Welcome to the Hockey Tactics Newsletter, where I share information and perspective from my experiences as a coach, analyst & scout at the AHL and NHL levels.
I’ve had some great teachers.
This free newsletter is my way of paying it forward.
Below you will find some of the newsletter’s most-read posts, divided by subject matter.
This page is the best place to start if you are looking for great new (and old) ideas about our sport.
(My personal favorites are marked with a *)
Philosophy
Improving the Condition of the Puck (NEW)*
The Next Frontier in Hockey (2F3D systems package)*
Seeing the game in four dimensions*
Building a Modern Hockey Organization (McGill Martlets)
Player & Skill Development
Six Paradoxes of Skills Coaching*
Upgrading the Development Process*
How to Nurture a First-Year Pro (Alexis Lafreniere)
Using Analytics in Player Development (Jack Hughes)
Tactics
5v5
Reinventing OZ Play with Movement (MTL 2021)*
Play Like the Champs (System Sheets TBL 2020)*
Using the Offensive Funnel as a D (Zach Werenski)*
The 2-1-2 OZ Forecheck (PHI 2020)
“Surfing” to Deny Entries (COL 2021)
Beating F1 on the Breakout (COL 2020)
Cross-Positional Partnerships (Gaudreau & Valimaki)
Controlling the NZ strong-side dot (VGK 2020)
North-South Transititon & Playing Fast (CAR 2020)
5v4
Power Play Details with Matt Lorito*
4v5
4v4
Why 4v4 hockey sucks (The Hidden Geometry of Hockey)
3v3
Shootout
Scouting
Why certain players get overvalued (Tools vs. Toolbox)
Identifying transferable skills in D prospects (Mattias Norlinder)
Identifying transferable skills in F prospects (Seth Jarvis)
NHL Case Studies
Auston Matthews’ Signature Skill (with NHLer Sam Gagner)*
Two Non-Negotiables for Modern Ds (Justin Holl)*
The Power Law of Goal-Scoring (Patrik Laine)*
How a star NHLer got worse over time (Erik Karlsson)*
How to play C at the NHL level (Nick Suzuki)
Is Drew Doughty still good? (Shift-by-shift notes)
Good vs. poor defensive skating (Seth Jones)
The David Bowie of Hockey (William Nylander)
Historical Analysis
Recreating the Russian Five (USSR hockey development)*
The Secret to Soviet Transition Movement*
Play like an all-time great: 1970s*
Pavel Datsyuk’s “Special Sauce”*
Miscellaneous Fun Stuff
Free Excerpt: Hockey Tactics 2020, Chapter 1*
Using NHL21 to Develop Puck Poise
The Best Hockey Ebooks You’ll Read
Hockey Tactics 2020 (The best ideas in hockey, distilled to 120 pages)
Hockey Tactics Retrospective, Part 1 (A fully-illustrated guide to the best of 1975-86)