Special Teams And The Role They Play In Todays Game

Every year, the NHL Board of Governors gets together and asks the question, "How do we make our game better?"

Faster! More goals! Less fighting! Smaller gear for goalies!

Those are the four main issues brought up every year. The goalie gear issue has been trimmed each year and will always involve ongoing monitoring regarding spec size issues. Today, enforcers are almost extinct, and anyone who plays that role has more skill than ever before. He also has a position in the dressing room in most cases as the vocal team leader.

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While NHL rules sometimes take a year or two to trickle down to youth hockey, you can see the leaguewide effects that certain changes can make. Adding a new rule or enforcing an old one creates an adjustment period and brings in an influx of penalties. These are temporary byproducts until they become standard.

With available technology and the way players train in the offseason, they're bigger and stronger than ever before. This makes the game faster.

The scoring of more goals is becoming a more controversial argument about the game, night in and night out. This is where most of the rule changes have come from. Such changes include more face-offs in the zone, smaller net backings to allow for more room, three-on-three play, and the addition of a shootout for an extra point. All have added to the rate of more goals but have not been nearly as controversial as this year's new rule on the stick infractions.
 

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With the increasing amount of penalties in the game, your power play and penalty kill are more important than ever before. Having the right person and systems that work well could now be the difference between making the playoffs.

Understand the personas of your players and what role they can bring to your special team. For example, if you have a skilled forward who doesn't want to stand in front of the goalie at the net front, then having the goalie see the puck all night isn't going to help you. Goalies are just way too good today; if they see the puck, they will save it.

Coming up with drills and plans that can help your players understand their roles and responsibilities in a special team era can be the difference!

 

Coach This Way!

 

CoachThem