Some of the best defencemen in hockey can fly under the radar during a game without getting noticed.

Let’s get some obvious examples from the other side of the coin out of the way. When you imagine Cale Makar, what do you see? Fleet of foot, almost faster and more dynamic with the puck than without it.

That’s because unless you watch the Colorado Avalanche play on the regular, the only clips you’ll see on the highlight reel loop are him with the puck. The way he walks the blue line with the puck, how he bewilders opponent’s with his stickhandling and shooting skills - Makar and Quinn Hughes are on another planet when it comes to offensively gifted defencemen.

But there’s a difference between gifts and habits. A defenceman who excels with the puck on their stick but struggles to stifle opponent offence should probably just play forward. Or change the name of the position to offenceman instead of defenceman.

A valuable defender isn’t a threat in both ends of the rink. They shut down an opponent’s attack as far away from the defensive zone as possible, and if that doesn’t work they try again in the neutral zone, and if that doesn’t work they do it again in the defensive zone.

And thus, the best defensive defencemen in the game don’t actually spend as much time defending in their own zone as their peers.

No Space For Bad Gaps

Gap control is a fundamental defensive skill that separates elite defencemen from average ones, and it’s a skill coaches need to teach as early as possible. It refers to the space a defender maintains between themselves and the attacking player. Proper gap control allows defencemen to effectively neutralize offensive threats before they develop into dangerous scoring chances.

It all starts with skating: edges, agility, power, and most importantly, trust.

Key Components of Gap Control

• Stick on puck and maintaining active stick position to eliminate passing lanes
• Keep feet moving to match the attacker's speed
• Control the neutral zone by stepping up early when appropriate
• Force attackers to the outside, away from dangerous scoring areas

These components are only possible with a certain degree of anticipation. If a defender skates straight at a puck carrier after they receive a pass, they’re likely going to get passed like a house on the side of the road. Arrive too early and they could be susceptible to a penalty or worse, the pass will go to another open player.

So how do we teach anticipation?

Teaching Points for Coaches

To help players develop effective gap control:

• Before you do anything resembling game scenarios, work on necessary footwork
• Start with static drills focusing on proper defensive positioning and stick placement
• Progress to slow-speed 1-on-1 drills where defenders practice maintaining consistent gaps
• Gradually increase speed and complexity by adding multiple attackers
• Use video analysis to show examples of both good and poor gap control

Remember: The goal is to initiate defensive contact as far away from your net as possible while maintaining a gap that allows you to react to the attacker's moves. Shut down the offence in their zone, and your team can go on offence immediately. Defend to attack.

Common mistakes to address:

• Backing in too quickly, giving attackers too much space
• Standing still while the attacker approaches
• Poor angle of approach, allowing attackers to cut to the middle
• Focusing solely on the puck instead of reading the attacker's body position

Gap control has different looks to it as well. Defenders can skate backwards, crossover or fold to the middle (between the dots), they can stand up in the offensive zone after diving in from the blue line, or the can skate forwards laterally across the ice, which is called surfing. Few defensive techniques excite me more as a coach than a well-executed surf.

One way or the other, a defenceman who can kill the attack over and over again might not show up on a lot of highlight reels (although usually when a forward scores it’s because of some unnoticed but crucial play made by a defenceman), but it will get them noticed by coaches and scouts.

And it’s completely teachable, so let’s get after it!