Currently, we work off proxies, and that helps us gain the best possible insight into the big questions. For IH, the most galling problem in the NHL when scrutinizing players is an individual’s usage percentage. How many possessions does a player use to establish a quality scoring chance? Is being efficient really better? From IH’s vantage point, Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby are two superstars operating on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Kane’s dazzling ability when handling the puck and penchant for scoring timely goals explain some of his popularity, but another part of his appeal is that he is noticeably flawed. He is small and lacks the bulk of fellow diminutive winger Martin St. Louis. Also, he wears his emotions on his sleeve (which borders on iconoclastic in a stoic hockey world).

Chicago’s Kane does not have the undying support of the hockey intelligentsia because his possession numbers are unremarkable and his usage is soft. (Although he is not unilaterally unsupported by advanced stats, he ranks first in GVT among all skaters.) He is a high-volume possession player who dominates the puck, and the outcomes from his touches, especially in certain contests, are binary: a scoring chance or a turnover.

This extends beyond single touches or periods where he has possession. His shift-to-shift efficacy is inconsistent. But when Kane is on the ice, every single teammate who touches the puck immediately looks to pass it to Kane the second after they receive it. And that is because goals follow Kane around like the paparazzi follow the Kardashians. After all, he is leading the NHL in scoring. He scores prolifically at even strength and on the man advantage. If he fails ten times with the puck but generates a goal and an assist, while also being on the ice for a goal against, the Blackhawks are one goal ahead because of No. 88. But it is more than just the Blackhawks players looking to pass Kane the puck – it is that Kane always wants the puck.

Kane operates under the belief system that whatever he is going to do in the next sequence is better than what his teammates are capable of creating. He is the artist and his linemates happily hand him brushes. And frankly, Kane is right. His talent is overwhelming, and unless his linemates have extensive time and space to maneuver, which never happens in the tight-checking NHL where everyone plays two-way hockey, then Kane’s skill level allows him to manufacture valuable offense.

Kane’s choice is categorical: He is choosing himself over the alternative. Even if Kane fails on 75 percent of his possession attempts, what Chicago gains from the 25 percent that he succeeds on makes the Blackhawks better off. Coach Joel Quenneville knows this, which is why Kane is seeing more ice time than Toews and why Quenneville will double shift the winger or put him out with the fourth-line forwards. Everything runs through Kane. His value is that of a puck-dominant player with an incredible knack for triggering offense in a game where there is not that much scoring.

Penguins Center Sidney Crosby is cut from a different cloth than Kane. Crosby is not puck-dominant, and he is more efficient when he has possession. This is where efficiency in hockey becomes a polarizing topic. Is it better for a superstar to be prudent in his touches and opt for a partnership with his teammates? In that scenario, the superstar is a lower-usage cog and provides more creative opportunity for teammates. Crosby can find seams and open up room like few players in the NHL, but he also operates under the assumption that the best hockey play is always a team effort. Crosby wants his linemates involved, even if that means extended periods without him possessing the puck for more than a few seconds.

Crosby and Kane can both opt for the cross-ice seam pass for a one-timer instead of attack, but Kane is more eager to put his head down and try to strike individually in close games. Crosby decreases his individual forays if he commits a few turnovers; he will defer puck-handling duties to his linemates. Like Kane’s M.O., Crosby’s is also understandable. Crosby wants to establish a flow and rhythm with his teammates. He wants David Perron to feel comfortable attacking if he sees a skating or shooting lane. He wants his defensemen expecting a pass to the point so Pittsburgh can pressure from up high. Crosby treats his linemates like they are equals. He does not want one player doing the excess legwork. Crosby wants crisp passes, support, and lots of puck movement.

But this is where the efficiency thesis fails. Other than Evgeni Malkin – who is just as puck-dominant as Kane — no one on Pittsburgh is even close to Crosby in talent. Crosby’s vision of Pittsburgh’s best hockey is quixotic. Manage the puck well, move it around the zone, and shoot when the best opportunity presents itself. But that ignores the more important question: Why should Perron be given an equal opportunity when Crosby is better in every facet of the game? Is there a single person who would rather have Perron attempt a shot from a slightly better scoring area than Crosby?

There is less and less space to maneuver in the NHL. Back pressure allows defensemen to step up in the neutral zone and have good gap control. Moreover, opposing players are bigger, faster, and can close gaps quicker when they are hemmed in their own end. This allows teams to have five players sag on the cycle when the puck is below the circles and still jump out when the puck is dished to the point. Players and units front the defenseman and block the shooting lanes. The best teams keep the middle clean and aggressively chase opposing skaters along the boards. Players are smarter about how to close passing lanes and seal off shooting lanes. Most teams have at least one defenseman activate, but the window for scoring off the rush is limited because of back pressure and split-second recognition of assignments and more fortified defensive coverage that eliminates the slot. Basically, defense in hockey has gotten incredibly good.

The NHL is not the NBA. Nobody is scoring 100 points. Wasting possessions is moot if you help create a few goals and your team wins the game. In a vacuum, making the smarter hockey play makes sense, and that is what you are taught at the lower levels. But in the NHL that maxim becomes muddied. There is more value in the potential outcome if both Kane and Crosby possess the puck more and attack frequently. To be fair, Crosby records the same amount of shots on goals per game as Kane. But Crosby is also the best player of this generation and still in his prime years. In the playoffs, it would be nice to see Crosby try to be less efficient in his touches and a higher-usage player.

Of course, this is subjective analysis. From IH’s vantage point, Crosby could be more assertive and puck-dominant. From this lens, the puck runs through Kane, and he will lose it in dangerous parts of the ice, but he will also add more than he subtracts.

But the good news is that context is coming. Should Crosby hold onto the puck longer in his touches and be more aggressive? By utilizing his teammates so much is he detracting from his team? Do the Blackhawks rely too much on Kane and does his dominance of the puck hurt them? Or is he really creating home-plate area scoring chances that nullify the turnovers. Corsi and Fenwick help, the Player Hextally on war-on-ice is beneficial, but the NHL’s marriage with SAP should elucidate these questions in a way that we cannot right now.

Currently, IH is in the camp that hockey is not egalitarian. Too little possession usage is inefficient. It is better to be relentlessly aggressive – if you have the talent – than politic in your touches. Questions like these will be answered soon, and the possibilities of what can be illuminated from the NHL going headfirst into the digital age seem limitless.

And the bad news does not just start there. A poor matchup could squash a team despite incredible success in the regular season and in prior series, like the Boston Bruins experienced last postseason. An injury to a franchise player could capsize a team as it did for San Jose with Marc-Édouard Vlasic against the Kings in their first round matchup from 2013-14. And luck plays a huge part as well. Many teams are built to win this season, and franchises that see themselves as contenders in the future should be cognizant that a title window never lasts as long as an organization wishes.

In four games, a year’s worth of preparation can vanish. This is a results business, and anything less than hoisting the silver chalice is a failure. IH begins a multi-part series that looks at Cup windows and surveys each team’s readiness.

Chicago Blackhawks

What’s At Stake: If they win their third Stanley Cup in five seasons, this Chicago nucleus becomes iconic. The NHL would justifiably ramp up Chicago’s visibility to grandiose proportions. Furthermore, a Cup would pad the careers of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and burnish Marian Hossa’s HOF case. Even Corey Crawford would earn elevated status!

The Blackhawks are the favorites. And there is a loud buzzing reminding the organization that the best time to win the Cup is now. Johnny Oduya, Brandon Saad, Brad Richards, Michal Rozsival, David Rundblad, and Marcus Kruger all have expiring contracts that will need to be addressed (or dismissed) in the offseason. Anyone who thinks Oduya is expendable is insane. The time to win is now.

Team Digest: The Blackhawks are unique because they can fail for long stretches with their puck management and still come away with a victory. For Chicago, the reward of their finesse style of play can be an A-grade scoring chance. Ultimately, that overrides the risk of a costly turnover, and Crawford has a knack for making the big save to keep the score close. It is the way the Blackhawks prefer to operate. They are confident that more often than not, they have the skill to make high-end passes and space-creating dekes.

They take chances on breakouts too. The Blackhawks are not a team eager to chip the puck out and forfeit possession. They are going to pass it out, hopefully directly, always with the intention of gaining speed through the neutral zone. They can accomplish that because they are skilled, but also because they are self-assured. Duncan Keith, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, is guilty of some egregious turnovers in the Blackhawks’ zone because he has confidence that he can thread the puck through two guys to Patrick Kane. Keith believes he will successfully make that pass, and hell, why would you not want to give Kane as many rush opportunities as possible? More often than not, the pass connects with Kane and springs him for the opportunity on the transition.

Naturally, this leads to the way teams try to suppress the Blackhawks. If a team can clog the neutral zone and close passing lanes, and step up and challenge Chicago’s prominent puck-handlers, then this team can wrest the puck from Chicago. The only game where Chicago lost this season by more than three goals was against Winnipeg in a 5-1 defeat on December 23^rd. In that game, the Jets’ executed this plan to perfection and the Blackhawks foundered.

The most interesting line schematically right now is that of Patrick Kane, Brad Richards, and Patrick Sharp because all three players are so aggressive in trying to generate scoring chances each shift. Kris Versteeg has seen time in Sharp’s role during recent games, but he does not alter the assertive attitude of the line.

More than any other line, Kane’s unit will drop all three forecheckers below the dots. And Duncan Keith is often the defenseman who is out with Kane’s line, which makes that unit exposed to an odd-man rush by the opponent if they can chip it by the second level of Blackhawks skaters. In the defensive zone, this line looks to push the tempo, which can result in a costly takeaway if an opponent anticipates where the pass is going and is sufficiently dogged on the puck-carrier.

Against Chicago, opponents need to find any edge they can get. The possession metrics, Team Hextally chart on war-on-ice, and basic statistics on NHL.com tell the story of a team that records a ton of shots but has not experienced reasonable puck luck. The Blackhawks get to the prime real estate on the ice, but they haven’t seen the puck go in as frequently as expected. (This is especially true around the crease and low slot.)

Last season, the Rangers were one of the best possession teams in the NHL but had one of the worst shooting percentages. But in the playoffs, the puck luck shifted and they reached the Stanley Cup final. That same preliminary narrative is true with Chicago (and Winnipeg, for readers’ edification).

Chicago is a team that employs a pace-and-space game that emphasizes the stretch pass and plays with speed through the neutral zone. Even if the opponent tries to clog the neutral zone, Chicago can cycle and forecheck effectively. The Blackhawks have demonstrated that they can win the low-scoring, tight-checking game or the high-scoring, trading-chances track meet. Brute physicality does not make them timid. The blue print an opposing team needs is to make Chicago play more defense than offense, and spend too much time trying to exit the zone. Opponents also need to reduce Chicago’s passing and speed. If they can somewhat accomplish that, Chicago is left susceptible.

