Brett Hull and St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery shared their thoughts on today’s NHL. They identified one key difference in how offensive play has reshaped the league.
Hull recalled watching the Stanley Cup Finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights. He pinpointed some of the games as having a wide scoring margin, especially for such important games. The pressure is heightened during the Finals because of how one mistake can dictate the result.
There were moments when each team would take an early lead, forcing the opposing team to take a lot more risks. As a result, the trailing team would either tie the game with high-risk offense or be on the receiving end of a blowout loss.
The 2026 Cup Finals between the Hurricanes and Golden Knights featured high-scoring games. Final scores were as follows:
Game 1: Vegas 5 – 4 Carolina
Game 2: Vegas 3 – 4 Carolina
Game 3: Carolina 4 – 5 Vegas
Game 4: Carolina 5 – 3 Vegas
Game 5: Vegas 2 – 4 Carolina
Game 6: Carolina 3 – 0 Vegas
Brett Hull Shares His Thoughts on Offense in Today’s NHL
Brett Hull admitted that he was shocked by how offensive the Stanley Cup Finals were because of the stakes. The Hall of Famer said teams seemed fine with sacrificing a lead to maintain an offensive style of play.
“Were you not shocked? When you think about the Stanley Cup playoffs, and particularly, the Finals, I was shocked how teams could sit there and blow two goal, four goal leads,” Hull said on his Ice Guardians Podcast. “That’s like, hold on here, this is the Stanley Cup Finals and you get a four goal lead and now you’re just still playing wide open and giving them chances?”
Hull noted that it is a noticeable difference from when he played during the 1990s and 2000s.
Blues Coach Reveals Why Today’s NHL Has More Wide Open Play
Blues coach Jim Montgomery also chimed in and revealed why today’s NHL has more wide-open play than when Hull played. Montgomery also experienced what it was like during the 1990s and 2000s, as he also played during that era.
Now as a head coach, Montgomery pointed to the emergence of several elite-level offensive defensemen as a factor reshaping the league. Montgomery highlighted the lack of traditional shutdown players and lines on each team as another key difference.
“I think the game has gotten so much better offensively. This is just my opinion. You have so many talented offensive defensemen now,” Montgomery told Ice Guardians Podcast. “But Derian Hatcher and Adam Foote, and all these big guys that made you pay a price. Some D-cores don’t even have one. There used to be three all the time. And you had your line that shut them things down, that could just end games.”
He added:
“They’re not playing their two offensive defensemen at the last minute. They don’t know how to shut it off. [Hull] would have loved playing in this era. It’s wide open.”
Brett Hull and Blues Coach Identify One Shocking Change Reshaping Today’s NHL