Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek talking about teams and players that defend well, and how big, mobile, physical defensemen are helping lead teams to Stanley Cups.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Okay, let me take somebody that we talked about on the podcast one step further than because you’re talking about some of the players that Detroit has brought in. And some of the conversations, I’m not sure if you’ve had this one yet. And again, it’s only a couple of weeks into the season but it is very much a trend. In this offensive, slanted NHL now, where the premium is on we need to create more goal-scoring environments, and that includes defenseman, join defenseman, go, go, go, go, go, go.
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You know, the teams that tend to win Stanley Cups are the ones that tend to defend the best, I mean, look at the Vegas Golden Knights. And look at that blue line and look at how Vegas defended. It was, I mean, it was spectacular. Like look what they did to teams like the Edmonton Oilers.
Are you finding now around the NHL, the point that we’re making on the podcast last night is the one thing that Detroit and no one really talks about this, is how well they defend. In a bunch of, if you look at the blue line and say well, how many, how many third-pairing defensemen can you have? All these guys defend really well.
Friedman: “Yeah.”
Marek: “Ben Chiarot defends well. Justin Holl defends well. Olli Mattaa defends well, et cetera. Do you find that there’s an overwhelming majority of teams that don’t defend well in the NHL? That it is almost becoming a lost skill?
I mean, how many times have you heard coaches talk about defending well in your own zone? Defending well, we need to defend well. You know, you look at the players that are coming in and the ones that get drafted and the ones that go right on to a team. They’re not the ones that defend well. Those are the defenders that score.
Do you find that there is an absence of the defenseman who knows how to defend in their own zone and ultimately, the teams that are the most successful have the most of those guys?”
Friedman: “No, I don’t know if I agree with that, Jeff. But what I do think is that, the some teams and some players have adapted to the way you have to defend now than ever, and then others and you know, there’s some teams that know, like, look at, if you watch puck possession numbers. Like I was watching our game the other night, obviously, I hope I was watching so I was working it, the Oilers-Jets game and the puck possession numbers come up on the screen right?
And how often do you really get a game chat, where like in football, you’ll get the occasional game where the time of possession is 40 minutes for one team and 20 minutes for another? It doesn’t happen often but it happens. But in the NHL, how often do you get a game where one team has the puck for 40 minutes, and the other team has the puck for 20? Like it just doesn’t happen often.
So you have to be able to defend. And you know now there’s not a prejudice against size, where, the way it used to be. And I think a guy who’s really looking to kind of turn a lot of this theory on it’s ear is Quinn Hughes, who finally had a goal-against on the ice against them the other night against Florida.
But you look at them teams that win the Stanley Cup now. They basically have set you up. You have to fight through like a corn maze to score against them. You look at Tampa, you look at Tampa, everybody is, was long and lean and like you couldn’t get through there. You couldn’t get the puck into their zone and through their zone without like an arm or a body or a stick being around you. Like if you got away from one there was another right there because they knew how they wanted to play and all their D were long and lean.
When Colorado won the Stanley Cup, Girard was out and if you look at things, sizes and lengths on their roster, the smallest guy they had was Cale Makar. Who’s a big strong guy. If you look at Vegas last year, it’s the same thing.
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So in order to, when you defend now, you still have to be physical. Like anybody who says this isn’t a mean game in the playoffs has no idea what they’re talking about. But even though we’re much more accepting of smaller players, particularly defensemen, right now, the way to win the Stanley Cup is by having a big, long mobile defense. And that, let you, like that more than anything else, it is the blueprint right now when it comes to defending.