St. Louis Blues

What’s At Stake: If the playoffs started today, the St. Louis Blues would be subject to a rematch against the Blackhawks in the first round. And that would be unfortunate, because there is an argument to be made that the Blackhawks and Blues may be the two best teams in the Western Conference.

The Blues are a team built to win right now. Tarasenko needs a long-term contract and the goaltender of the future, Jake Allen, needs an extension. Barret Jackman, Ian Cole, and Chris Butler are all on expiring contracts. Jaden Schwartz will need a new long-term contract next summer, and St. Louis will have to make decisions on David Backes, Carl Gunnarsson, Jori Lehtera, and Dmitrij Jaskin.

But if the Blues can emerge from the West and win the Cup, a glossier outlook surfaces for Schwartz and Tarasenko. Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk would further solidify their places among the top defensemen in the league, and it would be another achievement in a very stellar career for the veteran Jay Bouwemeester. Alexander Steen could win the Stanley Cup that his father never won.

Team Digest: Any playoff run is dependent on health, matchups, and luck. The ugly injury to Backes in last postseason’s first-round bloodbath against Chicago was a harsh reminder of that fact.

The Blues’ brass has constructed a roster with depth at forward and defense, as well as size, speed, and skill. The Blues manage the puck well, achieve zone exits quickly, and support well on their transitions. They can strike off the rush with speed, or they can slow it down after gaining the zone and find the weak-side trailer. They can stretch the ice on their passes or dish the puck in tight spaces. Their forecheck is effective and they like to get their defensemen involved. Versatility, adaptability, call it what you want, but St. Louis has demonstrated that they can win a hockey game in more than one way. St Louis’ possession metrics aren’t elite, but they qualify as very good. The Blues need to use their size and physicality to clear traffic and keep the sightlines clear for Brian Elliott. If they do so, he is a very capable goaltender.

The Blues have experienced robust shooting percentages in the high slot and outside the middle of the ice, but they also do a good job at collecting more shots in the higher regions of the home plate area, and in the off-slot, than the rest of the league, per war-on-ice. Conversely, they do a good job at limiting their opponents’ shots from the low slot and from the perimeter.

The Blues also have a very good coach in Ken Hitchcock who has seen it all and can devise clever game plans against formidable opponents. In the Blues’ game last Thursday, St. Louis recognized that the Bolts’ defensemen struggled to retrieve pucks and would experience lapses in their recognition and execution of on-the-fly defensive coverage. The Blues’ skaters would throw the puck into the boards behind the goal line, away from goaltender Ben Bishop, and force Tampa Bay into races for the puck. The ability to diagnose strengths, weaknesses, and areas that can be exploited is invaluable. Yet, there are still concerns. If Shattenkirk isn’t healthy, it is hard to see this team winning three rounds, no less four.

And there is the issue of shooting percentage. The Blues are eighth in even-strength shooting percentage, and if that dips in the playoffs they will need Elliott to help them win the 2-1 or 1-0 game. The Blues are built to do that, but the tight-checking, every-save-is-magnified contest needs the winning goaltender to at least match his adversaries’ performance. The Blues are depending on Elliott to be that guy.

Los Angeles Kings

What’s At Stake: The last team to win three Stanley Cups in four seasons was the Edmonton Oilers in 1987, 1988, and 1990. Obviously, no team has achieved this feat in the Salary Cap era, and those Oilers teams had Wayne Gretzky on two of three rosters and Mark Messier for all three Cup wins. So it is a massive deal that the Kings are even in this position.

Team Digest: Currently, the Kings are outside the playoff bubble. The 332 games that Los Angeles has played since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, their first Stanley Cup win, has visibly taken their toll on a team laden with veterans.

Los Angeles looked dead to rights as recently as February 5^th after a third straight loss, this time to a very young Florida Panthers team. The season seemed to have slipped away. But the Kings are never dead! They have predictably ripped off five straight wins and beat Tampa Bay (twice), Calgary, and Washington in that stretch.

Schematically, the Kings are taking a more aggressive approach on the forecheck. The F2 and F3 can sink deeper, and the strong side defenseman is more prone to step up and try to hold the zone. Los Angeles will take shots from the perimeter because they are confident that their forward(s) driving the middle and toward the net will be able to create a better scoring chance on the rebound opportunity.

However, their ability to attack off the rush should not be discounted; they are still a ferocious team on the counterattack. They are adept at identifying the matchup that can be exploited: turning a 3-on-2 into a 2-on-1; shooting far side for a rebound by the linemate crashing the net; or slowing the rush down to open up a seam pass to the trailing skater. Los Angeles knows that a good counterattack works the puck into the middle of the ice, and the players off the puck work doggedly to help the puck-carrier accomplish that.

Losing Slava Voynov and Willie Mitchell, the Kings’ second pair on defense, was a traumatic blow to the defending champs, As Rob Vollman noted earlier this season in his excellent piece that explained what was wrong with the Kings, the reconfigured defensive group saw Los Angeles allowing more controlled entries (carry ins) than last season.

But that seems to be shifting of late. The Kings have been keeping tighter gaps. They are challenging opponents in the neutral zone and forcing dump-ins. They have soared up the standings in puck possession metrics. The zone exits have been quicker, the layers of puck support are there, and they are boxing their opponent out and establishing that territorial advantage. Since December, the Kings have outshot teams in 27 out of 32 games, and twice they tied for shots on goal.

But even royalty can experience bad fortune. The Kings are leading the NHL in OT/Shootout losses, which indicates that they have had bad luck. Still, these guys are a terror at five on five, and they seem to be getting better and better as the season progresses. Los Angeles won two of the last three Stanley Cups by embracing the role of the schoolyard bullies; that persona has begun to manifest itself and it should scare the hell out of the rest of the NHL.

Center: Sean Monahan
By definition a player cannot fly too far under the radar if he plays for a Canadian team. However, when the subject of the Calgary Flames comes up, at least three other narratives are discussed before arriving at the play of Sean Monahan: a) Johnny Hockey b) Mark Giordano, and c) how Bob Hartley has the team overachieving. Therefore, Monahan makes the cut for under-the-radar standouts.

The numbers speak for themselves. Seventeen goals and 17 assists. Monahan is used against the top opponents every night and starts only 42.4 percent of draws in the offensive zone. He is 50.1 percent on faceoffs despite taking 744 more faceoffs than the center who is second in faceoffs on the Flames. Monahan is playing legitimate No. 1 center minutes as a 20-year-old.

What stands out about Monahan’s play is that he executes an uncomplicated game. His stick is always on the ice. His positioning and ability to read the play are well beyond his years. If he sees a shooting lane, he will let it rip. Even his release is understated. With a subtle flick of the wrists, the puck is in the back of the net.

Monahan has a strong grasp of what route to take to the net in order to collect the best scoring chance. Additionally, he is sturdy and does very well in high-traffic areas on both sides of the rink. Fortunately, Monahan is such an asset he that should not fly under the radar too much longer.

Wing: Jason Zucker
Jason Zucker started the season in a fourth-line role getting limited minutes. On October 17th against the Anaheim Ducks, he saw 7:49 time on ice. But before breaking his clavicle against Vancouver on Monday, Zucker was getting top-six forward minutes for Minnesota.

The bad news is that the injury is expected to keep him out for three months; the good news is that, unlike in seasons past, the Newport Beach, California native doesn’t have to worry about his job security as an NHL player. Although the speedy winger is on a two-year contract, he has become an integral scoring forward for Minnesota. His quickness, skill, and ability to tilt the ice despite being matched against difficult competition fit the style of play that Minnesota wants to accomplish.

Unlike Monahan, who seemingly had success the minute he stepped on the NHL ice, it took Zucker awhile to finally find his footing as an everyday player. This season is the first time Zucker, at 23, has played more than 21 games in the regular season. He helped Minnesota find scoring despite a wave of injuries to key players that left the team perilously thin at forward. In 48 games, Zucker has accrued 18 goals, second best on the Wild, and his unceasing efforts to attack the net and find open space have him fifth on the team in shots, one shot behind reputed sniper Thomas Vanek despite playing five less games!

Zucker took longer to develop than expected, which is a big reason why his injury is so disheartening. But his boxcar stats, and where he is succeeding on the ice – Zucker collects a very high number of shots from the slot, per war-on-ice – signal that his arrival is legitimate and that he has a bright NHL future.

Wing: Matt Beleskey
Timing is important in every aspect of life. For an athlete, delivering your best work when your contract is expiring can help a player collect a handsome payday. Matt Beleskey will be a UFA at the end of the season, and currently the left winger has a career-high 20 goals in 54 games. His shooting percentage is a robust 16.5 despite a career shooting percentage of 10.0. True, he has outperformed his previous season totals by a significant margin, but this article is intended to celebrate the timely outlier season in a contract year, not degrade it. Right now, while Beleskey is experiencing tremendous puck luck, he is playing very good hockey.

Beleskey has a 54.0 Corsi percentage, the best on his team, and most importantly, he is going to the right areas of the ice to succeed. He has decent puck skills, and is doing a good job of getting to the region between the circles to collect scoring chances. Additionally, Beleskey demonstrates an edge that Anaheim wants to incorporate; he supplies a big body to check and can do some of the gritty work along the half-wall or in the corners.

Beleskey is overachieving, but part of his success stems from his work ethic and expanding knowledge of what he needs to do in order to prosper.

Defenseman: Calvin de Haan
The Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk acquisitions get the credit for turning the Islanders’ defense around, and their robust possession stats do not dispel that sentiment. But it is de Haan and his partner Travis Hamonic who are pitted against the top opponents each night — and de Haan has evolved into a legitimate top-four blueliner. With only 52 NHL games to his name leading into this season, de Haan’s transformation into such a valuable defenseman has been a huge boost to the Islanders’ back end.

One of the coolest aspects of de Haan’s evolution is that he mirrors what the Islanders want to accomplish. He skates very well, is a strong passer, and protects the puck proficiently; at the same time, he can be physical and is skilled at separating the opponent from the puck. As a team, the Islanders’ success is predicated on those strengths. The former first-round pick helps the Islanders achieve a skill and speed game on the transition and bang on the forecheck, but he also provides a fortifying presence on the back end that helps New York prevent too many scoring chances.

