The game has changed.

One pleasant development in hockey in the last decade or so is the advent of the modern defenceman. I write modern defenceman because I use the same term in conversations about players I’m recruiting for the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and in conversations with colleges who are recruiting my players.

“He’s the modern defenceman,” I’ll say, and coaches know exactly what I’m talking about.

What does the modern defenceman look like?

1. Wheels. The modern D can skate, they’re fast, agile, quick on their edges.
2. They can do it with the puck on their stick. They skate and change the picture in front of them.
3. They can move the puck. If a forward or a partner is open, they’ll find them with accurate, hard passes.
4. They bring offence to the equation.

That last point is a bit harder to define. After all, an intelligent defenceman can contribute to your team’s offence even if they lack one or more of the first three descriptors.

Can’t skate, but can pass the puck? Every team has room for a defensive defenceman who can kill penalties and move the puck to the burners.

Can’t shoot? Well, hopefully they can move the puck to their partner or someone else who can.

What the fourth point says to me is that even if you possess all of the first three skills in large quantities, there’s still a special ingredient required to put up points on a regular basis.

Creativity, courage, and confidence

Ever been on the bench and hollered at your defenceman to move the puck to a specific player, but they end up taking a quick step and moving it somewhere else? And that play ends up being more effective than the one you initially saw?

If we’re all so enamoured with the modern defenceman, then we owe it to ourselves and our game to let the horses run. Encourage creativity. Give them a basic structure and then sit back and make adjustments as you go.

If you’re screaming at your D to dump the puck in at the first sign of trouble in the neutral zone, then you’re missing the point — there’s a time and a place to play it safe, but playing it safe isn’t the primary characteristic of a defenceman any longer. Again, there’s room for safe plays, and there’s room for safe players.

But this isn’t about safe. This is about scoring goals.

I’ve been writing about defencemen for The Coaches Site for the past couple weeks, and there’s one thing each of those posts has in common: video evidence. It’s easy to catch defencemen carrying the puck into the zone, and it’s relatively simple to show examples of offensive zone tactics involving the defence.

But it’s when defencemen, or any player, goes off the beaten path — that’s when the magic happens. Sure, sometimes that magic blows up and it’s a jail-break going the other way, but if you have the right players — players who want to be involved in the offensive side of the game — then you’re going to get buy-in when you encourage creativity.

I’ve got some examples, but due to the nature of the topic, obviously what you see with your own eyes can change. I just know that in these clips, creativity was the catalyst for success.

Creativity requires courage. Creativity builds confidence.

Joining the rush

I’ve used this clip before, but in this conversation, context is key. The defenceman who jumps into the play and scores the goal is 17 years old. This might be his second or third game in the league. Oh, and he’s 5-foot-5 and maybe 130 pounds at the time.

It’s not like we hammered into him in training camp that he had to join the rush, this was natural for him. He was still trying to impress a brand new coaching staff and survive his first taste of junior hockey. That’s the modern defenceman — creative and courageous.

We can build off that, yes?

4-on-3 OT assist

Explanation: a couple nights earlier we had a power play in overtime where we stood in spots for a minute and a half before the opportunity expired and we eventually lost in a shootout. We even had a timeout prior to that power play.

Well, the great thing about junior is you’ll probably get another chance. Sure enough, a couple nights later, we have another man advantage in overtime, and the intermission after the third period to draw something up.

We started with the same structure, and I told the players to run some switches and get creative. Nothing more complicated than that — trust your instincts. Basically it was a nicer way of saying don’t just fucking stand around this time.

Watch #16 Drake Burgin. At the start of the clip he’s at the top of the diamond. After a shot, he retrieves the puck and his skill takes over.

O-zone confidence

A creative defenceman with the puck on his stick is a dangerous prospect. In this next clip, Kyle Lamoureux retrieves the puck inside the offensive zone blue line, and instead of chucking it away to nowhere (side-note: we had a release play for situations where the right play was to get rid of the puck), he holds on and looks for another option.

Truth be told I probably was telling him to dump the puck, but silently so only I could hear it.

Lamoureux is another 17 year-old defenceman playing his first full season of junior hockey. It’s a tough balance — one shift you can try this play and it works and everyone is happy, and the next you could try it and it doesn’t work out and the puck goes the other way. As coaches we have to be comfortable with failure from time to time. Learning from and building on these small in-game tests is what makes young defencemen better.

Pinch down wall assist

Alright, rarely do coaches tell both defencemen to pinch hard, retrieve the puck, and go for a mini 2-on-1 of their own without a forward in sight. But hey, when you coach aggressive d-men and you have good back-pressure reloads from the forwards like we do here, then anything is possible, right?

I still can’t believe Szeremley didn’t shoot this puck. That’s creative alright. Gives a new meaning to the term D to D.

Merry-go-round faceoff play

This is one of my favourites because it highlights just how many options there are within a pre-planned structure. It doesn’t get much more structured in a game than a faceoff play.

The only sure thing on the play is that the wall-side d-man gets the puck off the draw and then activates down the wall. After that, they’re on their own.

The original d-man can hold on to the puck and look for the centreman going to the net, he can carry it behind the net, or he can do what he does here, and bump it behind his back to his partner who’s taken his place. Then, after all that, the new wall-side D has choices. He can put it on net himself, he can look for a tip, or he can do what he does here and find the centre who’s popped into a quiet spot, and all of a sudden the puck is in the net.

Structure is important. It gives all your players a framework through which their skill can shine through. It takes a lot of work to build creativity and confidence, and some willingness to accept mistakes, but the risk is definitely worth the reward.