Systems vs personnel right.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to dig into the systems a little more after last night. I went back and rewatched the game focusing what we do systematically plus tried to base everything on the articles and interview that are out there regarding the systems. Of course there must be much more wrinkles to the whole system, but at least lets discuss the main points. Im no expert, so if you see something i missed out or i got something wrong, let me know.
Here are the things that i saw:
1. We play man to man: I know last season we switched to a hybrid, so im not sure if early this season we are back to full man to man or still doing the hybrid
Clearly we play man to man where our defensemen try to pick up their guy and get into their bodies asap. They are allowed to follow their guy to some degree so if a guy crosses behind our net the guy who has him can cross with him, the other d switches to his side to cover. Similar if there is any east-to west puck carrying. This doesnt happen always so i think its the guys on the ice that decide how tod o it and communicate with it, when to switch guys, when to keep with them.
There is always one d that needs to be in front of the net, so when theyre crossing like this its extra important to sort out the new positions. Our d need to be heads up and know when to prioritize positioning. Needs to clear the crease/tie up the guy’s stick in front.
As others were discussing in the GDT, if there is a pinned down guy in the corner, the other d can come and overhelp – in this case the center covers his spot. If both d are behind the net or over to a corner in a battle or just because majority of offensive guys are there, the center covers the front of the net. Also they probably communicate when a wing/center takes over for the other d in these situations so the d can stay in front of net.
Our problems: You need to be able to handle your guys man to man, many times Seabs cannot, gets pushed falls etc. Keith and Gus sometimes struggle with this too as they get overpowered, cant be strong with their stick. Causes breakdowns.
You need to be in sync with your partner and make the correct reads and communications but Seabs (like 80% of the time its him), Gus (sometimes) and 4K (sometimes) either doesnt make the correct read and overhelps or doesnt make the correct read and doesnt cover what his partner leaves open.
Only Muprhy, Maatta and Keith seems to do this well consistently, of course all we need is one breakdown and its all gone bad. The other guys are prone to leaving open areas, the front of the net. Causes breakdowns.
2. Forward positioning int he d-zone
It seems ideally the two wingers are tasked to cover the defensemen at the point, the center hangs back towards the middle of the ice and helps the d. If there is a heavier battle or more bodies on one side, the winger ont hat side hangs back too and participates. Once the puck is moved below goal line, both the wingers jump much closer to the goal and cover the dots.
Our problems: Strome is pretty bad at this because he doesnt make fast turns so can lag behind when there is puck movement. Carpenter I thought can be slow at this too. Those two get beat often or are just chasing the puck from side to side. Toews and Kampf are good with active sticks good positioning.
Only Saad, Kubalik, Shaw and Cagguila force battles. The rest of our wings while often in position are not impactful because theyre not forcing battles or having active sticks. (Brinksy improving to his credit). Its not enough, you saw the impact of puck hounds last night with our 3rd line and what that does, compared to just inactively positioned guys on lines. Can cause issues because our wings arent taking away pucks and clearing.
3. Forward forechecking
Ideally its our two wings forechecking, but of course many times it makes sense for the center to go with one wing. If the center forechecks with the first wing, the second wing assumes his position and hangs back. Ideally the center gets back quick and goes back to his responsibilities and the wing goes out again, but many times there is no time. Probably the guys communicate to each other if they have time to switch back, but many times i see there is no time so the wing stays as the center. Important that he assumes the same responsibilities as the center and the center does the win duties. The forwards need to be a unit, communicate properly. I thought Smith was really good at this last night, but it might be just coz he forgot he wasnt playing center lol.
The point of forechecking is to force pressure and puck battles ont he d/along the boards. Either by being physical or with active sticks.
Our problems: once again, only Saad, Kubalik, Shaw and Cagguila (Toew + Kampf too) manage to create battles ont he forecheck. The others arent impactful (Birnks improving). Our forecheck overall is very unimpactful this way, so our whole defending suffers as a result and we are already behind.
Many of our wings dont have the defensive instincts that help them cover for a center when they need to. Ala Nylander on that goal. Because the forecheck can sometimes mean a winger is the 1 hanging back, our wingers need to be able to assume center duties, active sticks, fast movement etc. Nylander, Kane, DeBrincat i think arent too good at that. Causes many breakdowns.
4. Defensemen when forechecking
They want them to step up on the blueline not simply hang back. So ideally our guys get into them asap, maintain close gap control and help out the forecheck by compressing the free space. For this to work the guys need to be smart and realize when they can do it more aggressively, when they need to cover for the partner that is doing it more aggressively. They also need to be able to skate backwards and not get beat by forwards. IQ and skating.
Our problems: Seabrook is bad at this. He doesnt have the skating so he mostly hangs back. The other guys seem to have problems with this often too, so they instead just keep it safe. Murphy and Maatta i think are usually fine here. But our overall forecheck suffers a ton because of this, and it is already bad from the forwards. We dont have puck pressure almost at all. We can have bad pinches too but at least we cleaned those up well.
5. Defenseman transitioning out
If the quick outlet pass is there thats first priority. If not JC wants the d to carry the puck up ice to create more opportunities and push the forwards back for clean entries.
Our problems: I dont need to say anything here, we all know. Only Gus and Maatta can do this well. Keith and 4K fumble way too much. Murphy isnt someone to do it too much, Seabs has the passes but thats it. Once again, it leads to problems because we make it harder to have entries and the enemy forwards can cause way too much pressure for our d (and often they cant handle it).