Defenseman: Anton Stralman
When Anton Stralman was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightning, it seemed like another shrewd move by GM Steve Yzerman. With seven months hindsight, the move looks brilliant, and possessing Stralman for a cap number of $4.5 million is a bargain. Stralman is thriving in his role as a top-pair defenseman, and his mobility and passing help cultivate the tempo the Bolts seek.

Victor Hedman is the ace of the defensive group, but even Hedman benefits from playing with Stralman. Together, the two have controlled 58.4 percent of the shot attempts at even strength. However, it gets really interesting when the two are apart. The Bolts command 55.5 percent of the shot attempts at even strength when Stralman is not playing with Hedman, while the team controls 54.1 percent of shot attempts when Hedman is not playing with Stralman. No one would argue that Stralman is a better defenseman than Hedman, but what has become clear is that Stralman can play top-pair minutes and be deployed against the top competition and still prosper.

There is a valid “buyer beware” when teams dole out big contracts during free agency. Many of the worst contracts in the NHL were handed out during the annual summer spending frenzy. But the Bolts made several crucial offseason additions that have helped them become a serious Cup contender, and Stralman has proven to be an immensely valuable part of their championship blueprint.

The Blues’ best attribute is that they actively want to use the whole ice. On breakouts, they are comfortable moving the puck through the middle or up the boards. When St. Louis is trying to exit the zone, often the lane for the weak side defenseman is available to join the rush, and St. Louis encourages an active defense. In the offensive zone, St. Louis will control the boards to move the puck to the middle. If the home plate area is clogged, the Blues will work below the goal line and in the off-slot. Even on the power play, the Blues will move the puck around up high in a triangle before approaching the bottom half of the offensive zone.

Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko emerged on the public’s radar last season as potential stars, and now few would contest that they are among the elite wingers in the NHL. In past seasons, St. Louis has lacked the first-rate forward talent of Chicago and Los Angeles, but currently the Blues have a healthy portion of skill and speed to complement the power and grind that has been their hallmark in prior campaigns.

What makes this team so intriguing is that the demarcation between skill and grit is not black and white. Schwartz and Tarasenko can play along the half-wall and in the corners and get their hands dirty. In fact, they thrive in both areas of the ice. And Oshie and Backes have the skill to strike off the rush and covert on fantastic dishes and scoring chances created by Alexander Steen.

Ken Hitchcock knows he has a collection of forwards with different skill sets. A cup-level team must have versatility. It’s about finding players who complement each other and understand what makes their teammates valuable. When IH spoke with John Tavares during All-Star weekend, the Islanders center described in glowing terms how right winger Kyle Okposo’s talent and different skill set help generate chemistry on his line:

“When he is strong along the walls and in the corners, and moving his feet while taking pucks to the net, you really see how much ice that opens up for myself and for my other winger. He definitely has a tremendous shot and can finish off plays very well. He’s got very underrated hockey sense too, I believe. He makes great little plays and does a lot of little things well away from the puck that contribute to the team defensively and help get it back so we can create opportunities.”

The Blues have found the same kind of chemistry that Tavares developed with Okposo, but from a whole-team perspective. Like the relationship with Tavares and Okposo, it starts with players with different strengths. Obtaining hockey nirvana means finding comfort with the places and people who are closest in your life. St. Louis has assembled the right group of players who feel at home in any space on the ice.

The Blues have players who can grab the puck off the wall and power it to the net. They have the big shots and talented finishers (and skilled puck-handlers and gifted passers). They have many players who do a really good job of leading with their sticks and forcing turnovers to help the team keep possession. Tavares extols Okposo for the amount of room he creates for him and the third forward; the Blues’ skaters open up ice for themselves and their linemates because they can pound opponents in the mouth or skate past them on any region of the ice. The composite outlook for St. Louis is that of a team that offers everything on the menu.

The Blues’ offense and defense fare well in team metrics as well. The Blues are 2^nd in 5 on 5 Goals For/Against, 3^rd in Goals per game, 5^th in goals against, tied for 6^th in shots per game, and tied for 5^th in shots against. They are tied for 12^th in Fenwick close and tied for 13^th in Corsi percentage at even strength. They are 4^th in even-strength shooting percentage, and a lot of that success has come from outside the low and middle slot, per war-on-ice. But even a downtick in their puck luck should not capsize this squad because there is so much depth and skill.

The Blues’ offense and defense are hard to separate because they are inexorably linked. When they want to simplify their attack, they go heavy on the forecheck and use their defensemen at the point. On a carry-in, their defensemen can be a prominent member of the rush. The Blues’ forwards and defensemen can interchange and switch fluidly, and the team’s collective skating really gives them an advantage because they win so many races to the puck.

Another subtle advantage is that St. Louis’ forwards and defensemen do a really good job of pushing teams to the outside and challenging them along the boards. The Blues receive excellent back pressure through the middle of the ice from their forwards, which allows the defense to step up if they choose to. The defensemen do a very good job at recognizing where their outlets are on breakouts. Carl Gunnarsson was acquired through trade with Toronto, and he has fit in perfectly as a top-four blueliner for the Blues.

The following play from St. Louis’ game Sunday against Washington displays a forward and defenseman that are on the same page.

Alexander Steen wins the faceoff, and Alex Pietrangelo swings the puck around the boards to the weak side to T.J. Oshie, who has moved off the hash marks by the slot (where he was positioned on the faceoff) to the boards to be the outlet for the transition. Oshie touch passes it to Steen to spring a 2-on-1 as four Capitals are left helpless in the Blues’ defensive zone. Steen kicks the puck to his stick and fires a pass across to Tarasenko, who is moving toward the middle slot for a one-timer. The goal by Tarasenko expands the lead to 4-2, and the Capitals never recover.

Yes, Ovechkin was supposed to support John Carlson when Carlson pinched, and Ovechkin’s failing to do so led to an easy odd-man rush. But even if Carlson hadn’t got caught in no man’s land, or Ovechkin had covered Carlson’s pinch better, the Blues were going to get a three-on-two odd-man rush. The miscommunication between Ovechkin and Carlson results in a two-on-one that wound up being the game-winning goal. And that is the beauty of the Blues’ puck movement and skill on this play. The Blues systematically shredded the Capitals’ aggression and created the rush opportunity by winning the draw, moving the pressure on the zone exit to the far side, and countering the desire to hold the zone by having Steen fly the zone. Tarasenko was set to do the same, but took a more wending path.

Patrik Berglund, Jori Lehtera, and Kevin Shattenkirk are all injured at the moment – but the Blues keep on winning. The Blues are 9-0-1 in their last ten games. This team is laden with depth at forward and defense. In that same game against the Capitals, the Blues lost Shattenkirk, a Norris Trophy candidate, but were able to put Ian Cole in a top-four role and the offense and defense still hummed. At forward, David Backes was booted from the game for a dangerous hit and Dmitri Jaskin got a look with some of the top forwards and notched a goal. On Tuesday against the best team in the East, depth defenseman Chris Butler played 20:45 and notched an assist in a 2-1 OT win over the Lightning. Tarasenko scored in regulation, and Schwartz scored a highlight reel goal in extra time.

The depth at forward and defense are great, but the Blues’ ascension to Cup representative from the West will rest on how well Tarasenko and Schwartz play in the postseason. Every team needs those difference-makers who can consistently create scoring chances in the tight-checking world that is playoff hockey, and Tarasenko and Schwartz are there. Tarasenko is tied for 3^rd in points per 60 minutes and Schwartz is 13^th. Tarasenko, Schwartz, Steen, and Shattenkirk all rank in the top 40 in points. No other team has more than three; Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, and San Jose are the only teams to have three players in the top forty. And when forwards of Tarasenko’s, Schwartz’s, and Steen’s caliber are playing with defensemen Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, and Shattenkirk, it makes for a hell of a nucleus. (That said, Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester have not had their best season, so much better play will be needed from them come playoff time.)

The biggest area of concern is the most obvious one: goaltender. Currently, Brian Elliott has a terrific .929 save percentage in 25 games. GM Doug Armstrong is hoping that a stellar forward and defensive group can compensate for the lack of an elite goaltender. Adding another playmaking, two-way center like Paul Stastny, which Armstrong did last summer, would help mollify concerns in goal. Nevertheless, Elliott still has to play well. If he can make the saves that he is supposed to make come playoff time, and not singlehandedly sink the Blues in individual games, dreams of a Cup could become a reality.

“You experience that in every league and it happens for every player,” Hoffman said. “Coming into the league, it feels like everything is going quick and you don’t know how much time and space you have, but now having a decent amount of games and experience in the league you definitely pick up on little tips and tricks. You know how the game is played.”

That’s why continuity can make things a lot smoother for a hockey line. For any hockey player, having new linemates requires an adjustment as he learns their idiosyncrasies. For the best lines, chemistry can appear seamless, but acclimating to a linemate’s tendencies, knowing his strengths and weaknesses, and thus finding a better rhythm, are inevitable. These five lines are the most productive forward lines in the NHL, per leftwinglock.com.

 Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov

Line Production: 27 goals

The best example of how insanely good this line has been, and how highly valued its players are, would be Tampa Bay’s power play opportunity against Carolina on Tuesday. The Bolts lined up in a traditional 1-3-1 with four forwards and one defenseman. The high-priced offseason addition from two seasons ago, Valtteri Filppula, was not one of those forwards. Neither was Ryan Callahan, the player who the Lightning acquired for future Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis and then signed to a lucrative extension this past offseason.

Instead of the Cup winner and Olympian, it was the Palat-Johnson-Kucherov line…and Steven Stamkos. And Stamkos was the fourth wheel on the date; this power play did not have Stamkos as the focal point, like one would expect considering he is one of the greatest snipers ever to play hockey. The Lightning man advantage ran more like Philadephia’s power play, with Kucherov and Johnson along the half-wall, slinging the puck around. They would interchange with defenseman/man-advantage quarterback Anton Stralman, and pass down low to Ondrej Palat for the jam play, or look for the pass through the slot to Stamkos.

The comparison to the Flyers is fascinating because Kucherov and Johnson are playing the roles that Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek take on. Not only do Kucherov and Johnson have intensified duties on the power play, but apparently their line has carte blanche for who assumes puck-handling duties on zone entries. Often, some iteration of Johnson-Palat, Johnson-Kucherov, or Kucherov-Palat are the primary and secondary puck-handlers spearheading the zone entry. But Stamkos is no slouch. Even coming off his devastating leg injury, the Lightning captain reminded the world — in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal last season — that he could go end-to-end when he beat everyone on the ice.

