I had the Dallas Stars as a top Stanley Cup contender even before the team swung for the fences in the Mikko Rantanen trade. DAL has elite players at all positions and enough forward depth to break a game wide open at any time.
However, now is the right time for coach Peter DeBoer and his staff to tighten up the Stars’ defensive play. Of late DAL has appeared disorganized in its Rush Defense/Tracking phase, allowing opponents to create quality chances immediately following an entry.
Dallas’ 1-2-2 NZ forecheck shifts into more of a 1-1-3 against quick-developing rushes, such as on offensive- and neutral-zone turnovers. F3 is responsible for reacting quickly to the change of possession, tracking the puck carrier and helping the Ds force a turnover before the blue line.
Done well, DAL can deny the line and create a counter-attack.
Done poorly, this way of defending allows opposing teams to play east-west and then beat DAL to the net.
Here are examples from DAL’s recent loss to the Winnipeg Jets:
DAL64, the F3, tracks the middle and looks to intercept a centring pass. WPG22 delays at the line, changes sides and then finds the second layer of WPG skaters. DAL players are caught in-between threats and leave the front of the net open.
Following an OZ turnover, DAL’s back three get to their spots but do little else. D1 (DAL6) shows poor defensive footwork and is beaten on his pivot. F3 (DAL95) fails to compensate for D1’s poor execution. D2 (DAL3) does alright in boxing out his man, but can’t muster anything extra to disrupt the partial breakaway.
On another OZ turnover, D1 is overaggressive, D2 lacks urgency to get above his man and F3 is central rather than sitting on the wide threat.
This is not what a Cup contending team looks like.
Fortunately the solution is simple: committing to a bend, not break approach on Tracking and Return to DZ.
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