Yesterday I had a 30 minute phone conversation with Nathan Sier, a Detroit-area strength & conditioning coach who works with a number of high-level athletes.
Nate played soccer at the collegiate level but who now works mostly with baseball and hockey players. He got in touch with me after reading Hockey Tactics 2020 and pre-ordering my new book to ask me about how I worked with S&C professionals as a player development consultant.
Nate is absolutely on the right track.
Player development is probably the most cross-functional activity undertaken by modern NHL organizations:
Scouts
Managers
Analysts
Bench coaches
Skills coaches
Strength & Conditioning Coaches
Nutritionists
Mental fitness consultants
All of these specialists need to work in concert to maximize the potential of a given athlete.
Yet a good number of these specialists spend most of their time:
Talking to people like them (other coaches or scouts)
Applying cookie-cutter solutions (because they don’t watch the player with a critical eye)
Cutting-edge baseball companies such as Driveline do a great job of vertically integrating their player development process.
The first step is that people need to talk to each other on a regular basis:
Analysts and scouts should discuss which “eye-test” traits drive future results
Mental fitness coaches should talk with bench coaches about how to best “get through” to individuals
Skills coaches and S&C coaches should compare notes to pinpoint specific problem areas holding a player back
The second step is that they need to really pay attention to the individual they’re working with outside of their typical context
S&C coaches should watch their players on the ice
Bench & skills coaches should watch their players in the gym
As I shared with Nate, I would much rather a skill-deficient player work with him prior to working with me.
If his/her dynamic posture (flexion, rotation & weight shift) is not adequate off the ice, it would simply be a waste of valuable time to grind with limited effect on the ice.
Conversely if Nate is able to diagnose, address and follow-up on an activation, mobility or strength issue, then the player has the best chance to make quick technical progress and to transfer acquired skills into a game situation.
Out of personal curiosity I sent out the following offer to my Twitter followers yesterday:
One of the athletes who took me up on the offer is OHL forward Logan Morrison, the younger brother of loyal reader Mitchell (himself a high-level junior player).
2002-born Logan (HAM9, right-handed C) is a great playmaker coming off a strong offensive season with the Hamilton Bulldogs.
When watching his shifts, I see a smart player who is adept at playing between checks, using quick passes to win small-area 2v1s and supporting the play in all three zones.
But there are reasons why Logan isn’t a more productive scorer or a more highly-touted professional prospect:
He has difficulty making plays inside movement like recent first-rounder Seth Jarvis
His skating stride lacks pop and extension
His delay game & puck protection are under-developed
He tends to get out-muscled in 1v1 duels
It’s quite a laundry list of issues for scouts and coaches to sort through.
But for certain players, Logan included, four or more problems can be addressed with a single, cross-functional solution:
Before we hit the ice together, I want him to get in the gym with someone like Nate.
Simply put, almost all of Logan’s skill deficiencies can be addressed by an off-ice S&C program focused on improving thoracic spine mobility and upper-body activation.
Rather than keeping both hands on his stick and solely using his legs to push down-ice, Logan should take his right hand off and free up his arms to create more extension and power on his stride.
He should use upper body rotation to hide the puck inside his hip pocket when extending OZ plays.
He should separate his upper/lower body in order to make dynamic plays inside movement.
But all this good stuff starts with a targeted off-ice program.
The First Principles of Hockey
After leaving a coaching position in professional hockey 10 months ago, the first thing I want to do is to write an ebook.
Hockey Tactics 2020 is the ebook I had always wanted to write.
It distills my NHL and AHL experience into 120 pages.
It tells the story of what makes players and teams good.
Hockey Tactics: Retrospective is the ebook I had always wanted to read.
Nine-year-old me never came across a hockey book which combined historical story-telling, detailed diagrams and in-depth analysis.
So 31-year-old me decided to write it for myself and others.
Is this what you’ve always wanted to read as well?