The importance bestowed to this line is because they are so good at passing, and so good at positioning themselves offensively, that they have Stamkos relegated to a rank-and-file role. It is an egalitarian power play that is effective because the high-low, east-west passing allows all of the players to switch in and out of spots on the ice, making them nearly impossible to defend. And this is especially true if the penalty kill is late on a rotation or misses its assignment. Every player on the Bolts’ power play is so offensively gifted that they will capitalize on that mistake.

The more one watches this line, the more impressive the passing seems. They can make the stretch, the intermediate, and the short pass. They are wizards at touch passing and winning races to where the puck is moving next. Their off-the-puck ability is stellar, allowing them to support each other and position themselves where the puck is going next. On the other side of the puck, they anticipate and situate themselves in passing lanes and shooting lanes so that they can interrupt opposing scoring opportunities.

Members of the line pass off the boards and in traffic areas to their teammates extremely effectively – allowing for very crisp zone exits and neutral zone transitions — because there is conspicuous trust in each other to advance the puck and win the one-on-one play that is coming. What is remarkable about this line is how efficient they are in their touches and how they continue to get the better of the top competition in the NHL. Kucherov and Johnson are third and fourth in points per 60 minutes, respectively; Palat is 45^th, right in front of Anze Kopitar. The Lightning depth is absurd and this line has been a revelation.

Reilly Smith-Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand

Line Production: 24 goals

Brad Marchand is at his best when he is allowed to freelance. With Marchand, the good almost always outweighs the bad, but when the bad happens, the right players need to be on the ice to nullify the mistake. Marchand is as shifty as they come, and his soft hands and confidence enable him to try dazzling moves on zone entries and in areas of the ice where there is a defined risk-reward factor. The reward is a better scoring opportunity; the risk is a quick counterattack. Many times, Marchand can pull off the sleek move and get into the middle or past the defenseman. But when he commits a turnover, it is refreshing that Bergeron is there to clean up the mess and get the puck back.

Patrice Bergeron is the permanent safety valve on this line, and he is the crown jewel of the advanced stats community. A Selke Trophy winner and world-class two-way center, he glides up and down the ice like a free safety picking his moment to pounce. Arguably no other superstar touches the puck less. Yet, the Bruins dominate the puck when he is out there. Bergeron’s Einstein-level hockey brain enables him to make the right decision consistently and foil opponents’ offensive incursions. He knows when to retreat to higher ice for a possible one-timer opportunity, and when to pass before the window closes and the defensemen gets set and extends his stick.

Bergeron understands the perfect angle to forecheck and how to back pressure and snatch the puck without getting a penalty. He excels in the faceoff circle and works himself off the dot and into the ideal position – whether he is rolling to the net, sliding laterally to the hashmarks for a shot, or coming back to the puck to provide support. Bergeron plays the central role on the line, and Marchand and Reilly Smith are much more successful hockey players because they are often his linemates.

This line succeeds because these players understand the Boston system and what is required of them. Still, they are also unique. No one plays quite like Bergeron, and no one plays quite like Marchand. Once Smith was acquired in the Tyler Seguin trade, he was going to be molded in the organizations’ vision. That said, Smith is hardly fungible; he is a versatile, jack-of-all-trades forward.

This trio excels on the forecheck because they hem teams into their own zone, utilize their defensemen, and space themselves well and crash the net hard. They are not especially dangerous on the transition, their zone entries are decent, and no one is a sharpshooter or transcendent playmaker. Rather, they all are very smart players who anticipate the flow of the puck and position themselves in the best way to flourish. With the exception of Marchand, they don’t beat opponents one-on-one; rather, their scoring prowess comes from dogged pursuit of the puck and layered support in all three zones.

Vladimir Tarasenko-Jori Lehtera-Jaden Schwartz

Line Production: 23 goals

Of the five lines cited in this piece, the STL line is the most eclectic. There is Vladimir Tarasenko, the pronounced super-talent who has one of the best shot releases in the game and first-rate scoring instinct. Also, he is built like a boulder, so his strength on and off the puck makes him nearly impossible to stop. Then there is Jaden Schwartz, a diminutive winger who has outstanding vision and anticipation. It allows him to pickpocket opposing skaters and consistently manufacture scoring chances.

Schwartz’s ability to read where the play needs to develop in order to generate the best sequence is often game-altering. He protects the puck well, is a prolific playmaker, and his work defensively makes this line seem like it is constantly on the offensive. Center Jori Lehtera is the quarterback, the point guard. His faceoff win percentage is 54.2. He distributes extremely well, and does everything at a very impressive level. Lehtera is the straight man in the comedy sketch – illuminating his peers, but subtly making everything cohesive.

Lehtera is very good, but really, Schwartz and Tarasenko are the dynamic duo. Tarasenko has such a heavy and penetrating shot that he can score from long range and aggressively attack. He has a 3.42 points per 60 minutes, good for eighth in the NHL. And his skill set complements Schwartz, who routinely displays patience and composure. Schwartz can outwait the defense in order to find the best passing lane or shooting angle. He can work the corners and grind beneath the goal line endlessly because he has the patience to recognize that enough offensive-zone time will lead to something good.

Schwartz’s points per 60 minutes is 3.10, ranking him 14^th in the league. Tarasenko and Schwartz are also a good yin and yang because they seek out different parts of the ice. Schwartz loves the front of the net and around the crease. Tarasenko likes that area too, obviously, but his deadly shot allows him to hang around the outskirts of the home-plate area more because he can find more space and still score from there.

Natural chemistry is an underrated component for what makes a line work. This forward line has played the most together of any grouping on the Blues, and some of that is because they gelled almost instantly. Each player instinctively knows where linemate X is cutting or where they will be for support along the boards in the defensive zone. All of these players have very good hockey sense, and the ability to cut off passes and counterattack quickly is their recurrent theme.

Brandon Saad-Jonathan Toews-Marian Hossa

Line Production: 22 goals

The success of this line originates from a complete mastery of the neutral zone and defensive zone. Weirdly, their worst zone is probably the offensive zone because they are so brilliant in the other two. Toews’ line tracks better than any trio in the NHL; the stickwork and angle taken to dislodge the puck on each takeaway are breathtaking.

An underrated component of their efficacy is how they come off the half-wall and corners. The little bump passes along the boards or into the middle of the ice, which allows Chicago to start the transition, are what allows these guys to spend so little time in the defensive zone. They support magnificently, eliminate room and time splendidly, and can really zip a pass to stretch the ice and make a quick zone exit. Logically, they are three of the top four forwards on the Blackhawks in Corsi, despite playing against the opponents’ best line.

In the neutral zone, each player comes back to the puck if the defensemen are holding possession on a reset. The puck movement is always crisp and reflective; if the player with possession is coming into the zone with little speed and two defensemen are about to challenge him, a player off the puck will dive in and push the defense back. Or both off-the-puck players can swing to the far side and, if/when they get the puck, enter the zone with support. When possible, this line loves the give-and-go in the neutral zone to enter the offensive zone with speed.

In the offensive zone, it comes down to puck protection. Hossa has probably the best shot of the three, but none of them are snipers or the puck-magnet fulcrum that Patrick Kane is for his line. They all pass fantastically, but the ability for each player to hold onto the puck despite heavy pressure is incredible. And that allows them to attack off the rush or cycle and work in tandem with the defense. Like Kane, all three of these players are cognizant of pace and what tempo they are trying to set.

A favorite move of Kane’s is when he enters the zone and immediately slows the play down, sometimes even buttonhooking and moving upstream away from the goal. The forwards on Toews line are also not afraid to slow everything down and reassess. The Toews line’s M.O. on the rush is incisive and fluid. A sharp pass or two leads to the best-situated forward gaining inside position and doing his best on a scoring chance. But if the rush chance isn’t there, they can start the cycle because once they have that five-man raid going the other team is helpless.

A fun hockey tidbit for people who watch the Blackhawks a lot is to focus on the F3 for Chicago, especially if it is Hossa. His ability to completely thwart an opponent’s zone exit and establish possession as the gap-plugging F3 is a delight.

A revealing example of how extraordinary this line is was the lengths that Penguins coach Mike Johnston went to in order to move Sidney Crosby away from Toews line on the Wednesday before the All-Star break. The Toews line gracefully shuts down top players while procuring lots of scoring chances of their own. And it all starts in the defensive zone.

Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Blake Wheeler

Line Production: 20 goals

During media day at the All-Star break, Duncan Keith raved about the Winnipeg Jets and how big and skilled they were. When the Chicago Blackhawks’ defenseman talked about them, it was palpable that he wanted to convey to the hockey community that we should not sleep on these guys because they are formidable and a frustrating team to play against. The Little line has been at the forefront of the Jets’ success.

From a possession standpoint, Wheeler has the best Corsi, but is also protected the most of the three. That said, he does start the lowest percentage of faceoffs in the offensive zone. And faceoffs is an area where there is room for improvement; Little’s faceoff win percentage is 48.5, and any coach will tell you that faceoff success rate is a team statistic. Little needs to be better, but so do Ladd and Wheeler at combating off the draw and recognizing where the puck is so they can knock it back to a Jets defenseman. Regardless, the line is an emphatic positive for the Jets and the paramount factor for why this team is poised to make its first postseason appearance since relocating to Winnipeg.

Generally speaking, we usually link large things with power. And with this trio, the analogy is apt. Little’s line plays a heavy game. They can buffet the opponent on the forecheck and really strike the puck with impressive velocity. Appropriation of the puck generally results in a game of keep-away where the triumvirate can activate the cycle and get the defensemen involved. Off the rush they are dangerous as well, as Ladd and Wheeler thrive when they play north-south hockey and can make the passes and charges into spaces in order to free up room for a teammate or set up a scoring chance.

Defensively, this line is solid. They keep their sticks active and will come back toward the defense in the Jets’ own zone to assist the breakout. They can fly around and pound flesh when they don’t have the puck, but they can also cover a lot of ice in a short time because they are big and fast.

Overall, this line beats you with simplicity. Their movement is mostly linear on and off the puck. Little can be a primary puck-handler and snake his way through the defense, but that is neither Ladd nor Wheeler’s game. Ladd and Wheeler shoot through gaps or burst past the defensemen on the perimeter with little stickhandling involved.

If this line doesn’t have the puck, they are going to aggressively challenge you and try to physically push you off possession. Having said that, Winnipeg is last in the league in minor penalties – meaning they have committed the most — with Ladd and Wheeler showing up as notable offenders. Like any team, the Jets want to play even strength and not down a man, so trying to stay on the right side of the law while embracing their team’s grit-centric philosophy is a thorny situation they will need to improve in the coming months.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning

Through nearly 50 games, the Bolts have demonstrated that they are the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference. They lead the NHL in ROWs (regulation and overtime wins) and have elite possession statistics, a phalanx of skilled forwards, and a defensive group that continues to improve. Their depth down the middle – Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson, and Valtteri Filppula – stands up against the centers in the top nine on any roster in the NHL. Tampa Bay is first in goals per game and fourth in shots against. The Bolts squash teams at even strength, which is a good predictor of playoff success.

