Hockey seasons are long and the off-season is short, so properly preparing makes your season much more manageable, enjoyable & successful.

For many of us, tryouts are over and there’s a weird lull between now and the hockey season officially starting. For some, there is little ice time, and even fewer chances to play games. Which is ultimately a positive as everyone should get a bit of a break and have the ability to play other sports.

For coaches, however, it can also be a time to reevaluate your past season, learn about your new roster, and focus on your own education as you prepare what your first practices or training camps will look like. Here are three tips to make the most of your off-season.

1. Reevaluate your own system

When I say system here, I don’t mean what you run on the ice for your forecheck or power play, but instead, I mean how you structure your practice, what you say or don’t say in the locker room, or how or what you teach your players.

Make a list of the five things that went really well in the prior season, or even last few seasons. Now do the opposite and list five things you think went poorly.

Now first, focus on what you don’t think went well. How can you fix those? One thing that stood out for my team was our passing game. I felt we were too selfish in our games, got out passed, and created a lot of turnovers by holding the puck for too long.

To fix that, I am introducing a few new drills early on in the season to put an emphasis on passing. To couple that with off-ice work, I have some dryland games we will play as well that help familiarize themselves with their teammates and help promote passing and working together.

However, this new emphasis on passing conflicts with the practice plans I had originally thought I would use this season because one thing I thought went well was our practice flow and use of the ice.

This isn’t a major contradiction, but it does point out how these reevaluations are more than just replacing the bad, you do need to look at the good and ensure they play a role in undoing the bad of the previous season.

2. Reevaluate your drills

We all have drills we love, but do they work like we think they do? Can we make them better? Study after study has shown that game like situations develop players at all levels much better than static, fixed drills. Yet, some of the best drills we know that teach important aspects of playing the game are static and fixed.

With how precious ice time is, can we afford to keep promoting such drills, or should we find new ways to teach the same techniques?

Look no further than NHL development camps for insight on good versus bad drills.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are seen here in a video found on Twitter, sending a player in alone, with just a little pressure by a coach, getting easy passes and the ability to get off an easy shot.

While coaches may be able to evaluate this player a bit here, what are they evaluating? His ability to make great plays in unrealistic situations without any pressure from other players?

Compare this to another development camp run by the Pittsburgh Penguins who are known for using a more USA Hockey model and small area games.

Here, the players are playing a 2-on-2-on-2 game, which can develop into a 3-on-2-on-2, using 2 nets on the same goal line. It doesn’t look exactly like a game, but it has players moving much faster and competing against each other.

Because the game mimics a more game-like scenario, you get a much better idea of what these players can do and how well they work together. Almost every aspect of the Blue Jackets drill is in here, but it’s far better for development overall.

So with your downtime, take the time to see how you can improve some of your favorite drills and make them more gamelike and find creative ways to further promote player development.

3. Come up with a plan to evaluate success and pivot if necessary

How are you going to measure success this season? It’s easy to say you will measure success on wins and losses, but what if your team was going to lose or win anyway? Maybe you’re already stronger or substantially weaker than the competition you have to play. How can you ensure you’re progressing and developing along the way?

One way to do this is to regularly ask your players to fill out an anonymous survey, and this can be as simple as one question: “Are you having fun at practice?” You can make that a yes or no, or a 1-10 scale.

Players of all ages learn better when they are enjoying themselves. If you learn players are not having fun, look at possible reasons why. Are they waiting in long lines? Are the drills creative enough to push them to think, but also give them the space to play the game?

On top of fun, set some early season goals for the team. What weaknesses did you spot early on that can be developed? Bad skating habits, poor passes, weak shots, or maybe bad decision making.

At regular intervals throughout the season, find ways to check in on those skills and honestly evaluate if your team is progressing. If they are, that’s great, now you can start to layer in more complexity to continue to improve them. If you’re not hitting those goals, be ready to pivot your plans and either bring in new drills or games to build upon them, or if necessary, take a few steps back and find a new strategy.

But when planning your season, you need to know when you will evaluate these things and how. Once the season is going, we know it’s hard to keep track of all the details, so knowing beforehand when, and how you plan to do this will make the task a lot easier.

Hockey seasons are long and the off-season is surprisingly short, so taking the time to prepare makes a long season much more manageable, enjoyable, and successful.