Midweek Roundup 5.10.23
Previewing TCS Live by revisiting “The Decision Zone,” Luke Hughes hit the NHL postseason, and some odds and ends from yesterday’s Naurato interview
We open this week where we left off a day ago. In case you missed yesterday’s interview with Brandon Naurato, we closed by noting that if you are interested in learning more about his philosophical and tactical approaches to coaching, you might want to check out The Coaches’ Site’s conference in Ann Arbor from June 22nd-24th. Beyond Naurato, speakers will include Jenna Trubiano of Michigan’s women’s team, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, Kori Cheverie of the Canadian women’s national team, Oilers assistant Glen Gulutzan, and friend of the newsletter Greg Revak of the University of Akron and Hockey IQ Newsletter. Register here, and use promo code GULOGULO to save 10% on your ticket.
To get ready for the June conference, it felt an appropriate moment to review Naurato’s presentation from the 2022 iteration of the conference, which you can view in full on The Coaches Site. The topic of that presentation was “the Decision Zone.” I’ve written on this subject in some detail before, but I wanted to return to two key points from that presentation.
First, the idea that tactics are a means of creating options rather than stifling them, and second, an exploration into how drill design and on-ice instruction serve to put the philosophical underpinnings of this style of play into practice.To start, let’s review with a definition of the decision zone.
The decision zone is a sort of home base for creativity in the offensive zone; as you can see in green on the map below, it is the space along the half-wall that stretches the length of the circle on either side of the ice.
The decision zone is useful to an attacker because of the way it opens up options for the next play. From the decision zone, an attacking player can switch sides with a rim release along the boards and below the goal line, pass into high ice, or make plays into the slot and toward the net.
In this regard, the decision zone counteracts the defense’s desire to constrict an opposing attack. The defense want to limit attacking play to a half or even a quarter of the offensive zone—containing play into as small a space as possible before killing it and retaking the puck. As such, the offense needs to be able to switch sides of the ice to resist those defensive collapses and force an opposing defense to reset its structure.
The decision zone exists in opposition to the cemetery—the space immediately above and below the goal line in either corner. Attackers want to avoid the cemetery because once you are there, it is easy for a defense to take away your options, collapse, and take back the puck.
In its simplest form, from the decision zone, players are choosing between one of two options. If they look out on an unstructured defense, it’s time to attack; if they see a structured defense, it’s time to play for possession.
With that definition out of the way, let’s move into our first focal point—that the goal of tactics is to provide players with options in the frenetic environment of a hockey game.
Naurato offered this basic explanation of the role of tactics to players in January: “The nature of the game is inherent chaos, two opposing teams trying to achieve the same objective all while preventing each other from completing that objective. Tactics help make this chaos more manageable and predictable. This means that for a team to successfully achieve the game objective, they must create some order within that chaos with the use of tactics.”
Almost every conversation in hockey about structure centers defense, but Naurato wants something different from his team’s structure. As he said in yesterday’s interview, “I always joke with the guys ‘never put a saddle on a mustang.’ With these high-end players, I’m going to let you go, but as I let you go, I’m just going to teach you how to walk the line or reel you in, so that you know when to go and when to play a certain way based on time of the game, score, all that stuff.”
In this clip excerpted from the full presentation, Naurato uses game film to demonstrate how his brand of possession-based hockey can manipulate space and defenders, while providing his attackers with options.
Early in the clip, Naurato shows multiple examples of Michigan escaping pressure in the cemetery via rim releases. In an ideal world, the Wolverines don’t want to spend any time in the cemetery, but it is inevitable to end up there every once in a while, and the rim release provides one reliable option to relieve that pressure.
By playing for possession against structured defenses, Naurato sets up his team to manipulate the space available to them and create avenues toward the high-danger scoring square around the net. In this regard, Michigan doesn’t need its attacking players to hope something good comes together or for all five attackers to luck into being on the same page.
Instead, Michigan enjoys the luxury of what Naurato calls “predictability”—knowing where your teammates will be to support you based on a mutual understanding of what the defense is offering. At its core, this style depends on players making the right reads to find open space and knowing what options are available based on how the opponent defends. The structure emerging from the decision zone is less restrictive than its interpretive—empowering players to make sense of what they see and then move into the option they know will be available. As such, you aren’t saddling a proverbial mustang but rather giving that mustang the tools to know where and when it can run freely.
To put these ideas into place on the ice, you need to design drills and practices in which players come to understand and then use them. In a pedagogical sense, the idea is backwards design—starting with a desired learning outcome, then working backwards to figure out how to get there.
