Young hockey players expect the puck to come to them. They want the puck, they need it, they demand it.

But the puck doesn’t care that you spend hours every week stickhandling around immobile implements at practice. The puck only comes to players who earn it, who work to get open to receive it.

Sebastian Aho isn’t one of the biggest, flashiest, fastest, or most powerful players in the NHL. His one-timer is a bit awkward. In fact, he’s probably not on a lot of top-30 lists when it comes to forwards. But he’s earned a Stanley Cup, and a lot of his habits require zero skill.

Let’s steal those habits.

Now, it’s important to note that a lot of professional hockey players embody these traits. Aho was just an obvious, albeit random, example I decided to investigate. And I clearly underestimated just how prescient my hunch would turn out to be.

Aho scored over 30 goals in the 2026–27 regular season and playoffs on the way to hockey’s holy grail, and the overwhelming majority of those goals were possible only because of his work before he had the puck on his stick.

Stop focusing exclusively on your offensive tactics with the puck on your stick, and pay more attention to your work away from the puck. That scenario is a lot more common.

Power play

Let’s start with the easy one: the power play. There’s more space, so that should make it easier, right? Not so, says Aho. He’s constantly stopping, starting, and still attacking space. It makes life a lot easier for his teammates trying to find him.

Offensive Zone Play

Aho is a skilled player who understands how to attack space and get to the hard areas like the net front because that’s where the majority of goals are scored. We’re only highlighting goals here because that’s what your players will want to see, but these habits create offence for his teammates, too.

Breakouts & Entries

The faster your team defends the less time it has to do it. Aho has a good stick and gets pucks back. Plus, he attacks space coming out of the zone to, again, make his teammates’ job of finding him easier.