Be In Position To Make The Play 

There's nothing more important than teaching a player the concept of "BE IN POSITION TO MAKE THE PLAY".  You can't make a play on a puck offensively or defensively unless you are in position to make the play with your body and stick position. It's always about making your read and react and moving your feet to "ARRIVE ON TIME" and get into position to make the play. 

Florida Panthers DMAN Forsling is the strong side D responsible for checking Leon Draisaitl who's a prolific goal scorer in the top 5 in NHL Scoring. Leon is a big man who knows how to use his size to get position on a defender and get to the inside {guts} of the ice. In the clip below Leon is on his backhand and needs to get to the middle of the ice and onto his forehand to give him the best chance of scoring. 

Forsling is a very good defenseman who knows the importance of moving your feet to get into position to make a play. You see in the clip his last stride is at the blue line and he glides and reaches into Leon instead of moving his feet to close the gap to get his outside shoulder ahead of Leon's inside shoulder to get body position on Leon to prevent him from getting to the middle of the ice. Checking is always: Body Position 1st Stick Position 2nd. The result is Leon beats Forsling to the inside and is able to get onto his forehand to score. 

To defend the guts of the ice you must be in position to defend. Move your feet to get body position 1st, you always want to establish defensive position (inside position) and protect the guts of the ice. Taking the right approach angle in checking is one of the keys to defending with body 1st stick 2nd. 

Forsling's Mistake - He reached 1st. Stopped skating from the blue line in, didn't move his feet to establish body position {inside position} to take away the inside of the ice with his body positioning. Especially important when checking a big man like Leon.