Hockey Systems 101: Special Teams -

Early in July I asked readers for things they wanted to learn and/or read about. I’ve been working through some of those and plan to get to as many as I can as long as it’s worthwhile content. I put together a two-part primer (1 and 2) on advanced stats, but it’s just as important to understand what the team is actually doing on the ice, so a hockey systems primer made sense as well. In this column, I’ll discuss hockey systems and how to identify certain tactics, starting with Special Teams. I’ll introduce some basic concepts and then look at what the Sabres do and don’t do.

Power Play Strategies

One of the things I did at RIT was collect really detailed data on various looks and plays on the power play and corresponding penalty kill formations. I think for the upcoming season I’ll be digging into special teams and faceoff play tendencies on the Sabres to bring the readers of The Athletic something they likely haven’t seen before. Some of this will be my own work and ideas, and some will be built off of work done previously by Arik Parnass, now with the Colorado Avalanche. First, we have to go over various plays to ensure everyone knows what I mean when referring to them.

Now, what I call something may be different than what it’s called in a book or what you learned playing. This is possibly part of the problem as three different coaches can call the same play three different names. I try to normalize everything according to Hockey Plays and Strategies by Ryan Walter and Mike Johnston, as that’s one of the more popular books out there.

Breakouts
Single Swings

The Single Swing is a pretty common breakout on the PP. A player swings into each corner and then emerges as the puck carrier comes out from behind the net. The forward at the near blue line comes across to gather the puck. If the pass is made here, then he can turn and advance up ice, or pass off to one of the two players coming out of the corners. The forward at the opposing blue line stretches and is meant to distract/occupy the opposing team as teammates enter the zone.

A Center Lane option is similar to a Single Swing except that two players swing into one corner while one swings in the opposite corner. There are layered options here between the stretch forward (R) clearing space for the first swing option (C), or the second swing option (L). Why use this over a single swing? If you want a specific player to carry the puck, this is good option to conceal him in an attempt to get him the puck in space, while moving, and away from forecheckers.

The Drop Pass breakout needs a good puck carrier to start the play. His goal is to freeze the first forechecker and drop it to a forward coming across behind him. He picks up the puck and now enters after the stretch player makes his run – he also has the player on either side of the boards as support on the entry.

All of these options have advantages and disadvantages based on personnel and the opposing forechecks. How well a breakout works against a 1-1-2 penalty kill forecheck is different than how it works against a 1-3 or 3-1. This area of the game is heavily about running plays against a specific defense.

These are some of the basic ones – there are loads more, but I’m keeping it brief as this is more of an introductory post. Let’s look at what the Sabres used at various points last season.

Sabres Center Lane

In this game, the Sabres used the Center Lane method against Montreal’s 1-3 forecheck. I’ve diagrammed it with the Sabres numbers below.

Jack Eichel is used as a passing option, but also to clear space for Kyle Okposo in behind. Rasmus Ristolainen freezes the first forecheck and makes the play to Okposo, who tips it forward. You’ll see Sam Reinhart clearing at the opposing blue line so that there’s room in behind him. Ryan O’Reilly speeds up the left flank.

The continuation of this play is the retrieval into the formation. Eichel makes a great move to get the puck and work it back to the point. Risto slides along the blue line as players start to fill in. Okposo will move into the slot area and then the team will largely be set up, though players will continue to move around when they can to get into their specific roles.

Here’s the same breakout with the second unit later in the game. This time, Jason Pominville, playing the same role as Eichel, gets the puck and because that route is on a center trajectory, you can see how the whole ice opens up with options either side of him. It’s the ideal option if it comes together. The entry is easy and chances off the rush can be created.

The Sabres also used a Drop Pass breakout. The drop is particularly effective against a 1-3 because the puck carrier, Ristolainen in this case, freezes the 1 in the 1-3, then drops it off to either side. A lateral pass is made and then Eichel can use his kickout option near the blue line for an easy entry and control.

With the back 3 in the 1-3 relatively stationary and passive, bypassing the first forechecker is all a team really has to do to enter against this forecheck. If you have speed you can pick your spot on the blue line to enter and it’s all fairly straightforward.

And the Sabres also ran a Single Swing at times (most teams will change it up or even have different looks for the 1st and 2nd PP units). Marco Scandella makes an excellent pass here to Scott Wilson, who is able to enter and pass to Pominville, who makes a nice return pass for a chance. You can see Nick Baptiste clearing across the blue line to aid in Wilson’s entry.

In Zone

The 1-3-1 is largely what every team uses now, or some variation thereof. Coaches like to say they just steal bits and pieces of various teams’ playbooks and power plays certain support that.

Don’t worry too much about position designations as I’ll identify the specific ones the Sabres used once we get to that point. As you can see there are a lot of options off of this setup. With each player on the wall able to shoot and pass, there’s a reason teams use this formation with great effectiveness. It puts a lot of pressure on the penalty killing team due to all the triangles that can be created off of the default setup, but also new ones that can be created by a simple low release play by the Net Player.