And there are more encouraging signs aesthetically. Tampa Bay supports and passes the puck very well. They can play fast, but they can also vacuum up pucks in the neutral zone and counter attack swiftly off the turnover. Or they can pass it back to the defenseman for a well-spaced and systematic reset.

A closer look at the Lightning’s Team Hextally chart (per war-on-ice.com) reveals that the volume of shots from the slot and low slot are markedly higher relative to the league average. The Bolts are prospering because they are getting to the best real estate on the ice to generate scoring chances.

So what could stymie this team and prevent it from a Cup run? Goaltending is the biggest area of concern. Tampa Bay’s even-strength save percentage is 22^nd in the league. Ben Bishop’s save percentage is .912, which is less than stellar and a far cry from his Vezina-caliber performance last season.

Tampa Bay may be so good it does not matter. They have young legs and a ruthless, killer instinct when they take a lead. As a group, the Bolts have prolific finishing ability and can score goals in bunches and in a short time frame. But inconsistent goaltending is a concern if Bishop does not improve over the next 30-ish starts. If he flounders, it could potentially sink a team well equipped to possibly win the Stanley Cup.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins

The two germane questions regarding the Pittsburgh Penguins are: If not this season, when will the Pens win another Stanley Cup, and is it possible that Pittsburgh could be relatively healthy come playoff time? After all, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not getting any younger. And the omnipresent misfortune that bedevils this team is mystifying, and anything less than their full complement may not be enough to come out of an improved Eastern Conference.

The glass-half-full version of how Pittsburgh makes a Cup run looks like this: Crosby and Malkin are two of the best five forwards in the NHL and they give the Penguins a distinct advantage when healthy. The power skating, playmaking, and shooting from those two make them the center of gravity on the ice. Malkin handles more of the puck-handling duties on his line, but Crosby’s off-the-puck operations are so high functioning that he only needs to touch the puck a few times in a shift to generate scoring chances. That could be subject to change in the playoffs when Pittsburgh will lean on Crosby to dominate every shift.

After their two elite centers, defenseman Kris Letang’s play is a reason for unfettered optimism. Some of us – like this website – may have been too quick to write off Letang because of health problems. But Letang is now playing like a No. 1 defenseman, pitted against the toughest competition and posting absolutely devastating possession statistics.

Letang’s mobility and puck skills give the Penguins’ defensive group teeth, and they needed Letang’s skating and scoring prowess after the departure of Matt Niskanen, and the extremely unfortunate health problems with Olli Maatta. Letang was with Pittsburgh last season, but when he was on the ice, he was not this Letang. Without Letang’s phenomenal play, it would be difficult to take Pittsburgh seriously as a Cup contender.

The final point is that the new additions appear to be good fits. Christian Ehrhoff has been very good in a featured role in the defensive group, and Patric Hornqvist and David Perron have understandably loved playing with superstars. The coaching change has been a welcome addition as well, and the Penguins’ improvement in puck-possession metrics has some relation to the new bench boss.

The case against this team is that they are still thin at forward. Brandon Sutter has been less than advertised. And can you win a Stanley Cup with Rob Scurderi as your No. 4 defenseman? What if goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has his annual playoff meltdown?

The Perron trade was shrewd, but to feel really good about the Pens’ chances it would be encouraging if they could get two or more impact skaters, especially forwards. Yesterday’s game against the New York Rangers demonstrates why, despite ranking the Penguins at number two, IH is deeply concerned that this is too high.

The acquisition of Perron, the claim of Mark Arcobello off waivers, and how tight the Metropolitan division race has become make one think that Pittsburgh is not done constructing this team. But if the Penguins stay idle, believing in them means believing that their best players will pave the path to the Cup.

3. New York Islanders

With regard to talent, the New York Islanders can go toe-to-toe with Pittsburgh. The Penguins have their skill more concentrated in a handful of guys, while New York’s skill is spread across its forward and defensive groups. Even in goaltending, where the Penguins would seem to have the edge, doubt persists because of past postseason foibles by Fleury.

So why are the Penguins ranked higher? Because experience matters. There is some logic in thinking that playoff success requires a learning curve. The playoffs are a different beast. Mistakes metastasize. The physicality ramps up. There is less room to operate and winning a game in different fashion becomes important. In the Penguins’ postmortem last May, Crosby acknowledged this fact after the Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers.

Not every playoff contest is low scoring. The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings are great examples of teams that can win 6-5 or 2-1. Talent can be a trump card, but talent needs reps. If healthy, Pittsburgh has a collection of players who have been through the ups and downs of a playoff series, as well as the pendulum swings that occur in a single game.

John Tavares is a fantastic player, and the Tavares-Kyle Okposo combination stands along Corey Perry-Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux-Jakub Voracek, Tyler Seguin-Jamie Benn, and Nicklas Backstrom-Alexander Ovechkin as the NHL’s best forward duos playing on the same line. Centers Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome are going to be difference-makers in the NHL; they have arguably been the best forwards this season after Tavares and Okposo.

Between Tavares, Nelson, and Strome, there is depth at center, but Nelson is 23 years old and Strome is 21. The fact that, between them, Nelson and Strome have only one game and less than eight minutes of postseason experience will matter when the playoffs arrive.

Still, this isn’t to take anything away from the Islanders. They are first in Fenwick close and second in shots per game. They are second in shots against and fourth in goals per game. Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk give New York more postseason experience on the back end. The early returns on Calvin De Haan are very good. Travis Hamonic can attack from the blue line and relieves some of the pressure on Tavares, Okposo, Nelson, and Mikhail Grabovski when they assume puck-handling duties. Jaroslav Halak is an improvement over the prior substandard goaltending.

This season will provide invaluable postseason experience to the young players who will help Tavares and Okposo bring this franchise to a possible Stanley Cup final. The Islanders can sow chaos through the forecheck and slow down the rush enough to hit the third or fourth guy trailing or shooting up the far side. They exit the zone efficiently and rapidly. Those are skill plays that contenders make. There are plenty of reasons to feel very encouraged about the present and future for the Islanders.

4. Boston Bruins

It wasn’t too long ago when people were writing off the Boston Bruins. The Tyler Seguin trade has evolved into a blockbuster gaffe, and the Bruins’ struggles to score this season amplified the uneven swap. There was also some murmuring that maybe Johnny Boychuk meant more to the Bruins than they realized.

But these conclusions are oversimplifying. The Seguin trade did not work out as Boston planned – clearly — but they netted two top-nine forwards in the trade who play in all situations. The Boychuk trade was unfortunate, but necessary, because of the salary cap. The defense is not quite as good as last season, but it is still above average.

Most importantly, it was ridiculous to dismiss Boston because the Bruins have two excellent centers, a first-rate defensive pair which includes a Norris Trophy winner, and last season’s Vezina Trophy winner. This season has been fraught with underachieving core players, but a lot of that underachieving was a result of key players being injured. Now that Boston is healthy, the ship has begun to right itself. The Boston Bruins’ entropy has been exaggerated; it is a long season and the core that helped them reach two Stanley Cup finals remains intact.

Moreover, the Bruins have not fundamentally changed how they play. They still bring back pressure through the middle and push the opponent to the perimeter. They still like to overload on the power play and then run the backdoor play. The Bruins still want to hammer teams on the forecheck and send multiple players to crash the net and obstruct the vision of the opposing goaltender. Milan Lucic is still the power forward hated by everyone outside of New England. David Krejci is still a wizard at passing and manufacturing offense. Patrice Bergeron still loves to retreat to the middle-to-high slot for that one-timer. This is still the Bruins of recent years; they were just executing the vision poorly and had too many inexperienced players in the lineup.

This season has been especially interesting because the Bruins were exposed to a degree. Maybe Tuukka Rask isn’t as good we thought he was if he doesn’t have Zdeno Chara keeping his sight line clear and his crease clean. Maybe Lucic is a limited player who is just very fortunate to be teamed with Krejci.

But really, that’s not the point. When Krejci, Chara and Bergeron are all healthy, this team wins playing Bruins hockey. And that starts with defense. Boston had one of the best offenses in the NHL last season, but one of the reasons for that was because of how well they played in their own zone. Opposing offenses are subject to a series of one-and-dones and forceful breakouts.

During Boston’s skid, the defensive coverage was a mess. The Bruins’ positioning was always a strong point and suddenly it was a disadvantage. But that is starting to change. In the month of January, the Bruins have not allowed more than three goals, and they outshot and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers consecutively. The Bruins want to hem teams in their own zone, and cycle endlessly. That’s the way they will need to play like if they want to return to the Cup final this season.

5. Detroit Red Wings

Remarkably, the Detroit Red Wings have staved off mediocrity and irrelevance and constructed another playoff-bound team of lefties who are detail-oriented and agile. And good health from superstars Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg has been crucial.

The Red Wings are a top-four team in Fenwick close, goals against, and shots against because they are quick to the win the race for the puck and make the right decision once they get there. The players know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and understand where to find certain players on the ice. The layers of support are always there.

The Red Wings are sensational at making little passes off the half-wall and below the goal line, or touch passes in the neutral zone. If a side of the ice is open, the stretch pass is coming and a player is moving to that side to exploit it. Although most good teams do this, how quickly you execute is salient — and Detroit’s execution is one of its biggest advantages.

The NHL is faster than it has ever been, and having intrinsic knowledge of where a player is and where they are likely going allows a team to expand the sequence of time and slow the game down. If the opposing defensemen are too far apart, the Red Wings’ forward will know to cut off his skating route and expose the gap up the middle. That stuff matters, and the focus on details is pervasive in the Red Wings’ lineup. Their decision-making really stands out, and a lot of that stems from continuity.

Detroit is often praised for being terrific at drafting, but the development of the Red Wings at the AHL level has become legendary in recent years. Players are trained and molded a certain way, all becoming clones of each other. The most skilled players, like Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar, utilize the instruction to become better high-impact NHL players.

Defensively, the Red Wings covet a right-handed defenseman who can play a top-four role, and they will be in pursuit of one at the trade deadline. Even without that player, the defensive group is mobile and the balance between the forwards and defensemen is palpable. The forwards make every effort to help the defensemen with protecting the net and on breakouts. Conversely, the defensemen provide shooting and passing from the point and are good at fulfilling the forwards’ entreaties when they are ready to attempt a zone entry. When Detroit does not have possession, their skaters anticipate how the puck will be advanced with impressive precision and utilize well-timed assaults on the puck-carrier with their stick and body to grab possession back.

