The regular season or the playoffs? They are two different seasons and style of play. The Senators of the past few years have been the classic case of a team built for the regular season and failing in the playoffs. The wide-open offensive style largely goes away in the playoffs. So you build for the playoffs and have a mediocre regular season, not getting a high playoff seeding and thus having to battle your way through several hellish rounds to get to the finals. Or even go with a defensive system throughout the regular season and playoffs and have incredibly boring games for the fans to watch.

Detroit's model works best if you have the money to do it and the players are available to acquire and retain. The only year Detroit had quality in net was with Hasek (yuck!) They got by with Osgood because of the players in front of him and the system of play Bowman used which the players bought into.

I don't think we'll see drastic changes for next year with the labour showdown that is going to happen. Why balloon out your payroll if the season is cut short or you're ultimately punished for it (salary cap) once things are settled?