about three days, and not 14 more wins or whatever we needed to get it done. You gotta give him a lot of credit. He sat in my office at my house three years ago or two years ago, I guess, after the season and talked about reinventing himself and finding a way, and he did".
"He learned how to butterfly, and he's improved his game. And he's now back as one of the top goalies in the League because of his mental toughness and his stick-to-itiveness. And I think he showed that in bouncing back and winning tonight."
Left unsaid was that Osgood, at 35, sometimes appeared a bit sharper than 23-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury, perhaps because he split the duties with Hasek during the regular season. Fleury, who was mostly brilliant but also beaten for a few goals that should have been stopped early in the series, got some time off during the regular season as well. However that was largely due to injury.
Both men were a big part of the series and being strong and fresh mattered, but clearly this Final wasn't just about goaltending. Having balanced scoring mattered. Making a commitment to team defence mattered. Having players who could skate, shoot and score mattered just like having players who can hit, hit and hit some more mattered.
Having a power play that could break through masterful penalty killing truly mattered.
What the NHL finally managed to put on display -and in a most entertaining fashion-was a balanced skills competition. Skating mattered, passing mattered, hitting mattered, smart playmaking mattered and skill, skill far beyond limiting shots and having five players back working as wannabe goaltenders mattered.
In the end, experience and a fair amount of endurance mattered, but there was also a place for youthful enthusiasm and fresh young talent and that was a joy to behold as well.
The essence of the game, the things hockey fans most love about hockey all came into play, so much so that for once it wasn't just the winning team that got to claim success in the Stanley Cup final. The Penguins were losers, but they were both valiant and noble in defeat. They challenged, right to the final second of the final game and they were entertaining as well. That too is a good thing.
Perhaps more importantly, hockey fans got what they wanted too and, by extension, so did the National Hockey League.
If this truly is a copy-cat league, the trend for the next little while at least won't be Brian Burke's Rock'em-Sock'em hockey or Darryl Sutter's Hit'em Harder hockey. It will be hockey that emphasizes all the skills and talents that make the game great on the ice and all the skills and management tactics that can see their way clear to put highly skilled players on the ice and with a coach that knows how to create offence as well as structure defence. A coach that knows how to succeed with a power play, not just how to defend against one.
We got the best of all that hockey has to offer in this series and we got it both from the Red Wings and the Penguins. Certainly both teams made mistakes and, at times, the hockey wasn't always picture perfect, but it was almost always good, compelling, exhausting and entertaining and, more often than not, that was the case no matter who was in goal.
Dallas showed us it was more than Marty Turco. San Jose showed more than just the talents of Evgeni Nabokov. Philadelphia had more than one weapon and showed more than just a solid effort from goalie Marty Biron.
Great goaltending is still a necessity, Ottawa clearly showed us that, but great hockey is more than great goaltending and throughout the playoffs we saw a lot of it.
If that's the future, well I can see a whole lot more people embracing what's good and entertaining about the game.
If that happens, it's a trend no one will want to miss.
