But watching NHL highlights this weekend I saw a team purposely turn the puck over strategically (dumped it deep into the corner as the coach advised) where Connor McDavid picked it up at his own goal line. Turnovers to the likes of Sidney Crosby are a problem, without question. Babcock wins because – like great coaches in football and basketball – he encourages talented players to play aggressively and creatively on offense, and convinces them to play defense with the same passion.
Dream! Remember the childish thrill of creating scoring plays with your linemates.
You have to play your butt off on defense – backcheck as if your life depends on it, fight for loose pucks like a wild animal, block shots, finish checks, sacrifice for the team.īut don’t buy into the popular trend to play defensively when you have the puck. 500 seasons fans will yawn until there’s a big hit or fight and players will lose that “little-kid-grin” – the passion that draws everyone into the game.īabcock knows a lot about winning Stanley Cups and Olympic gold medals, and it’s wise to listen when he says you have to GRIND to win games. To interject a little math here, when teams play the same way – avoiding turnovers at the expense of high-flying offense – they will tend toward. However, failing to promote a creative, DARING offensive attack might be popular (and easy) among the coaching clique, but it draws everyone toward the average, and Babcock has been anything but average. Better to play for 2-1 wins – or even low-scoring losses, because as everyone knows, “defense wins games.” The belief is: If you hold the goals-against down, you have a better chance of success, and you as a coach will be renowned for your defensive systems.
Run-and-gun hockey might be fun for fans and players, but it’s way outside the norm because it appears that coaches are not in charge. But then the reality of five goals-against – and the current coaching “wisdom”– set in, and he finished, “But it’s dumb.” () Addressing the press after the high-scoring Toronto Maple Leafs win over the New York Rangers to open the season, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock wore a grin as wide as any kid would after scoring a bunch of goals.
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