The learning outcome here is for players to improve their ability to identify, manipulate, and take advantage of open space in the offensive zone by perfecting the habits that will allow them to do so—things like switching sides, protecting the puck by showing your back to a defender, or constant movement.
In this clip from Naurato’s presentation, you’ll see a cadre of Michigan skaters making their first attempts at a high-ice keep away-style drill. Naurato offers the caveat that because it’s their first time trying this particular exercise, there will be mistakes and that’s okay. This quick primer sets up the drill as a challenge to be embraced.
The drill is designed to begin in a game situation—with Naurato repositioning some of the defending players to get them into realistic spots. The first few reps do not go great, with the team in white struggling to break free of their checkers—first, going offside, then turning the puck over. Naurato asks “what’s the problem with that whole sequence,” and defenseman Ethan Edwards identifies that the white team failed to switch sides, making it easier for the defense to collapse.
From a teaching perspective, this is a best case scenario. Edwards doesn’t receive this lesson via a lecture but instead recognizes it just from the experience of playing. In this way, players learn the value of switching play without being preached at but instead from their own experience. As a result, they are more likely to deploy those skills in a game situation.
Within the space of a few more reps, you can see both the black and white sweatered Wolverines figuring out how to succeed in the environment of the drill. They are rewarded for the speed of their movement away from the puck and for switching sides. A more didactic approach might convey the same information, but by setting up the players involved to arrive at those conclusions on their own, Naurato ushers the group toward them without forcing anything. In the end, this is a much easier way to prove to players that the skills they are working on will yield positive results in a game.
Once again, this is just a sampling of the work you could see in June’s conference. Use the above link if you’d like to attend and find out much more.
Luke Hughes Hits the Playoffs
Last Sunday, trailing the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 in their second round series, the New Jersey Devils inserted Luke Hughes to the lineup in search of a spark. At the risk of conflating correlation and causation, Hughes provided just that, and the rejuvenated Devils scored an 8-4 victory on home ice to carve a path back into the series.
Hughes’ role was modest yet eye-catching. He played just 14:28 but gave two assists. In his 12:55 at five-on-five, the Devils enjoyed a sterling 58.4% share of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.
In his first taste of playoff hockey, the young defenseman could no longer saunter through the neutral zone with the puck whenever he wanted the way he could in the Big Ten, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t do it at all. Beyond the two assists, Hughes provided proof of concept that his unique blend of stickhandling and skating could work at the highest level of hockey in the world, the NHL playoffs.
His first career postseason point—an assist for partner Damon Severson—offered a glimpse of that stick- and foot-work as he spun artfully around Hurricanes forward Martin Necas, then dished to Severson from a knee, but what I love more about the play is its ruggedness.
The Hurricanes rely more on tenacity than star power to find success. Their relentlessness in board battles and puck retrievals has forced them into the ranks of the NHL’s elite under head coach Rod Brind’Amour. Jordan Martinook is one of the faces off that movement—an insatiable forechecker intent on forcing turnovers and getting to the net on every shift. This is the kind of team you would expect to feast on a young defenseman whose calling cards are skill, speed, and puck-moving.
Instead, at just nineteen years old, playing in his first career playoff game, Hughes shrugged off Martinook and, with help from an impressive Severson effort, notched his first postseason point.
Luke Hughes first playoff assist
The play also offers an insight into how life at Michigan helps equip the program’s elite prospects with tools that will help them find immediate NHL success. In a March interview, T.J. “No Relation” Hughes mentioned that “getting your butt out, shielding, and being able to steer away pressure” is a skill Brandon Naurato has “been teaching that to everyone the whole year. It’s really cool to see because when I watch NHL games, they’re all doing the same thing—just getting your butt out, showing the opponent your back, it really helps to shield and give you an extra second to make the play.” Luke Hughes’ natural strength and footwork makes this play possible, but that trick from Naurato helped him find the room to execute within the hyper-intense environment of a playoff game against the Hurricanes.
Unfortunately for the Devils, Carolina rebounded with a 6-1 Tuesday night victory to claim a 3-1 series lead.
Odds & Ends from Yesterday’s Interview
We’ll wrap today with a few odds and ends that didn’t quite fit into yesterday’s interview feature with Brandon Naurato:
Portal Updates
On the portal acquisitions in sum:
“These guys [from the portal] all fit pieces to where we can let them be great at what they do, and they can add value for Michigan as a program because we’re putting them in a position to do what they do.”
