The Los Angeles Kings' use of the 1-3-1 neutral zone trap has been a much-discussed topic amongst fans over the last few seasons under head coach Todd McLellan and briefly Jim Hiller after him.
For a third year in a row it was completely infective against the Edmonton Oilers and saw the Kings lose in just five games in round one.
Both Jim Hiller and general manager Rob Blake hinted at a change in system over the summer and early in training camp that change has been confirmed.
Captain Anze Kopitar came out and confirmed the team won't be playing a 1-3-1 and Hiller talked about moving to a 1-2-2 after day one of camp.
This move has sparked a lot of excitement amongst fans and for good reason. The 1-3-1 wasn't working and the Kings needed to change something.
A shift to a 1-2-2 makes sense as well. It isn't a million miles away from the 1-3-1 and allows the Kings to remain a structured, defensively sound team without being as rigid as the 1-3-1.
The forwards, in particular, will have more freedom to be aggressive in the neutral zone and can look to create turnovers higher up the ice.
The biggest change will be for the defensemen, this team's blue line was very clearly built with the 1-3-1 in mind with all of their puck movers being right handed.
While this defensemen; Drew Doughty, Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke, will still be asked to do the majority of the puck moving, there will now be more pressure on the left sided defensemen to move pucks.
Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov, Joel Edmundson and whoever else fills in will fall back and be less aggressive in the neutral zone but will have to go back and retrieve more pucks.
I'd expect all of them to adopt a safe game on the puck and look to go D-to-D or straight up ice with a safe pass most times.
Still, there will be more pressure on them to have the puck on their stick which will be an adjustment.
It might also put a little more pressure on the Kings' goaltenders. For all of the faults of the 1-3-1, it did do an excellent job shielding the Kings' budget goaltending.
Darcy Kuemper and David Rittich won't have the same safety net goalies in the last few seasons have enjoyed.
Again, the Kings will still likely be a more defensive team even with the system change, but their goalies might need to have an extra save or two in them.
I also wouldn't expect to never see the 1-3-1 again, it just won't be the Kings' default system.
Anderson and Trevor Moore discussed this in their exit interviews. The 1-3-1 is good for holding leads and is used throughout the league, the Kings just needed to get away from defaulting to this system.
Late in games and against certain opposition, I wouldn't be surprised to see this return at times, Kings fans just won't have to see it all game anymore.