Red Wings: Puck Possession…with Bite
One of the hot topics amongst the Wings fanbase has been whether Detroit will continue to be a puck possession team or whether they will become a more gritty hockey club. Implicit in these conversations is the idea that puck possession isn’t gritty and that in order to be gritty you have to use dump and chase (or chip and chase or whatever vernacular you prefer) as your primary means for gaining the offensive zone.
After 16 games we are starting to get a good idea of what Detroit’s approach will be this season. When the Wings have the puck they still employ a puck possession style of play. Two reasons why are because it limits the amount of time the opponent has the puck which limits scoring chances and also because it tends to be effective against teams that forecheck:
From the Tennessean.com
One of the biggest reasons the Predators had such a hard time generating offense is that Detroit held the puck for so long. The Red Wings negated Nashville’s normally aggressive forecheck by moving the puck quickly and smoothly out of their own zone.
“They do a really good job defensively,'’ Predators left wing Steve Sullivan said. “They move the puck up the ice from side to side, and it just neutralizes the forecheck. Puck possession is so key for them.'’
I have noticed that the Wings have struggled with the forecheck at times, particularly against teams that have bigger forwards. But for the most part Nicklas Lidstrom, Daniil Markov, Matheiu Schneider, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Lebda and Chris Chelios have been good at moving the puck to limit the effectiveness of the forecheck.
One area where puck possession doesn’t seem to be as effective is on the power play. Detroit seems to spend an inordinate amount of time passing the puck back and forth between the players on the point and the players on the wings. Hopefully last night was a sign of things to come as Detroit was good at generating traffic in front of Tomas Vokoun and was able to score two goals as a result (the third was an empty netter). Traffic in front of the net seems to be one of the areas where Detroit can exhibit some grit on offense. If it continues the Wings’ power play should improve (5-41 during the 8 game winning streak).
The main area where the Wings are displaying a gritty style of play is when the opponent has the puck. The entire team seems to have bought into the concept of better defending the opposing player in order to take away - say it with me - “time and space”. They are also being more physical than they have been in recent seasons and are dishing out a lot of hits. Head coach Mike Babcock has mentioned several times this season that he wants the team to become a much more difficult team to play against and that has been the case during the 8 game winning streak. Over that stretch Detroit has given up an average of 18 shots on goal per game and a 1.25 goal against average. They have also been excellent on the penalty kill since the start of November, going 23-25 (92% success rate).
Brett Lebda Chris Chelios Daniil Markov Mathieu Schneider Nicklas Lidstrom Niklas Kronwall Red Wings2 Comments
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