Defense tips to open this Dallas Stars’ offense

The primary complaint and a potential mental obstacle of players of the Dallas Stars may be their offensive game, there are defensive adjustments that could aid them in winning this series.

Nick Lacoste

01/06/2024

To summarise the most prominent issues on offense, the absence of PowerPlay urgency and the low-in-the-zone puck movement has enabled Edmonton to play a bit inactive and have to confront every Dallas “first attack” and be careful not to over-commit, the lack of offensive commitment by Dallas in high-risk zones, as it is difficult to reach the high-risk zones, has caused Dallas to shoot from further away, which makes it more attainable to Stuart Skinner to react, and other issues.

Overall, offensive adjustments are possible, however I think two defense problems have hampered the Stars in their offensive leverage. their “first man back” problems and looking at the issue of handinessin each zone.

The “best offense is good defense’ adage is frequently re-used and ignored sometimes, but it is true for the game of ice hockey for numerous reasons, among them:

1. Odd-man rushes (counter-attacks) are among modern hockey’s most effective offensive moves.
2. The position behind the puck allows the defense team to not be surprised and capitalize on mistakes due to their body position.

A great defense will be proactive when it comes to errors because the majority of your team’s members are in the “attack net” you are behind your puck in addition to forward momentum, without having to rotate 180 degrees in order to start a play. From the opposing perspective they’re now looking the back with no momentum and are looking at their “attack net” because they didn’t anticipate the possibility of a turning point.

The typical post-turnover scenario provides counter-attacking teams with the chance to cause chaos. Dallas did a great job at this throughout the entire season by stretching the ice and switching from offense to defense with the utmost efficiency.

Don Waddell, recently hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets as President of Hockey Operations, General Manager and Alternate Governor, stated that this regarding the rebuilding of the team (it involves making adjustments, too):

“”Cleaning up your defensive zone is a lot easier to fix than trying to find pure goal scorers, I think that’s where our focus should be off the start.””

– Don Waddell, Columbus Blue Jackets

The Stars are able to clean their defensive area, even if they’re unable to locate regular goals scored by their forwards, with the exception of Wyatt Johnston. These defensive ideascould assist in unlocking the offensive that is the Stars:

In the past, in smaller hockey leagues, while forwards are backchecking centermen are usually responsible for rushing back to protect the lower part in the zone of defense in their normal defense. The “wingers” who return first typically take care of the first attack opportunity from an opponent, but they then move to the usual “winger” boards.

For teams such as that of the Dallas Stars, with confidence in their defensive players and a strong emphasis on “positionless hockey. They use the ‘first man back’ method of covering, in which the first forward who is available will play the role of the center until a switch is made. This is usually a way to prevent first rushes and reduces “first” chances, however it is only effective in the event that all forwards are ready to take on the role of “first man back” when it comes their turn.

The problem in this “tight-checking playoff series’ against Edmonton has been the inability to be accountable by the forwards which is why Edmonton’s speed has thrown away the ‘first man back policy, where only a handful of forwards are willing or capable of catching fast-moving Edmonton skaters who have been causing mistakes.

For instance, during two quarters in the game against Edmonton during Game 5 of the series, the Oilers were able to record six odd-man rushes to the Stars. There were obvious instances of forwards being close to the finish of their shifts or weren’t pushing it completely on the backcheck, which caused Dallas two defensive players to contend with players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and more, all at times being outnumbered by six instances. The lack in back-pressure from the forwards are straining the defensive core, which currently is comprised of Chris Tanev with one good left foot and Miro Heiskanen who is being asked to play longer than 10 minutes in specific periods and almost half a game Ice Time.

The Stars must emphasize the ‘first man back’ responsibility for all forwards. Or, they could change the depth to which their centers cheat in offense. This would let Dallas to defend against Edmonton’s counter-attack since McDavid & Co. will score on odd-man rushes when given multiple opportunities. This could help relieve some stress off of a tired defensive core, and put more stress on the Edmonton skaters to create moves.

The issue of hand-hands has been debated for quite a while on the hockey field, with athletes such as Alex Ovechkin and MacKenzie Weegar as examples of notable successes of players who played the majority of their career on their ‘weak sides’ (right-handed shooters playing ‘left the other way’). Miro Heiskanen is a local player as the debate has been going on for a number of years over whether or not he’s playing his most effective hockey on the left side, as an left-handed shot.

