Oct 14, 2014
Naylor: Puck possession is the talk of the NHL
Perhaps you’ve heard that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to be a puck possession team this season. Makes sense, since possessing the puck in hockey certainly sounds like a good thing, even before you dig into the fancy stats and all that.
By Dave Naylor
Perhaps you’ve heard that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to be a puck possession team this season.
Makes sense, since possessing the puck in hockey certainly sounds like a good thing, even before you dig into the fancy stats and all that.
The problem is that wanting to possess the puck in the NHL these days is a little like wanting your team to skate, or score goals. Like any good trend, everybody’s doing it.
In fact, let’s take a little spin around the NHL and check out this sample of headlines or excerpts from articles during the month of October alone.
In Toronto the headline reads, “Puck Possession Major Starting Point for Maple Leafs.”
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, “New coach Mike Johnston spent training camp installing a puck-possession, controlled enter-centric offensive system.”
Based on the results the other night, it seems Mike Johnston’s puck possession system may be working a little better than Randy Carlyle’s.
In Columbus, the headline reads “Better Start, Puck Possession Big Keys for Blue Jackets.”
Down in Texas, “Puck Possession, Defense, Among Five Key Questions for Dallas Stars’ Season.”
And in Vancouver “Winning board battles, gaining support and puck possession and then transitioning into a quick-moving offence are imperative if the Canucks expect to improve on a 28th-ranked offence and return to the NHL playoffs.”
You may not be shocked to learn that “puck possession is a key to Lavy's system” in Nashville.
Or that in Buffalo, where the Sabres have looked awful so far, “the biggest, most notable issue early in this season has been … puck possession.”
Out in Edmonton, a headline in the Journal reads “Taylor Hall sees puck possession, battling hard as keys to Edmonton Oilers success.”
And on Long Island, another team hoping to improve its fortunes, the Islanders has added veteran forwards to make it a … that’s right “better puck possession team.”
The Winnipeg Jets haven’t been to the playoffs since returning to the NHL. And to do so they will have to “improve their puck possession in the offensive zone.”
That is if they want to be more like the Chicago Blackhawks who win with “speed and puck possession.”
And not to be outdone, in New Jersey it’s been reported that “strong puck possession and strong goaltending will be the Devils' key to success this season”
Even in the AHL, Marlies coach Gord Dineen said recently "We want to have the puck. We're going to be a puck possession team."
Okay so you get my point.
It’s a little like deciding to paint your house blue, then waking up one morning to discover that every one of your neighbours has already painted their house blue. So now you’re just keeping up with the Joneses, or in the case of the NHL, the Babcock’s.
Of course there is just one puck on the ice, and since every team is apparently determined to possess it in the NHL today, exactly half of them are going to fail, half will succeed, a handful of teams will be great at it and another handful will be terrible.
Possessing the puck is hardly a revolutionary concept. And in the advanced stats world, it’s not even measured by actually possessing the puck, it’s measured by shots on goal, or attempted shots on goal.
But by whatever term or measure you want to describe it, it’s clear that not much of a strategic advantage to be gained. Which means that some teams – and specifically some coaches -- are going to look very bad by stating their goal to possess the puck and then failing to do just that.
And what happens in any sport when every team is employing the same strategy? Well, teams with the best players wind up winning.
Now, how revolutionary is that?