The Umbrella is a simple and straightforward power play. The point player attempts to lure the forechecker to them to open up the cross-ice pass behind him. The net players will often set screens or cross to distract the goalie, but this is very much about volume shots. With three players higher in the zone, this power play should excel at keeping pucks in the zone for an extended period of time.

The Spread is simply a flip of the Umbrella (two players at the top versus three down low) and bombs away. With three players down low, penalty killers will often just leave one to contain the point players, giving the offense a lot of time to set up and pick its shots. This power play is committed to volume and rebound opportunities.

Lastly, the Overload. This is focused on cycling and outnumbering players along the boards to create breakdowns. Passing back to the point to slide across can switch sides to change it up and find an opening in the transition. Point players also can activate for a backside play.

Many teams will often rotate into certain looks for a specific play and then rotate back to confuse the opposition. It’s an important note as teams can effectively have a set look, but quickly move to another based on where a puck is retrieved. Those are some of the basic approaches, but each team will have specific plays to run off of certain looks. Let’s see what the Sabres did last season.

From the faceoff, the Sabres recover the puck and rotate into their preferred 1-3-1 setup. Eichel on the left wall, Okposo as the slot man or bumper, O’Reilly on the right wall, Reinhart at the net, and Ristolainen on the point.

I’ll let the video roll a bit as you can see each player and his responsibilities.

Risto works the puck to O’Reilly, who moves up and down to evaluate his options. Sometimes this movement isn’t necessarily about finding an open man, but baiting the PK to overextend and then quickly work across. A pass to Risto and then over to Eichel accomplishes this, but a bit slower than you’d like.

Now the Canadiens try to clear and O’Reilly intercepts it at the point. Okposo comes over and offers an outlet as the two of them maintain possession and eventually pass back to Risto to set up a new possession. Okposo’s role on the PP is to essentially be that outlet to relieve pressure and simply be available for a shot or pass.

Penalty Kill Strategies

Now we’ll turn to the penalty kill aspect. There are few common forechecks teams will use to prevent a team from entering the zone or forcing a dump in at the very least. Some good work in this area has been The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor.

The 1-1-2 is an aggressive forecheck as it commits the two forwards to angling the puck carrier and then attacking them along the boards. The defense looks to pick up loose pucks that the forwards force near center ice and either transition for quick scoring plays or kill time and dump the puck.

The 1-3 is a more passive forecheck as F1 wants to force the puck carrier to one side and then let the rest of the team force a turnover at the blue line or at least a dump in.

Similar to the PP breakouts, most teams will use a mix and match of formations on their penalty kill forecheck. The 1-3 and 1-1-2 are two of the more common options. The above shows Pouliot and Wilson being aggressive to disrupt the full timing of the breakout before peeling off and setting up in the forecehck. Duncan Keith elects to not attempt the drop pass to Brandon Saad behind him (20) and tries to take it up ice himself. You can see the 1-1-2 attempt to squeeze play here (it’s often called a “T” due to the shape it creates). The Sabres force an offsides here.

In Zone

Penalty kill coverages are pretty similar across the league as well. With so many teams using a 1-3-1 PP, teams regularly deploy a Wedge or Triangle +1 to counter it.

This is the ideal PK to use against the 1-3-1 for a few reasons. One, the players rotate to maintain three players defending against the slot and net players, with an extra stick in the lane to prevent against the back door option; the second reason would be that the “1”, or the player not in the triangle, pressures the puck carrier wherever he goes, so it’s a good mix of protecting the net and slot area and attacking the puck carrier.

The Diamond is ideal for defending against an Umbrella setup. It cuts off the cross ice option up high and allows the two slot players to collapse down when a shot is taken and outnumber the offensive team.

There are other variations, but let’s look at what the Sabres did last season on the PK.

After a Blackhawks entry, you can see how the Sabres set up in their Wedge/Triangle +1. The puck switches points and Johan Larsson goes out to press the puck while O’Reilly settles in at the top of the triangle. As the puck changes sides, Larsson and O’Reilly would continue to interchange.

Conclusion

It looks as though the Sabres employed the following strategies last season:

On the PP: Various entries (Single Swing, Center Lane, Drops and all-five back) and 1-3-1 setup in-zone.

On the PK: Various forechecks (1-1-2, retreating box, probably even a 1-3 here and there) and the Triangle+1 in-zone.

This season I’ll measure how effective they are and will update you as we go through the year. That analysis will include how each player does in specific roles. Teams will often change up their approach to breakout and forechecking schemes, but largely remain true to their in-zone scheme.

What do the numbers say? The Sabres were about average in shot-generation last season in 5v4 situations. They were in the bottom third of the league in goals per sixty minutes. The PP can definitely be improved. How? That’s what we’ll answer this season, but I’d like to see a team use this formation I wrote about earlier this year. I used it when coaching this last year and loved it. Several teams at various levels have used it before and told me it works quite well.

If there’s anything specific you’d like answers to on the Sabres use of Special Teams this season, sound off in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter.

(Top photo: Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2tsb2phZH9xfZdoZ3FnYGh8qbvCpJyyZaOuwLWxzKxkamhhYsCxscKimKVlpJqurr%2BO