Hockey's beautiful mind

Bowman's constant innovating confounds all

At the end of October, I wrote an article titled "What’s My Line?," which dealt with the trend of pairs of forwards staying intact with an evolving cast of players rounding out the line, rather than entire trios staying together. Since then, the inimitable innovator Scotty Bowman has given me more material to ponder regarding offensive concepts and constructs.

When it comes to mixing up lines, Bowman confounds even his players at times with the seemingly random nature of his decisions. True to form, the shuffling keeps his players on edge and affords them opportunities to play in different situations with varied personnel.

In the end, Bowman has his players ready for any on-ice, in-game occurrence. Still, his move of Sergei Federov to the blue line recently, while intriguing, paled when compared to his rationale.

Bowman said he wanted to get Federov more ice time as one reason for the move. He pointed out that Federov’s skating and offensive instincts helped the Red Wings keep plays alive at the offensive blue line -- a vital element of a successful attack. Bowman stated that without production from the backline, it is very difficult to create chances and score goals in today’s NHL -- this from the guy at the helm of the top offensive team in the NHL.

He feels that with today’s defensive schemes, offensive chances flow more freely from players moving up the ice and joining the play late.

Granted, Federov’s fluid skating style and outstanding defensive instincts afford Bowman the luxury of making such a move, with the transition made to look rather easy. Truly, to play out of position so efficiently is a testament to Federov’s skill.

The move itself underscores Bowman’s constant inquisitiveness in the realm of maximizing personnel. Now, maybe I’m reading too much into Bowman’s unconventional experiment of moving a forward to the blue line for full-strength duty.

Could this be yet another necessary ploy to motivate the moody Federov? Possibly, but consider that teams are increasingly putting a forward on the blue line during power plays. Why? To generate more offense from the blue line. By playing Federov in five-on-five situations, he has merely extended that logic.

Throughout his coaching career, Bowman has relied heavily on offense from his defensemen. In Montreal, he had Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson. In Buffalo, he had a precocious puckhandler out of high school in Phil Housley. In Pittsburgh, he had Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy and in Detroit, Bowman currently counts on the top blueliner in the game, Nicklas Lidstrom, for offensive pop.

In addition, don’t forget Mathieu Dandenault for the Red Wings -- the fleet-skating youngster who Bowman converted from a forward to a defensemen several seasons ago. So, the concept of transporting speed and skill to the blue line in the form of a forward is not entirely new -- just extremely rare.

Maybe Bowman’s inspiration is a harbinger of things to come in the NHL. Offensive defensemen seem to be in shorter supply, or maybe it is just the fact that in many situations defensemen are required to play "risk-free" -- never forsaking defensive positioning. Either way, add the elevated defensive accountability now placed on forwards -- a stance staunchly espoused by most coaches over the past 8-10 years -- mix in the goaltending excellence and it is quite obvious as to why goals are in such short supply.

Bowman’s perspective becomes a little clearer under these circumstances as well: Creative thinking might be the answer to creating scoring chances.

Taking Bowman’s premise further and coupling it with the observation that teams now have pairs of forwards who stay together more so than set lines, is the NHL really that far from a major makeover? With the game flow affording better offensive looks from trailing players, how about a move away from the conventional three forwards/two defensemen configuration? Could the game take on a look that has a tandem of skilled forwards manning the blue line, looking for offense, while the three up-ice players do a lot of the grunt work in the trenches and high traffic areas. Think football with the offensive line out in front, clearing the way for the running back or the mobile quarterback. Or, envision basketball with the three frontcourt players rebounding, setting screens and keeping plays alive, all to enable the two guards in the backcourt to run the offense.

Far-fetched? Probably. Nevertheless, remember that need fosters innovation and right now, teams everywhere are in need of goal scoring. According to Bowman -- even his league-leading Red Wings.

Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.