It's the most heavily-contested real estate on the ice.
The slot. Home plate. The house.
Depending on who you ask, the area in between the hash marks atop of the crease has many names. What is agreed upon is that it is the most heavily-contested plot of real estate on the ice. Coaches have preached the importance of protecting this area as a central component of any defensive structure and researchers have poured over thousands of shots to come to the same conclusion.
No matter its label or lens of inspection, the slot is a crucial battleground.
With the magnified attention defences place on the slot, how can offensive players efficiently maneuver and find themselves in the slot with the puck on their stick?
Expected goals (xG) attempt to measure the quality of a shot. At a basic level, it describes where and how a shot is taking place on the ice and assigning it a score from 0-1 based on the likelihood that that shot would go in. Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators is one of the leaders in individual xG’s for the past two seasons according to NaturalStatTrick’s xG model.
He ranked fifth last season in shots from the slot according to The Point and Sport Logiq.
The son of NHL legend Keith Tkachuk is clearly already world-class at finding himself open in the slot with the puck on his stick.
Brady’s ability to consistently have the puck in the slot is built upon four main tenants:
- Work smarter, not harder
- Pass and move
- Play behind shoulders
- Establish body position
Off-puck movement is central to Tkachuk’s play and he is a master navigator. His best asset is his fantastic understanding of game flow, spacing, and instincts to attack a lane with speed. Rather than constantly battling for positioning and having to rely on strength, he leverages elite spatial awareness and pattern recognition.
This allows him to find soft areas and time when to get to the net-front.
In this sequence, Tkachuk displays all four tenants that allow him to take a high danger shot in the slot and score. He smartly moves SJ19 out of the centre lane, passes and skates immediately into the lane that he has created, plays behind the defence’s turned shoulders, and uses his body to establish control of the net-front and win the rebound battle.
Again in this sequence, Tkachuk manipulates the defender in the centre lane by moving in one direction and passing in another. He cuts to the middle and drops the puck back to the trailer. The middle lane player has to adjust and Tkachuk gets on his horse and charges up the middle. He drives hard to the back post and almost gets his stick on the puck for the redirect.
Off an ensuing turnover, while waiting for a pass, Tkachuk quickly recognizes the open passing lane through the middle of the ice and one-touches it over for a dangerous pass. OTT72 can’t get a shot off and Tkachuk works behind checks and appears in the slot at just the right moment. NYI27 and NYI13 don’t see him coming and he has a Grade-A shot from the slot. He effectively made himself lost from the play and then found the opportunistic time to insert himself back due to his instincts.
Further on in this sequence, watch how Tkachuk handles the net-front play. The puck gets worked up to the point and he charges to the slot. But he doesn’t park himself in the blue paint. He comes up to the high slot and then slips past his check as the puck is moved to the wing.
The puck is worked down below the circle and Brady has timed his movements perfectly. He has now surprised his net-front defender and taken the inside position. He is able to do this because of how he positioned himself high in the slot. Tkachuk slipped the initial engagement, spinning off of it, and then got in behind his check as the focus was being placed on the puck carrier and not him.
All Tkachuk needed was a split second for his opponent to lose track of him and he took over the inside lane, allowing for his stick to freely redirect the puck for a great chance in tight. Tkachuk’s actions flow with the movement of the puck and he smartly understands how to hide behind the backs of the opposition.
The modern net-front battle relies less on brute force and strength and more on off-puck movements. Tkachuk shows us how to dominate it.
