defensive zone strategy questions:

for these questions, assume a basic zone defense. also assume we are looking at the ice from behind the goalie (so "left" = the goalie's left, etc).

a) assume that the offensive team has established possession in the zone. if the puck is passed to a player behind the goal line on the right (RD's) side, i assume he goes to that player to defend. where does everyone else go?

b) now assume the puck is passed from that player behind the net to a player who's just above the goal line on the left side. how does this rotation work?



finally, c) what are some basic defensive zone principles that every team should follow?

thanks for any serious answers

meh, carlson has no arbitration rights when his contract is up, and myers signed for 3 UFA years. i mean, this contract is totally bonkers, but i suspect these big-market teams are trying to get these deals in before the lockout saber-rattling begins.

kinda ugly drawing on my part, but assuming i understand what you're saying, something like:

(O's are offensive players, X's are defensive players)



edit: yeah bad drawing really, probably should have done and before and after to illustrate the player movement instead of just the pass and "after" positioning, but w/e...

the blue line behind the net represents the pass, the other one where that player skates after making the pass. then again he might be more likely to support the puck behind the net. as always with these scenarios, and poker hands, and everything else in life...it depends. it depends on a lot of stuff, and what everyone else is doing out there. especially the center, where he goes and what he does can dictate a lot of this (like it'd probably influence where the passer goes from there).

but yeah, generally the wingers cover the points, usually fairly loosely to help defend the forwards if they can. some teams collapse their wingers more than others, some pretty much all the way to the net to create a 3-on-5 situation (especially with teams who don't have good offensive D, or don't use them well). that's the simple part. then the D and the center generally defend the forwards, on teams that don't collapse the wingers much this will be a 3-on-3 situation. there can be a lot of switching here, as cycling and stuff happens.

not sure where the puck has gone now exactly, i mean if he passes to the center or winger (or pinching D i guess) to the spot you're saying, then that's probably a goal. if you can explain further maybe i, or someone else, can answer this.

here's the template if anyone else wants to try drawing this stuff up with MSPaint or whatever:



positioning! you want to be between your man and the net, once he gets behind you, you're screwed, and it could be time for a goal or penalty hooking/holding/etc him. but then again a lot of teams are trying new, riskier stuff like "fronting" the man around the goal. it can work out well, but it can also backfire badly if/when the puck gets through (or gets cycled, or someone takes a Lidstrom-esque intentionally wide shot for the rebound, etc). but a lot of teams are pretty comfortable if they can keep the offensive players to the outside, even with sustained puck control. it's not the worst thing in the world if everyone is doing their job properly.

DownGoesBrown Down Goes Brown
Seeing the Sabres spend after years of losing stars is a great story, but at some point are we allowed to say that Terry Pegula is insane?

Goddamn, Subban is going to cost 10M a year next summer.

I could tell you what capitals/rangers would do, but i couldn't tell you what a good hockey team would do...

How do signing bonuses work exactly? Are they seperate from the nhl salary?

If Myers makes 12m in NHL salary, and 10 million from signing bonus, he's paid 22m for his season next year?

He makes 38.5m + 10 m over 7 years, or just 38.5m?

http://www.youtube.com/khl - live feed of atlant v dinamo riga, jamie lundmark has a goal

vomit: signing bonus is part of salary. he makes $12M next year, not $22M.

oh ****, that's pretty awesome. not an hd feed, but still ok.

atlant caught a lot of flak for kinda luckboxing to the finals last year, but they look pretty good so far.

Except as we saw with Alzner, the Caps seem to understand how restricted free agency works unlike the Flyers and now the Sabres.

and thats only for the summer

whoa let's not go nuts here. JVR was a decent player who had a sick playoffs and the flyers backed up a dumptruck full of cash for him. tyler myers won the calder trophy and had a solid follow up year, he has the makings of a legitimate top-pairing defenseman who contributes in all zones. the sabres got 3 UFA years from him.

i don't hate the myers signing, but he is still far from a sure shot, and the lockout angle definitely makes even higher risk. it could easily bite the sabres in the ass.

yashin leaves islanders camp. seems like they dodged a bullet.

ETA: oh yeah, they extended Tavares' contract for 6 years. maybe bringing yashin in was a negotiation ploy? if so, lol. tavares probably told them he's willing to walk away.

Markov encounters setback in recovery from ACL surgery

Good thing he's on that fresh new $5.75m/yr deal!

RE: defensive positioning

Im just going to talk about one side of the ice, since the other side is just a mirror image. I was a right winger so im going to naturally talk about the right side (when facing the opposing teams goalie).When the puck is on the the right side of the ice you are supposed to be above the circle and you cant venture down to low or else its really easy for the puck to be fed to the d man at the point (obv have to be careful to not get to close to a fast d man though, because they can just pinch in for a one timer in the high slot), who can rifle off a shot into traffic. The other benefit of being high up nearish to the boards it that when the puck is thrown around the boards your in perfect position to start a breakout. Its the centers responsibility to be around the hash marks to 1. keep people from walking into the slot and 2. to clog up passing lanes across the slot or to prevent a cross ice pass to the opposite d man on the point. When the puck is on the left side of the ice, and the center is forced to go behind the net (like if two forwards are there and out number the d man, or perhaps their forward beats your d man) youll have to travel down to the hash marks and fulfill the centers responsibilities outlined above. The center is also in a perfect place to breakout here when hes in the hashmarks. Once the puck is procured by the right winger along the boards the center can curl towards the winger and make himself a perfect option while gaining speed into the neutral zone. Then the off winger once he see this happen should already be skating hard towards the center of the ice so he can be an option for the center. Once the winger gets the pass and is in the center lane the actual center will follow his pass and be on the left wing side. by this time hopefully the right winger is fast enough to skate up his side of the ice so that the person with the puck in the center of the ice has options entering the opponents zone. he can either take the puck in himself, or pass it to the right winger on the right side, or the center whos on the left side. Wish i knew how to draw something out, or had the time to learn it, but i hope thats clear. great question nutshot, and hope you post more in the regular season.

sabres not only did massive renovations to arena, asthetics mostly like flat screens above urinals etc they also spent millions on new humidifers (or dehumidifiers) and 2 new zambonis with laser beam ice levelers.. Their goal is to have best ice in the nhl

trynna make myers skate faster

Nerd Alert! That question was actually for a video game. Good stuff, really like the breakout discussion.

those long legs make him fast enough, but il take the extra speed of course

a common misconception is that long legs make a skater faster. it does in speed skating sense, but it makes him less explosive.

this is on average though, myers is a freak.

I hope youre right. Im not expecting some lol buffalo type contract, but it's going to raise carlson's expecations at the very least.

stolen: all I want is fricking zambonis with lasers on their frickin heads

Selanne back for another year ldo.