There are two spots in the ice where I consider’strong-side’ handedness is crucial for high OZ and high DZ. Particularly, in between circles at the upper and lower ends, as well as the blue line within both of the zones are places vulnerable to dangerous turnovers. These could be the places on the ice where offensive pressure is a possibility for some teams. The result is two scenarios:

The Case for Wingers on the Breakout

In Dallas the modern defensive approach that includes ‘first man back’ they require their forwards to be on the DZ direction the ball is on. Sometimes, this leads to poor breakouts by wingers who are on their weak side.’ For instance the right-handed winger is sitting on the left boards waiting for a shot by a defender at in front of the net, the forward will need to rotate their body in order towards the puck in order to take the puck with their forehand.

This makes it difficult to make a straight breakout as the winger must either rotate 180 degrees to push the puck towards to the middle (without being caught off guard by players in an in-blind position) or hit the puck with their back against the boards (without getting smashed by the opponent Dman). If Dallas put their lines up in a manner that lefties play “left boards defense” and the right side could be playing ‘right board defense and their body posture allows for multiple ways to pass on breakouts as they no longer have to stand in front of the boards to get a pass or to give a weak backhand pass in important scenarios. This modification in the management of lineups and defensive coverage might assist Dallas to become a more effective player in counterattacks and transitions.

The argument for defense of the OZ

Similar to when a lefty must push on the right side of the OZ typically, it’s done with a backhanded “poke” instead of a forward-facing push.’ Lefties on the right side, such as Miro Heiskanen isn’t able manage the puck that way because his upper hand has to extend outwards to fight the puck, or the player must completely commit his body to a 50/50 battle with his backhand. If Heiskanen was on the left board being a right-handed player, pucks in 50/50 have a greater chance of be controlled, collected, and then tossed away since he’s on his forehand, or the’strong side’.

In addition, a body when in an extremely high OZ is more suitedfor playing at high speed on his strongest sidebecause his back is positioned against the boards when pinching rather than needing to shut off your body’s front when he is taking weak-side pinches. The position of your body in front of the boards when pinching leaves the player with little space to pivot in case the pinch fails, or very the space needed to play in the event that you do manage to grab your hands on the ball yourself.

In the end, the mental predictability’ is not present for hockey players who don’t have the time to think about their game in the playoffs. Star players aren’t able to rely on the’strong side’ or comfortable practices because they’ve been taught to think about the ice as they see it, and play weak-side winger positions despite apparent problems with playing transitional.

The result is that ‘old dogs’ such as Matt Duchene and Joe Pavelski not being able to master ‘new tricks’ or adjust to high-stress situations. This has resulted in Stars becoming overwhelmed by a variety of proactive adversaries like the Oilers who don’t allow you to take the time to considerabout what you can do to get the puck from your weak side. Defenders such as Thomas Harley don’t have to play hockey with their backhand all day long. This is essential to the playmaking and confidence of the core D players, aiding the team overall.

I emphasize back the pressure from forwards as well as handinessin that defensive area as well as being behind the ball as these strategies can help hockey clubs such as that of Dallas Stars play smooth hockey throughout the year, and led directly to the scoring of goals.

For instance, the only goal that the Stars scored in Game 5 against. the Oilers was a result of the following factors:

The play started with a shrewd back pressure from Jamie Benn, taking away space and time of the Oilers and then Wyatt Johnston pushing the envelope in offense, driving into the high-risk zone,and Logan Stankoven demonstrated amazing on-ice playmaking to spot anxious Oilers players who had fallen way too far within the zone.

This was a “team-first” and well-executed objective.

We’ve seen the back pressure on the defensive side and offensive rush capability from the Dallas Stars team from that goal sequence throughout the entire season, however, it’s not as prevalent. It could be due to tired winger, slow a tad tight-checking hockey or something else, but if a team’s forwards aren’t scoring and will not backcheck until it’s late it’s possible that the Stars hockey season could be ending earlier than expected.

The Stars won’t be able to win their way to the Western Conference Finals by just, “playing their game.” The adjustments, like the above notes are crucial to keep their 2023-2024 campaign in the game. What happens if they Stars be a desperate team continuing to play with the same philosophy of team and a final adrenaline rush? will the team take a moment to consider the things that need to be changed to be awestruck bythe Edmonton Oilers during a moment where the Oilers are speed and confidence have created an over-the-top, rush-heavy team every time, as Dallas had to offer this season?

Best of luck to the Stars They are currently in their final playoff season.