Ultimately, this team will go as far as Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Niklas Kronwall take them. All the members of the trio are well into their 30s, so if they do not get worn down by the marathon regular season, the Red Wings’ Cup nucleus passes the smell test. The supporting cast is very strong, and there is probably not a team in the NHL that protects the puck better when it claims possession. The Red Wings’ defensive group is good, and the goaltending is above the threshold to win a Cup. In the final year of coach Mike Babcock’s contract, how Detroit fares will be riveting.

6. Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens’ best asset is also their worst weakness. They play a game that is risk averse and reduces mistakes — for better or worse. They are fifth in goals against and 26^th in shots per game. They are poor in possession metrics. They squeeze out the necessary scoring to win and flood the area below the circles to stifle their opponents’ offense. And that works, kind of. According to Team Hextally, opponents’ shooting rates are disturbingly high in the high, middle, and low slot against Montreal, relative to the league average. If Carey Price’s play starts to slip, the Canadiens could free fall.

But at the same time, in last season’s playoffs Montreal was able to crush Tampa Bay in the first round (albeit the Bolts were without Ben Bishop), and defeat the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals. They achieved that by playing this style of play. Their best players were able to score when it counted, and Price – and the post – made some monumental stops when the Bruins spent long sequences in the offensive zone.

Can the Habs make a Cup run with Alex Galchenyuk/David Desharnais as their No. 1 center and Tomas Plekanec as the No. 2 pivot? Galchenyuk has a very promising future and Desharnais and Plekanec are good players, but the lack of experience and punch at the center position is an issue going forward. The defensive group is fine, but not exceptional. The nucleus and system the Canadiens play will keep them competitive in most games, but too much pressure on Price and not enough depth limit this team’s ceiling.

7. New York Rangers

The biggest knock on the New York Rangers reaching the Stanley Cup is that they made it last season. Reaching back-to-back Cup finals is really, really hard. But from a roster standpoint, there is a lot to like about this squad. The faith placed in Derek Stepan and Derick Brassard to man the top two center spots looks savvy, and the defensive group is tremendous. Rick Nash is playing superb hockey, and the passing and speed that allowed New York to survive the Eastern Conference bracket and compete very well with the Kings in the Cup final is still there. Good luck stopping the Rangers on the transition, because they can still whip it around on the rush.

But the underlying stats are mixed. The Rangers are tied for fifth in goals per game and third in goals against. Their 5 on 5 Goals For/Against is fourth. They have the best goal differential in the conference. And yet, they are 29^th (!!!) in faceoff win percentage. Their possession statistics are pedestrian. Partly, that stems from the injuries to key players that plagued the Blueshirts for much of the first half of the season. And the Rangers’ depth that was so prominent last season is slightly diminished.

Entering the season, the Rangers needed Nash and Martin St. Louis to provide scoring from the wings. Check. They needed Dan Boyle to come in and improve the power play while contributing to the fast pace the Rangers want to employ. Check. New York needed Brassard and Mats Zuccarello to play in expanded roles and thrive. Check. The only question that has not been checked is that Chris Kreider was expected to taken a bigger step forward than he has. Nevertheless, what made this team special last season is still present. And they have arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, which certainly doesn’t hurt. After a rocky start to the season, Henrik Lundqvist is now playing very well.

If the Rangers can overcome the massive toll caused by fatigue when a team makes deep runs in consecutive playoffs, it will be an incredible feat.

8. Washington Capitals

In recent seasons, Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have had to shoulder too much of the scoring burden, and the lack of structure and effort on defense led to the Capitals toiling closer to the middle than they liked. They were not a Cup contender, but not a doormat. So what changed? The coaching hire of Barry Trotz turned out to be a brilliant move, as Trotz has instilled a focus on defense that was not present before.

In addition to the reduction of the boneheaded mistakes that had routinely hurt this team, the emergence of young talent has played a large role in changing the optics. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky add much needed dynamism to a corps whose firepower had become too condensed in recent seasons. The creativity those two have with the puck allows the Caps to strike quickly, and spread out their depth.

Finally, the additions of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik have given the Capitals two NHL-caliber defensemen. The reshuffling that resulted from acquiring these two, along with the coaching mandate on defense and playing with more structure, makes Washington look a lot more polished than they have in a few years. They have been a top-ten possession team all season, and goaltender Braden Holtby has thrived too. (Some attribute his improvement to goaltender coach Mitch Korn, who came with Trotz to Washington from Nashville.)

The Caps can drop their wingers below the circle, but still get out to the point in time to front the opposing defensemen and block the shooting lanes. In this way, they create the desired expand-and-contract accordion effect expected in their defensive set.

In recent seasons, the Capitals had doses of passing and shooting, but their composure with the puck and hockey awareness was lacking. Since Trotz’s arrival, the latter have improved and continue to get better. At first, it was jarring seeing Washington players tracking when opponents made rushes up the ice and forwards consistently recognizing where they needed to be positioned.

Whether these improvements make them a Cup contender remains to be seen, but a franchise that seemed to be in major turmoil at the end of last season has recalibrated and appears to be heading in the right direction. This might not put the Capitals at the top of the power rankings, but there is a lot of season left for things to change.

Every team that is retrieving the puck in its defensive zone has a carefully laid out sequence for the transition once the puck crosses the goal line. Zone exits are a collaborative effort. In the NHL, it has always been important to know what you are doing with the puck before you receive it. That used to apply solely to players, but breakouts have become beautifully systematic.

There have always been breakout plays, but now, when teams try to exit their zone and it fails the first time, there is a Plan B, C, and D. If the breakout fails when going up the boards, try the middle. If the breakout fails through the middle, bring the forwards back for support and exit the zone with strength in numbers. Or have the most dangerous forwards push the defense back and stretch the opponent out so that there is more space below the circles. No one is trying to reinvent the wheel; teams are just trying to incorporate more Detroit Red Wings tenets in their breakouts.

This differs from the past because now teams are loathe to just flip it out or shoot it off the glass and relinquish possession on their zone exit if they fail the first time; instead they will try to breakout through direct passing, and teammates are expected to support the puck and carefully finesse it out of their own zone.

The most aggressive forechecking teams will push three or four bodies into an offensive-zone foray to try to wreak havoc on a well-timed and precisely executed breakout. This is by design; adaptation is the mother of necessity. The amplifying speed of the modern game is visible on zone exits — and puck movement to the outlets and the mobility of the opposing skaters have become incredibly fluid. Forechecking teams expect their defensemen to be aggressive on the forecheck and cycle, so defensemen are pinching consistently up the boards and can play the role of the F1, F2, or F3.

Of course, there is a tipping point. If one team is flooding a small area with skaters on the forecheck, and an opposing team is making every effort to pragmatically move the puck out of the grasp of that pressure to start their transition and rush, one team will attain the upper hand and the scoring chance. The channeled aggression and success of the forecheck hinge on the F3.

The life of an F3 is one of onerously multitasking; he is a moving target who has to be able to strike offensively and support off the puck while also maintaining defensive integrity against an opposing rush that might develop at any second. (And that opposing rush will be coming with speed and often numbers.)

A forechecking team wants the F3 to be versatile enough to become more aggressive and help out the undermanned forecheckers, but also protect the point if and when the defenseman on the strong side pinches. The risk when the F3 cheats down low and supports the puck is that, if the opponent can gain possession and breakout cleanly, a potent attack is coming the other way. The hemmed in team can slip the offensive-zone pressure, often resulting in an odd-man rush or at the very least an easy zone entry. This is hockey’s most fascinating Catch-22. The F3’s close proximity to the other two forecheckers also gives reinforcement if the puck-carrier loses possession or becomes confined by the defensive overload.

The St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks are fun teams to discuss in regard to the F3 because both squads are trying to accomplish the same thing, but in these instances, obtain very different results.

In this first video, David Backes dumps the puck in, and Alexander Steen, the F1, wins the race to the puck, spins, and throws the puck on goal.

Backes, the F2, battles with Cam Fowler off the puck and rides him out of the play, which eliminates him from the sequence. The juicy rebound allowed by Frederik Andersen sits in the middle for the trailer, T.J. Oshie — who is the F3 — and he deposits the rebound in the open net as the Anaheim Ducks’ back pressure does not get there in time to obstruct him. This is a dream scenario. A cycle does not even need to be established. The defensemen on the forechecking team do not need to pinch, and there is no interchange between the F3 and the strong-side defenseman. This is ideal.

The Blues’ second goal is a little more garden variety.

In this same game, Kevin Shattenkirk arrives as the F3 after Jori Lehtera comes in as the F1 to chase, with Paul Stastny providing the necessary F2 pressure. Lehtera forces the turnover, Stastny provides the pass, and Shattenkirk scores the goal as the F3-staggered-trailer. F1 to F2 to F3.

Both of these goals happen pretty quickly on the forecheck, but a lot of times, goals come about when teams pin their opponent in their own zone and work the cycle. In these instances, the pinching defenseman and F3 can switch, and everything needs to be well coordinated otherwise the forecheck turns into a rush opportunity for the opponent, like it does for the New York Rangers against Vancouver in the videos below.

Like the Blues, the Canucks employ many of the principles that are adored by the hockey intelligentsia. They prefer to carry rather than dump. Their defensemen are mobile and aggressive. They exit the defensive zone via direct passes. And in the offensive zone, the off-the-puck forwards support the man on the puck, but if the defenseman pinches to offer reinforcement along the boards, the F3 has a decision to make. Does he want to recede? Or should he keep a close distance below the circles and hope that he can keep in close enough proximity to shoot from a scoring area while relying on his speed to get back if the opponent breaks free of the offensive-zone stranglehold?

If the F3 falls into no-man’s land, or stays below the circle and does not have the recovery speed, he runs the risk of getting burned on the rush. Vancouver can look incredible when everything is working in harmony; the puck is advanced astutely and players are moving into space and rotating with purpose. When the Canucks hem a team in and they are playing well, it looks like there is a magnet on the Vancouver players’ sticks.

But if that aggression is off a tick — a player does not rotate fast enough, loses his assignment, or is a beat slow – it all goes to hell. The Canucks were run out of the building when they played the Rangers on December 13^th, and Vancouver’s overzealousness on the forecheck led to odd-man rush after odd-man rush for them.

On the first goal, defenseman Ryan Stanton is caught on the pinch and Derek Dorsett does not properly buttress as the F3. It leads to a three-on-one and a goal by Ryan McDonagh as the weak-side defenseman.

