Tobias Johansson has quietly become one of hockey’s most influential coaches, and as those in attendance at TCS Live 2023 found out, he isn’t afraid to think outside the box.

Johansson presented on coaching and playing to achieve, in an attempt to change the traditional mindset of both players and coaches. The Head Coach of the Norwegian Men’s National Team believes that coaches should strive to make players a little better each day, instead of simply evaluating them on successes or failures. 

Johansson, who hails from Sweden and has served as the country's Director of Player Development since 2021, has a coaching philosophy consisting of many unique elements. While most coaches in hockey highlight the importance of creating 2-on-1s, Johansson encourages his players to seek 1-on-2s, situations where a single player attracts multiple defenders to draw the opposing team out of position, subsequently creating an odd-man rush. Johansson also encourages players to beat defenders 1-on-1, as opposed to just dumping the puck in. 

During this 31-minute presentation, Johansson shows a powerful video of one of his youngest players failing a shoutout attempt against Kazakhstan and then scoring on the same exact move a few weeks later against Canada. 

The confidence that Johansson is able to instil in his players is unmatched and is one of the biggest reasons Norway continues to improve on a national scale.

More on Johansson: prior to crossing the border to Norway, he spent nine seasons with the legendary Swedish program, Frölunda HC, beginning as the programs U16 coach before being promoted to Director of Player Development. Frölunda is of course considered one of the top development programs in the world, and boasts an alumni list that includes Lucas Raymond, Rasmus Dahlin, Robin Lehner, John Klingberg, Henrik Lundqvist, and Daniel Alfredsson.

Noteworthy timestamps: 

• 01:20 Coaching and playing to achieve
• 02:30 The game/players have changed
• 06:00 Playing fast and with confidence
• 09:00 Isak Hansen example
• 11:00 Creating an environment
• 14:00 Our role as coaches
• 17:30 Playing to achieve
• 20:50 One player is no player
• 22:50 Encouraging players to make plays
• 25:20 Isak Hansen result
• 27:40 Vision vs reality
• 29:00 Make it fun