Mike McGinnis kicked off his talk at TCS Live 2024 by addressing the elephant in the room: conflicting ideas. A fascinating exchange occurred earlier in the conference between Ottawa Senators assistant coach Ben Sexton and Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love about stick-checking. Despite both coaching at hockey's highest level, they held completely opposite views on the correct technique.

McGinnis doesn't claim to know both sides of every argument either. He's been both an early adopter and someone who's recognized when certain concepts just aren't for him.

The core message here is simple: know what you don't know. While no hockey coach knows everything, many act as if they do.

The reason is understandable—coaches want acceptance and recognition. They worry that showing unfamiliarity with certain topics might hinder their career development. Sure, coaches need sufficient knowledge to coach at any given level, but coaching excellence comes from asking questions and in turn seeking answers, and often new answers that no one has considered before (or someone has considered and you've just never heard of them). That's what McGinnis preaches to his organization. While traditional teaching methods have their place, hockey has room for innovation—and innovation only happens when coaches can admit they don't know the best way to do something.

If every coach already knew everything, we wouldn't have the double drop breakout on the power play or the 1-3-1 neutral zone forecheck. The game would look drastically different.

Ironically, the most experienced coaches often seem to know the least—former pro players especially embody this trait, which explains their steep coaching career trajectories. They're curious, eager, and constantly asking questions.

• How can we break out better / more often?
• How can we get the puck back quicker in the neutral zone?
• How can we set our players up for success in our offensive zone pay?

Not knowing the answers to every question isn't weakness—it's strength. It means you have the opportunity to discover better ways of doing things.

Check out this snippet from McGinnis' presentation and view the full video here a membership to The Coaches Site.