The Recon: The Puck-Moving Defenseman

The Puck-Moving Defenseman Identity

Your value is found in your Composure Under Pressure. You have the ability to pass under pressure and execute a clean breakout, whether with a long pass or a short pass. You are a reliable puck mover on the five on five and the penalty kill. This efficient playmaking from the back end starts offense off regroups, neutral zone breakouts, and counter attacks.

The Puck-Moving Defenseman Value Proposition

Your clutch value is that you are a Breakout Machine. The puck-moving defenseman retrieves pucks and moves them efficiently to teammates, who find scoring chances off regroups and counter attacks. You have a lower risk tolerance and a higher efficiency than an offensive defenseman. You eat up heavy minutes and are felt most in the defensive and neutral zone breakouts.

The Puck-Moving Defenseman Mentality

You embrace the role of the Defensive Chess Player. You are constantly scanning and checking off teammates, using your awareness and vision to manipulate the forechecker's feet and create space. You prioritize managing the puck and creating time and space for your teammates. You make smart decisions whether going quick up with the puck or slowing things down with a D-to-D pass.

Habits of The Puck-Moving Defenseman

Defensive Zone

Your Defensive Zone habits are built on calm, efficient retrievals.

• Skate hard back to pucks and immediately check your shoulders for awareness.

• Read the pressure and find your teammates to ensure a quick transition.

• Be poised and composed, making a great first pass that is tape to tape.

• Do not panic or throw the puck away, always opting for a controlled exit.

Neutral Zone

Your success is tied to your ability to execute efficient possession management.

• Commit to being steady and consistent with your risk management and decision making.

• Avoid panicking or showing lack of control when the puck comes back.

• Know when to jump up in the rush to help support the puck.

• Make good decisions, even if you need to flip the puck, after exhausting passing and skating options.

Offensive Zone

Your focus is on intelligent risk management and supporting the low-to-high attack.

• Get the puck deep if needed, placing it in an area where your teammates can skate into it.

• Have really good risk management with the puck on the blue line.

• Support the puck with your routes on the exits to maintain possession.

• Be able to receive pucks and put them past the first layers of forechecking pressure.

Development for The Puck-Moving Defenseman

On Ice Development

Your development must focus on decision making under pressure and quick exits.

• Prioritize retrieval drills where you are forced to play fast under pressure.

• Execute neutral zone regroup drills that force you to make good decisions under pressure.

• Train situations designed to read and defend the rush coming back, maintaining solid and reliable decision making.

• Practice drills that require you to have the ability to join the rush as the second layer.

• Refine your backward to forward transitions, pivots, and change of direction.

Off Ice Focus

Your development must enhance your vision and ability to work through a decision checklist.

• Work on your focus with your eyesight, finding ways to narrow your vision while multitasking.

• Integrate drills that work on going through a checklist where you are forced to process different things simultaneously.

• Develop the ability to pass the puck to an area, stick handle another puck, and put it to an area to slow the brain down.

• Take good care of your joints while focusing on your reaction time and explosive movements.

• Work on agility with a stick and puck/golf ball to integrate your hands and feet simultaneously.

Warning Signs for The Puck-Moving Defenseman

When the Puck-Moving Defenseman Is Not Ready

These indicators reveal you still approach the role with a high-risk, high-panic mentality.

• Failure to transition the puck due to poor skating.

• Making poor reads when coming up the ice or not knowing when to jump up in the rush.

• Lack of deception under pressure.

• Poor decision-making on the offensive blue line without the puck, making bad reads or not knowing when to absorb the rush.

• Failure to eat up minutes on the five on five or kill penalties.

NHL Examples for The Puck-Moving Defenseman

The Benchmark

The benchmark is set by those who are true Breakout Machines.

• Devon Toews is the example of elite retrieval that leads to a clean exit and a simplified first touch.

• Shea Theodore embodies the mastery of transition, using his deception to navigate and defeat complex forechecking systems.

• Hampus Lindholm illustrates the ability to be a dual threat, possessing the skating and passing ability to manage the puck out of the zone effectively.

The True Puck-Moving Defenseman DNA

Your DNA is built on the mastery of retrievals and transitions, being able to go backward to forward better than any other archetype. You must be comfortable engaging in pressure to preserve the puck. This high-pace processing, which includes checking your shoulders and reading pressure, is what allows you to simplify the game for your team.

"Find who you are. Train who you are. Become who you're meant to be."

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This role is one part of a larger identity system. Discover the full set of player archetypes in our main Archetypes Guide.

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