On incoming fifth-year defenseman Marshall Warren:
“Marshall Warren is a phenomenal human being. He’s a leader, not just because he was the captain at BC but he was named a captain on that team with Hughes and Caufield and Turcotte and Zegras on that ‘01 [birth year] USA team. Just what he’s about and his family are about as people is what we want here, and he’s a defenseman that can play both ends of the rink. And I think I can help develop his offensive side way more and his defensive side. He’s a guy that had pro contract offers this summer, and he chose Michigan to help make those options even better and get a master’s degree.”
On incoming sophomore defenseman Tyler Duke:
“Tyler Duke is a beast, man. He’s a guy that respected because of what he does on the ice and in the gym, and he’s loved because of how he is with the guys on the ice and away from the rink, and he fits into our culture, and he’s hard, and he can play with the puck and play without the puck.”
On incoming fifth-year forward Chase Pletzke:
“Chase Pletzke went to TPH with me six years ago. I’ve known Chase Pletzke since he was fourteen years old. I know what he is as a player. I think there’s way more there than what you’d find online from what he did at Miami. He’s a freak athlete. He skates like the wind. He can rip the puck, He’s good on the penalty kill, and he’ll do everything I ask. He can skate like Hallum.”
On the goaltending battle b/w Noah West and incoming fifth year transfer Jake Barczewski:
“[Noah and Jake] are gonna fight for the starting job. I told both of them I would probably plan on some kind of split for the first half, and if someone takes it, great.”
I can also confirm that Josh Eernisse will be joining Michigan next season, after a fourteen goal, seven assist season at St. Thomas, as has been reported elsewhere.
Fantilli to the NHL update
On Monday night, the NHL conducted its annual draft lottery to determine the order for the upcoming June draft. The Chicago Blackhawks secured the first pick, with which they will presumably select Connor Bedard of the WHL’s Regina Pats. Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks collected the number two pick in the draft, with which they will presumably select Michigan’s Adam Fantilli.
Scott Wheeler, a prospect expert at The Athletic, wrote in a recent Draft mailbag: “I believe Fantilli’s going to make the jump next year because Michigan believes it. They’re not expecting him back, and they think he’s ready to play and make an impact.” I would push back on that stance, if only slightly.
I can report that Fantilli has not yet reached a final decision as to where he will play next season and that you shouldn’t expect one until after he is formally drafted (admittedly, we are in something of an awkward limbo on that front, with it all but certain that he will go to Anaheim but still a month and change until that becomes official). In short, I would not rule out the possibility that Fantilli returns for his sophomore season. For whatever it’s worth, there is plenty of precedent in Fantilli’s career of eschewing the conventional wisdom with respect to his development path.
Assistant Vacancies Update
Michigan has two assistant vacancies to fill before the offseason is up. First, there is the vacancy created after the Wolverines mutually agreed to part ways with Bill Muckalt. Then, there is the third paid coach vacancy that will open when NCAA bylaws on the topic change this summer.
Naurato and company are in the very early stages for both of those searches, but for both roles, Michigan’s staff is looking for coaches who are teachers first and foremost and who can serve in multiple roles (i.e., just because Muckalt’s primary responsibility was defense, don’t expect someone who can only coach D to fill that vacancy). For the latter vacancy, you can expect Michigan to tap someone whose primary focus will be goaltending.
Freshmen Growth
We’re going to skip our “What We’re Excited for in ‘23-24” for this week and replace it with a series quotes from Naurato about why he believes the robust freshman class of last season is due for even more success come October:
“These guys have five months. They’re all students of the game, and they want to be great. Is there going to be some aspect of a sophomore slump? I don’t know. I think there’s going to be big pain every year, but…
“Is TJ Hughes going to do what he did last year? I think he can do more, but if he spends this summer feeling comfortable expecting to show up and it’s gonna happen again, then I don’t think he’s gonna do more, but he’s not the type of kid that’s going to do that.
“What people don’t know about TJ Hughes is he played into the middle of June with Brooks in the playoffs on a bad ankle and really didn’t have a summer to train. Imagine when he has five months to get his body healthy and change his body type and how he moves and his conditioning and nutrition, and look out.
“Frankie Nazar? No one’s even seen what he can do yet. He could put up sixty points next year. He could be a first-team All-American for sure. Frankie Nazar has a whole summer to train without a nagging injury. How much better is he gonna be?
“Jackson Hallium’s used to scoring seventy points being USHL first-team all-star. He’s not happy with six goals. So I’d look at him and say, it’s Duke, McGroarty, you, and Estapa [at left wing], so you want to be the third line left winger? Do you want to be the first? Then you have to take Duke or McGroarty’s spot. Well if Jackson Hallum gets Duke or McGroarty’s spot, how much better did Jackson Hallum get, because you know those other two are getting better. And then, man, we’re really good.”
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