Justin Hein Hockey Wilderness Contributor Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 View full article 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCountryLife Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Let's hope this is greatly improved. Horrendous special teams resulted in quick exits recently. The playoffs will put it on full display. We keep the special teams play even I like our chances. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imyourhuckleberry Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Wild are at 81% on PK% since trading for Nyquist, and 31% on the PP in that timeframe. Sample size too small to be meaningful, but at least the special teams have shown some improved results in the last couple of weeks. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkolWild73 Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Great informative article. Let’s hope we can keep it up…the penalty kill that is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkolWild73 Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said: Wild are at 81% on PK% since trading for Nyquist, and 31% on the PP in that timeframe. Sample size too small to be meaningful, but at least the special teams have shown some improved results in the last couple of weeks. Thanks for the positive about Nyquist. I know it is only 9 games, and many are ragging on the trade, but numbers like this show some of his benefit. I might have lost track, but I know he has hit three posts for sure in those 9 games too, might even be more. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredJohnson Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Quote What's Behind the Wild's Improved Penalty Kill? NoJo and Johnny Good Vibes! Duh! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hein Hockey Wilderness Contributor Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said: Wild are at 81% on PK% since trading for Nyquist, and 31% on the PP in that timeframe. Sample size too small to be meaningful, but at least the special teams have shown some improved results in the last couple of weeks. Notable that some of these games are under the new PK structure too. I did notice one rep in which Faber chased the puck from his strong-side into the slot, so they may still be giving the defensemen freedom to pressure or they may have switched back to the Diamond. Boldy on the PK has been an interesting wrinkle as well. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 17 minutes ago, Justin Hein said: Boldy on the PK has been an interesting wrinkle as well. This should have happened long ago. I think what your getting is a new concept bounce. As soon as teams are ready for it, they will figure out how to defeat it. Seems to me that you should have different concepts that you play with and not always come out with the same PK. Some might be high pressure, and then passive pressure but packed in. Some might be a diamond and others the weggie. The bottom line is it requires 4 players to defeat 5 and a goalie who makes saves, sometimes when he's not supposed to. PK's and PP's run hot and cold. Our PK has been cold all season. And, just for fun, the PPs we've seen recently haven't been stellar ones. I'm waiting to see the 4 + goalie, where 4 guys just block shots around the crease and push people around while the goalie covers everything else. 😉 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Verified Member Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Long overdue. The Wilds PK was on pace to be the WORST in NHL history! (except that somehow Detroit was on pace to be even worse) Glad to see a change. There are few things more frustrating than a stubborn coach. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLake Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 I'd say a higher dosage of adderall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hein Hockey Wilderness Contributor Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 18 hours ago, mnfaninnc said: This should have happened long ago. I think what your getting is a new concept bounce. Both points that I would have loved to go deeper on but didn't want to make the article too long. This is on tape now, but I think the Wild personnel are better served by this system. I wonder if the change also allowed them to get Boldy into the PK somehow. They wanted to do that to start the year, but with his injury during camp they couldn't get him up to speed on the system. This scheme is simpler for the forwards than the diamond, so a hidden benefit may be getting Boldy on the PK. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 27 minutes ago, Justin Hein said: I wonder if the change also allowed them to get Boldy into the PK somehow. They wanted to do that to start the year, but with his injury during camp they couldn't get him up to speed on the system. This scheme is simpler for the forwards than the diamond, so a hidden benefit may be getting Boldy on the PK. Would the change in systems had benefitted MaRat and Lauko? For me, I like speed on the PK over size. It seems to me that the rover (MaRat) could then pick off or tip something and be gone the other way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Shout out to Hein-zy for the article detailing the different complexities of PK "systems". Very informative. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hein Hockey Wilderness Contributor Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 6 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said: Shout out to Hein-zy for the article detailing the different complexities of PK "systems". Very informative. If you liked this I would encourage you to check out Jack Han's book linked here -- it's got all kinds of systems breakdowns as well as an explanation of what systems each NHL team likes to run. https://jhanhky.gumroad.com/l/hockeytactics2025 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imyourhuckleberry Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 43 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said: Would the change in systems had benefitted MaRat and Lauko? For me, I like speed on the PK over size. It seems to me that the rover (MaRat) could then pick off or tip something and be gone the other way. I think part of the concern with MaRat is that he was winning less than 34% of PK faceoffs(62 faceoffs and only 21 wins) which can lead to quick goals before the PK defense really gets moving, and the goalies were saving just 75% of shots with him on the ice for the PK. The Athletic actually produced an article on the Wild PK today. Their numbers indicate the Wild's overall percentages are quite a bit higher when Khusnutdinov is not on the ice. Quote “As a coaching staff, there are certain things you want to identify in the summer,” said associate coach Jack Capuano, who helps run the PK. “We identified that our denial of entry was no good. Our faceoffs were no good. Our inner-slot (shots allowed) were 28th.” This season, though, the Wild are in the top 10 in the league in zone-entry denials and inner-slot shots allowed on the penalty kill, according to the team’s internal data. That’s what has been so frustrating for the Wild — they improved but have still been inconsistent as a unit. It doesn’t matter what system you run, if you’re near the bottom of the league in penalty-kill faceoff percentage (31st at 40.1 percent through Wednesday, per NHL.com) and save percentage (30th at .823 through Wednesday, per Evolving-Hockey), you’re going to struggle. That’s where the recent tweaks came into play. There wasn’t an overhaul or a massive change — from a diamond formation to a box or something like that. The neutral-zone and forecheck play is the same. But the way Capuano explains it, they decreased the amount of reads the forwards and defensemen had to do in their own zone, which, in essence, opened up the possibility of other players joining the unit. The staff got together with goalie coach Frederic Chabot to look at the kinds of chances that were giving them the most trouble and then tried to limit those (like, for example, the long-range shots through screens). They’re being more predictable. The other element has been the personnel changes. The Wild acquired veteran Gustav Nyquist from the Predators at the trade deadline for a second-round pick hoping the long-time penalty killer would give them a boost. The decision to trade penalty killers Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko to the Bruins for Justin Brazeau opened up opportunities, too. That's more than I typically like to copy/paste from their articles, but thought it was all useful info for this topic. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 1 hour ago, Justin Hein said: If you liked this I would encourage you to check out Jack Han's book linked here -- it's got all kinds of systems breakdowns as well as an explanation of what systems each NHL team likes to run. https://jhanhky.gumroad.com/l/hockeytactics2025 I draw the line when it starts to feel like I'm at work. I'm here for the spicy hot takes with the occasional educational tid bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imyourhuckleberry Verified Member Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.