video analysis

#1MinuteTactics – Studying The World Cup Of Hockey

Jack.Han Theory, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

When you bring the best players and coaches together, entertaining things happen. Not only that, but many of the tactical habits employed by elite hockey team are actually not so hard to grasp.

Here are five teaching points brought to us by The World Cup Of Hockey 2016, broken down and served up in just over one minute apiece:

1) Transition Play: Team North America’s Neutral Zone Mastery

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Video Analysis: How The Penguins Extend Zone Time With “Total Hockey”

Jack.Han Practical Concerns, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

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By any predictive metric, the Pittsburgh Penguins have generated a staggering amount of offense against the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Finals. Earlier this week, we looked at how the Penguins are able to create possessions with good defensive habits in the neutral zone. Today, we’ll examine how they create a volume of offensive chances via positional switches.

To fully understand the ideas behind the Penguins’ offensive zone play, it is necessary to study the “Total Football” philosophy:

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The line of thinking lends itself well to the speed and teamwork-oriented nature of hockey as well. While the Penguins are by no means the first team to apply these ideas, they are a good example of how they can be used effectively at the highest level of the game.

Here are some clips from Game 3 and Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final illustrating the tactical benefits of fluidity and positional switches.

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Video Analysis: In the Penguins-Sharks Stanley Cup Final, Possession Starts With Good Defensive Gap

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In the playoffs, details make the difference.

Heading into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Pittsburgh Penguin have had the measure of the San Jose Sharks in terms of shot differential. Looking at the game tape, we can see that one of the contributing factors is the way both teams defend the rush.

As a group, the Pens’ defensive corps is fleet-footed and blessed with good offensive acumen. They are also undersized and prone to being muscled off the puck by San Jose’s skilled forwards. In order to minimize their exposure to defensive-zone breakdowns and to maximize the team’s speed and skill, the Penguins have been playing a very tight gap across the neutral zone, funneling San Jose puck carriers toward the end boards and standing up at the red line in order to encourage the Sharks to dump the puck in.

A hallmark of the Mike Sullivan-coached Penguins is the team’s attacking mindset on and off the puck, as evidenced by the way they suppress the San Jose transition game.

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The Shift: Breaking Down The L.A. Kings’ Secrets To Success

Jack.Han Practical Concerns, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , 5 Comments

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By virtue of their 5vs5 shot differential, the Los Angeles Kings are the best team in hockey. As of Saturday night, the Kings are rolling along at 56.1% Corsi – #1 in the NHL by a long shot. In fact, the 3% gap between the Kings and the No. 2 Anaheim Ducks is the same as the one between the Ducks and the No. 15 Philadelphia Flyers.

So why are the King so good?

The simple answer is that they have good players executing a sound game plan developed by a good coaching staff. But how exactly does this manifest itself?

On March 26th, the Kings were beating up on the Edmonton Oilers in the middle of the second period when, in the span of 45 seconds, they put together – in my mind – a perfect, representative shift of everything that makes them a superior hockey team.

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Practical Concerns: How To Replace Superstar Goal-Scoring

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Photo Credit: Derek DrummondPhoto Credit: Derek Drummond

Earlier this week, I read an interesting story by Frank Seravalli on TSN.ca on Mike Babcock, Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which is a good read for anything interested in how coaches think. For me, it also illustrate another way analytics could be employed to make a coach’s life a lot easier and take out some of the guesswork inherent in the job.

It was not too surprising to hear that Babcock was already thinking about how to get the most out of his team this season while on vacation, but I am very curious about his thought process behind how best to replace Phil Kessel. But before we start thinking about how to replace Phil Kessel (or his production in aggregate), we need to start thinking about how we are to measure a Phil Kessel’s offensive contribution.

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