On the second goal, which starts at the 39 second mark in the above YouTube clip, it is defenseman Luca Sbisa who is pinching up the strong side, and Bo Horvat as the victimized F3. Horvat steps over to try to keep the puck in the offensive zone and whiffs. That leads to the two-one-one and a pretty pass by Derek Stepan and goal by J.T. Miller. And all of this was because the Canucks were a step slow on their routes to the puck.

The F3 is one of the most challenging jobs in the NHL for teams who are trying to attack on the forecheck this way. The F3 needs to reinforce the forecheck and try to stay close enough to the first two forecheckers so that the team maintains possession, and that means being a threat to pass or shoot. But he also needs to have the awareness and recovery speed to nullify the rush if the puck escapes the heavy strong-side pressure and the opponent gets a rush the other way and has several attackers with speed.

Both Blues goals came pretty quickly on the forecheck, but what was also a possibility was Oshie failing to capitalize and the Ducks turning the failed offensive-zone attempt into an odd-man rush the other way. At the point of attack, St. Louis had three players below the dots. If Andersen makes that save or Oshie misses the net, the outcome could have been very different.

Likewise, the outcome could have been very different on the Shattenkirk goal. If you pause that video at 45 seconds, you can spot a player above Shattenkirk hanging out between the circles. That’s Vladimir Tarasenko in the middle slot. If Shattenkirk fails to score, the Blues have four players below the circles and are vulnerable to a counter rush. When teams give their F3 freedom to journey beneath the circles that leaves them susceptible if the puck heads upstream. On the Shattenkirk goal, Tarasenko likely recognizes a rebound opportunity and strays from the point.

But being overly aggressive cuts both ways. And the case-by-case decision-making of the F3 dictates how a team can keep possession and kill its opponent (relatively) slowly, or a team can lose its footing and be walloped by a quick strike. The risks come with the territory.

John Tavares and Steven Stamkos are former No. 1 picks who are the alpha dogs for the Islanders and Lightning, respectively. But what is so remarkable and central to each squad’s success is the robust production behind both players. Stamkos is not even leading Tampa Bay in scoring; the undrafted Tyler Johnson is. In fact, Johnson is leading the whole freaking NHL in points per 60 minutes at 5 on 5, with Nikita Kucherov in second. Ondrej Palat is in the top 20.

For the Islanders, linemate Kyle Okposo shares the points lead with Tavares. The 23-year-old Brock Nelson and 21-year-old Ryan Strome are tied for third with 27 points. The list of important contributors for both teams goes on, but what is important is that the Islanders’ and Bolts’ second, third, and fourth lines find success independently from their superstars. Both teams have forwards who are self-sufficient on offense and relentless on defense. And success for the non-Tavares and Stamkos lines has come against serious adversaries and opponents’ best players. Both teams’ coaches feel confident rolling out their four lines, regardless of matchup. Consistency on a shift-to-shift basis matters.

Defensively, Tampa Bay has an edge, albeit not a large one. The Bolts have a clear top defensive pair in Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman, and the contours of a Cup-worthy back end are perceptible in the Jason Garrison-Matt Carle-Radko Gudas-Andrej Sustr groupings as second- and third-pair rearguards.

The Islanders lack that clear-cut No. 1 defenseman, although Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic, Nick Leddy, and Lubomir Visnovsky are proving to be a much more capable and versatile top four than many originally anticipated. New York has options with their third pair, and that’s a good thing. If former 12th overall pick Calvin de Haan proves to be the answer, his upside could raise the Islanders’ ceiling on their blue line. That said, if Sustr continues to develop and improve, the Bolts’ defensive group can reach a higher level too.

Finally, the goaltending is a draw. The gigantic Ben Bishop was outstanding for the Lightning last season, and this season he has been good enough. The Bolts are winning a lot, and Bishop has not hampered them. Of course, the dogged backchecking by Lightning forwards helps him face less rubber. Bishop will not contend for the Vezina this season, but with a .914 save percentage and a .919 career save percentage, he passes the threshold for being good enough to help win a Cup.

For New York, the undersized Jaroslav Halak has a strong .917 save percentage and has even recorded three shutouts this season. Halak’s career save percentage is .918, and he has postseason experience. He demonstrated the ability to steal games during the 2009-10 playoffs for Montreal, and many in the hockey world believe Bishop possesses that ability, too. The Lightning is second in the NHL in shots against, and New York is fourth. If both teams continue to defend the middle well and control possession, then both goaltenders should not be liabilities.

Ultimately, the Lightning has a slightly better chance to make a run because Hedman and Stralman are better than any Islanders defensemen, and while New York has great depth at forward, it does not match the embarrassment of riches Tampa Bay enjoys. The Bolts have so much depth that they can stash former top ten picks like Jonathan Drouin and Brett Connolly on the fourth line and then move them to the first line or first power-play unit.

Is this the season where Ryan Getzlaf finally wins the Hart Trophy?
It might be, and here is the thinking behind it happening. This season, the Anaheim Ducks are a contender for the Presidents’ Trophy (again) and Ryan Getzlaf is at the top of the leaderboard in points (again). But the difference between this season and last is that Getzlaf has played a chunk of it without Corey Perry. Perry has only played 24 games this season while Getzlaf has played 38, which means he has suited up for 14 games without Perry and yet the Ducks have kept winning.

And that success is in large part because of Getzlaf. Even with Ryan Kesler as the second pivot, Getzlaf logs heavy minutes and produces prolifically. (He is seventh in the NHL in points per 60 minutes at 5 on 5.) Getzlaf is a world-class passer who assumes the puck-handling duties for his line, and coach Bruce Boudreau can slot anyone in the lineup with Getzlaf and know that Anaheim’s top line will set the terms and generate multiple scoring chances each shift while limiting the opposing line’s chances. The Ducks center also logs a ton of minutes for a forward, ranking in the top ten in the NHL in time on ice per game among forwards.

Last season, Evgeni Malkin only played 60 games, and Sidney Crosby won the scoring race and the MVP. Sometimes when there are two elite players on a team and voters associate them together, they can split the vote. But with Perry’s absence, the spotlight has been on Getzlaf and his night-to-night brilliance.

Moreover, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman made this point in his argument for Getzlaf as his Hart Trophy choice last season: Getzlaf plays in the tougher conference than Crosby, and faces more difficult competition on a nightly basis. Getzlaf finished second in the voting last season, but this year Crosby’s absence from the lineup and slumping give Getzlaf the edge right now. Hart Trophy voters like to reward players who finish high in the points leader category, but are they going to award it to a player from a likely non-playoff team like the Flyers or Stars? Also, Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux could steal votes from each other.

Getzlaf has never won the Hart, but that seems poised to change this season, especially if the Ducks finish with the best record in the NHL.

Who has been the best bang-for-your-buck offseason addition?
Mike Ribeiro wins this in a landslide. This past summer, Ribeiro was bought out from the remaining three years of his contract by the penny-pinching Coyotes, with Arizona citing “behaviorial issues” as a factor in the decision. The marriage was a catastrophe, and Arizona was so determined to be purged of Ribeiro after signing him to a four-year, $22 million contract that they did so without having a capable center as a replacement at the time. A few days later, Arizona traded for Oilers center Sam Gagner, but the scarlet letter was visible on the 34-year-old Ribeiro. The league noticed. Ribeiro had become a persona non grata in the desert, one who played for three different teams over the last three seasons.

Finally, Nashville bought low and signed the playmaker to a one-year, $1.05 million contract. It was a brilliant gamble. Since coming to Nashville, Ribeiro has become the team’s No. 1 center and has helped shepherd one of the most productive lines in the NHL this season. With Filip Forsberg and James Neal flanking him as wingers, the Predators’ top line is the fifth most productive in hockey, per leftwinglock.com. Forsberg has become the favorite to win the Calder Trophy, and Neal, who needs a high-level distributing center, has been deadly when receiving Ribeiro’s feeds. Nashville has been one of the best even-strength teams as they lead the league in 5 on 5 Goals For/Against. Despite having a very low faceoff percentage, Ribeiro has managed to thrive in possession metrics, placing third on Nashville in Corsi.

The Predators’ defense has blossomed into one of the NHL’s top defensive groups, but under new head coach Peter Laviolette the forwards have more autonomy. Ribiero is someone who operates best when he is unfettered, and he has the head coach’s blessing to utilize his creativity and impressive puck skills. In that sense, the heavy emphasis on structure in Arizona probably made it a bad fit for Ribiero from the outset. But in Nashville, he has rediscovered his game, and is being rewarded for his play. He sees the most ice time among any forward on the team, and he is second in power-play time on ice only to superstar defenseman Shea Weber. Ribeiro also handles important puck-handling duties, and his ability to spot passing lanes before they open allows the high-level scorers on his wings to work off the puck.

What happens after this season when Ribeiro becomes a UFA, and for how many years Nashville would want to sign the veteran center, are up for debate. But in the present, he has dramatically sharpened the Predators’ offensive saber with his ability to create scoring chances off the rush and cycle, and for his distributing skills which complement his linemates’ elite finishing ability.

The Predators are a threat in the Western Conference and have played the old guard very evenly. This iteration is markedly different than the Predators who were built around Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Martin Erat, and David Legwand. These guys are faster, more skilled, and can strike quickly. And that has everything to do with Nashville finding their top center on the cheap last summer.

This precept is being flipped on its head. The NHL aging curve continues to veer younger as the game becomes more skill-centric and less physically taxing. In this piece, IH focuses on five, 20-year-old defensemen on Stanley Cup contenders and playoff teams who are playing salient roles in their teams’ success. With the exception of Seth Jones, it can be argued that each of them is his team’s best defenseman.

Note: Buffalo Sabres’ rearguard Rasmus Ristolainen was excluded because his team will be contending for the top pick in the NHL Draft. On a better team, he would have more of a Mirco Mueller – who is 19 years old btw (!) – role.

Hampus Lindholm
“We threw him right into the fire. He was in all situations and kept excelling at it, so we kept him there.” – Head coach Bruce Boudreau

The Anaheim Ducks have the best record in the NHL, and Hampus Lindholm is averaging 22:15 for his time on ice. That is 28 seconds off of the first place Francois Beauchemin’s ice time for a defenseman, but Beauchemin has only played 18 games this season. (Sami Vatanen is playing eight seconds more on average than Lindholm, but Vatanen is older than the seasoned Cam Fowler, which gives Vatanen a healthy three years on Lindholm.)

What makes Lindholm unique is his unwavering confidence in his playmaking. He achieves offense through his effortless mobility as he glides past opposing skaters and protects the puck simultaneously. He moves with gazelle-like grace, eating up ice in several strides and consistently winning the race to where he needs to be. Lindholm calmly keeps the puck in the offensive zone as the Ducks pound away on the cycle – or he impedes an opposing rush chance.

