There aren't a lot of situations in a game that can elicit a wider range of emotions in a coach than watching a defenceman go back for a puck retrieval. Depending on who's going back for the puck, your nerves might be calm or your heart rate might explode through the roof. 

The good news is that this is an easy skill to work on in practice. 

• Where are they looking?
• Are they able to take in information?
• Are they able to assess what's in front of them?
• Are they able to make a quick pass? Is the puck loaded? Is it in front of them?

These questions were posed by Zach McCullough at TCS Live St. Andrew's College in a span of about six seconds. I wrote above that this is an easy skill to practice, and that's because there are so many different elements to work on. Depending on your level, you don't want to blast your players with every possible area of improvement, but there's an ideal way that this looks when it's finished. Imagine Erik Karlsson or Adam Fox working on escapes - what would that look like? It would look a lot like McCullough's players here. 

There is obviously a very real game-like application to these skills. I can picture a defenceman of mine from a recent game retrieving a puck just inside our blue line. He shoulder checked, took a snapshot, and turned away from pressure with the puck. Then he felt pressure on the other side, put the puck on his hip, turned away, got his boots moving and escaped the situation with control of the puck. 

I don't want to talk about what happened after that but the escape was elite. 

Share this video with your players and talk through the different situations they find themselves in a game. Most D these days want to be involved in the offence, they don't want to rim the puck around the boards or chip it away, which is great (sometimes you still have to do that, but that's a conversation for another day). These habits will build a foundation in your defence that builds their confidence to escape pressure-filled situations and kickstart the attack. 

Teach your D to make the next play, and show them the skills and habits required so they can actually pull it off so you can breathe and relax on the bench. 

Noteworthy Timestamps:

• 00:35 Intro
• 01:10 Forwards and backwards transitions with puck
• 05:00 Transitions with full escapes
• 10:10 Transitions with double half escapes
• 13:30 F.I.O escape with pressure