During the 2024-25 NHL playoffs, the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers showed just how punishing an aggressive forecheck can be. Shift after shift, pressure forced turnovers, broke down breakouts, and turned into goals. At TCS Live 2025 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Derek Laxdal - longtime pro coach and current head coach of the American Hockey League's Coachella Valley Firebirds - posed the obvious question: how do you beat it?

“Your breakout only works if you connect on at least one pass.”

That pass might come from a defenseman retrieving under pressure, or from a forward swinging low to support, but without that first clean touch, everything else falls apart. And Laxdall has seen a lot of examples of good first touches throughout his career. Prior to Coachella Valley he had a stint in the OHL as Head Coach and General Manager of the Oshawa Generals, and nearly a decade in the Dallas Stars organization before that - three years as an assistant in the NHL and six years as the head coach of the AHL's texas Stars. 

For Laxdal, breakouts don’t start in the defensive zone; they start earlier, in how your team tracks back through the neutral zone. Defensemen can’t just retreat in straight lines, they need to angle back hard, buying time and space. Forwards must connect too: the first forward back (F1, not always the centre) must work to the crease, while wingers enter through the dot lines, never standing still on the wall.

“The days of wingers anchoring on the wall are over. They have to be moving.”

The key, according to Laxdal, is connection, speed, and deception. Breakouts won’t ever look identical, but if players are organized - numbers around the puck, options layered, and communication clear - the forecheck becomes less intimidating.

At Coachella Valley, Laxdal and his staff have worked in specific skills and routes to make breakouts repeatable under pressure:

• Rolling into pucks to maintain momentum.
• Stacking weak-side defensemen for extra outlets.
• Using forwards to retrieve and support low.
• Practicing 5-player breakouts at the start of practice, gradually adding layers of pressure.

“Breakouts set the tone for everything else.”

If your team can break pressure cleanly, you can spend less time in your own zone and more time generating offense at the other end. And the good news? These are skills and habits that can be taught daily in skill work, in structure, and in details until your team becomes one that can’t be checked and is hard to play against.

Coaching Challenge

In your next practice, run 5-player breakouts at the very start. No pressure at first, just routes and timing. Then, layer in pressure gradually. Focus on one thing: does every player touch the puck in motion? If not, reset and go again.

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:00 Beating aggressive pressure
• 4:10 Where does a breakout start?
• 5:35 Breakout - retrievals
• 7:00 Breakouts - defensemen
• 8:30 Breakouts - forwards
• 10:05 Game clip examples
• 19:20 Game play drills
• 23:05 Skill drills