Coach Bruce Boudreau also allows Lindholm to play the type of game he wants to play, which the defenseman has publicly acknowledged. Like a Duncan Keith or Alex Pietrangelo, Lindholm has an offensive bent to his game. But he also has the self-assurance that he has the recovery speed to make the defensive plays when called upon. When a skating lane opens he will take it. But his play is always measured in the context of what is best for his team. If he needs to push the pace he can, but if the offense is clicking and Anaheim would be best served by Lindholm making crisp outlet passes, and displaying his defensive value when the offense loses the puck, he can do that too.

Through 34 games, Lindholm has a 51.6 Corsi, and he has started in the offensive zone less than 50 percent of the time. Last season, he finished 10th in points per 60 minutes for defensemen at five on five, and 4th in primary assists per 60 minutes. This season, his points per 60 minutes numbers are better, as he ranks 7th in that statistic and sits at fifth among primary assists per 60 minutes. ExtraSkater had a statistic last season called setup passes, and Lindholm was a whiz in that, too.

Lindholm is a possession driver, and Beauchemin can thank him for making their pairing thrive. Among all Ducks defensive pairings, the Lindholm and Beauchemin combo has been used the most, per leftwinglock, and using Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com’s WOWY metric, the benefits are evident for Beauchemin.

When the pairing is together, they muster a Corsi of 49.8, which isn’t great, especially for Lindholm. But when Beauchemin plays without Lindholm, his Corsi sinks all the way to 44.2, while when Lindholm plays without Beauchemin, his Corsi rises to 53.0. It does not take much parsing through the numbers to understand that Beauchemin, a veteran stay-at-home blueliner, encumbers Lindholm’s possession numbers.

Lindholm has a tremendous hockey IQ and sees the ice very well – he makes some spectacular plays moments after collecting the puck off the wall. He has some room to improve his decision-making, and his shot is not hard enough, but that will come with more experience and practice.

Still, this is nitpicking. The guy is a hell of a talent who is comfortable assuming puck-handling duties and is a top-notch distributor. At the age of 20, he has many seasons to fine-tune his game.

Olli Maatta
“The last time I saw a rookie defenseman have this kind of an impact was Rob Blake with the Kings (during the 1990-’91 season). We’ve asked him to do more than we ever ask rookies to do: top unit, playing against the top players, killing penalties, playing the power play. And he does it all so well. He’s like no rookie I’ve ever seen.” – Assistant coach Tony Granato

In his “Top 25 players who are under 25,” article, Corey Pronman pegged Olli Maatta’s hockey sense as his best attribute. It’s hard to disagree. Shift after shift, Pittsburgh’s Maatta makes his reads and either delivers a sharp first pass or skates the puck out himself. Even under the duress of a heavy forecheck, Maatta is adept at recognizing when he needs to find an outlet through the middle of the ice, or whether a breakout along the boards is possible.

Maatta’s hockey sense manifests itself in the neutral zone as well. Knowing when to step up and when to retreat is so important, and quite simply, Maatta does not lose his positioning very much. He is very comfortable finding the forwards for the transition or carrying the puck himself.

In the offensive zone, his pliable skill set allows him to unleash a bullet from the point, or creep through the weak side for a backdoor play. He has strength on the puck, and is pivotal to Pittsburgh’s strong cycle game because he can move all around the ice. Maatta can skate, pass, and shoot; he is the full package.

Maatta’s possession metrics are so damn strong when factoring in his quality of competition. Maatta is pitted against the opponents’ top forwards and excels at doing everything possible to neutralize them. While he will never have Erik Karlsson’s flair for the spectacular, Maatta consistently makes the little plays to help his team win.

Jacob Trouba
“Jake had been part of some big goals late in games and he drives the offense and had been part of a power play unit that was getting better.” – Head coach Paul Maurice

Like Lindholm and Maatta, Jacob Trouba is a blossoming star, but unlike those two, he has the skill and one-on-one ability to make a dazzling rush. On December 7th, against the Ducks with Winnipeg down a goal, Trouba ran what basically amounted to a Streak route in football.

He dropped the puck back to Mark Stuart, and charged straight up the ice. Stuart found Adam Lowry with a pass along the half-wall, and Lowry knifed a pass through the middle of the ice to Trouba. Trouba did not receive the puck cleanly, but caught it off the boards and powered toward the net. When he reached just inside the right circle, he snapped a hard wrist shot and dashed toward the crease for the follow-up rebound.

The goal tied the game and forced overtime, giving Winnipeg a valuable point against a conference foe. It should also be noted that the Ducks’ defender who is riding Matt Halischuk into the board is Lindholm. Lindholm did his job, but when Trouba went over him there were two Ducks skaters in proximity to knock him off his path. Neither Ducks skater came close.

Aside from Seth Jones, who is mentioned below, there is not a better 20-or-younger defenseman in the NHL who mixes power and skill like Trouba. He can unleash a cannon shot from the point or he can drill a player around the crease. He was recently put on injured reserve by Winnipeg, which could be a death knell to the team’s season. Trouba has a robust Corsi Quality of Competition and starts less than 50 percent of faceoffs in the offensive zone. Yet, his Corsi is 51.1, better than the other three Jets defensemen who face tough competition.

Another thing to love about Trouba is that he loves to deliver the punishing bodycheck. Lindholm and Maatta are both strong and can definitely provide some pushback, but oftentimes when they disrupt plays it is with their sticks and by keeping tight gaps. Trouba has good fundamentals along with some edge. If a forward and defenseman leave themselves vulnerable, or are dancing with the puck around the net, they are susceptible to a crushing hit by the former Michigan Wolverine.

Finally, Lindholm and Maatta both play large special teams roles; when their teams are up or down a man, they will likely get an opportunity. But Trouba is the focal point of the Jets’ special teams. He is quarterback of the power play, and a strong presence along the back line on the penalty kill.

Jacob Trouba is averaging 23:34 time on ice, and has a strong chance of carrying the mantle as the United States’ best defenseman in the years to come.

Seth Jones
“To be able to help be a part of his future and watch him grow and develop into the player he’s going to be is going to be something special for all of us. For me, and for you, and for the city of Nashville, just a tremendous talent.” – Head coach Peter Laviolette

Seth Jones’ sophomore season has been a fascinating storyline that has fallen a little under the radar. The Predators have been a huge surprise, and their defensive corps has burst onto the scene as one of the NHL’s best – but Jones has seemed to be more of a complementary reason because he’s playing a third-pair role.

Jones is scoreless through 30 games, and while his possession numbers are fantastic, he is fifth among Predators defensemen in time on ice and has very soft quality of competition stats. Jones gets power play and penalty kill time, but his even-strength ice time is well below Shea Weber and Roman Josi, and over two minutes below Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. Frankly, it does not seem like he has fully earned the trust of his coach; Peter Laviolette even gave a seemingly half-hearted endorsement of Jones’ recent play.

Still, Jones is 20, and has time to gain that trust. He is an exceptional skater, and his edge work, especially for his size, is so impressive. Nashville is playing a more up-tempo game with the head coaching change, and Jones’ passing and shooting are tailored to the Predators’ more aggressive style of play.

One of Nashville’s best strengths as a team is that their defensemen consistently find the proper channels to exit the zone, and Jones contributes to that. A swift breakout allows for Nashville to get more offensive zone opportunities. Jones has the ability to dart into space and utilize his puck skills, but he also needs to shoot more. He is averaging barely over a shot a game – unacceptable for someone with his shot.

Jones’ ceiling as a player is as an elite defenseman, but with his impressive size, it would be nice if he had more of a mean streak. He should continue to hone his all-around game, and added bite should come with more experience.

Morgan Rielly
“Alex [Pietrangelo], when he started it was the same thing. Now, Pietrangelo is a different player. He’s a great defenseman and a smart defenseman, because he’s so good in the D-zone and good at picking his spots on offense. Morgan’s going to be the same thing. He just needs more games. Offensively, he’s great.” – Defenseman Roman Polak

Morgan Rielly’s flaws are widely circulated. He commits too many turnovers. He pinches too much. His decision-making is wonky. He slips out of position too often. He gets outmuscled or deked out in one-on-one situations in the defensive zone. But playing under the microscope in Toronto amplifies a player’s problems.

Rielly is far from perfect. In fact, a lot of those shortcomings do rear their head from time to time. But the guy is a hell of a skater, and oozes offensive talent. He is a playmaker who has Duncan Keith-ish edge work, which allows him to sharply change direction and reset the sequence.

Of the five defensemen discussed here, Rielly is the most raw. But his relative lack of polish at this point possibly makes him the most fascinating. Like his role model, Keith, he ascribes to that up-tempo philosophy where he can cut in and out of gaps and whip the puck around like a centrifuge. He has the best Corsi stats on the Maple Leafs’ defensive group, and he makes Toronto a faster team.

He is still finding a balance between when to make a high-risk pass or deke, but the fact that he accomplishes those maneuvers taps into his vast potential. Few defensemen possess his poise and awareness with the puck, or his ability to find the passing lane or sliver of space the second it opens up.

Rielly is the most intriguing because you could see him falling between two extremes: Duncan Keith, a two-time Norris winner and celebrated difference-maker who almost always adds more than he detracts, or Brendan Smith, a mobile, high-risk, high-reward player who drives coach Mike Babcock crazy, but has the skating and skill to drive possession as a top-four defender.

The good news is that all of these defensemen have played less than 150 career games, so we have plenty of time to watch them evolve.

As hockey coverage gets more sophisticated and nuanced, the power play has become a bonus that is appreciated but downplayed. The metrics show that production at even strength has better predictive power for a team’s success, which diminishes the importance of scoring with the man advantage in some evaluators’ eyes. But like the pinky toe, a strong power play is an appendage every successful team would like to possess.

The NHL’s superstar players are prominently featured in their power plays. San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin play very different roles for their teams on the man advantage. Both score a lot on the power play, and the imagined power-play units in this article were configured to best complement their strengths.

What would the Frankenstein power play look like? Each unit’s objective is pursuing maximum output, i.e., SCORING GOALS. How can we utilize the NHL’s greatest skill players in roles where they are most successful?

Here is how IH sees the first and second units functioning: where players would be positioned, what set plays would be run, and what are the first, second, third, and fourth options that would be executed.

Note: IH is well aware that there is no defenseman on the second unit proposed in this article. There was some internal debate as to whether it should be a rule that one defenseman needs to be on each unit, but putting Erik Karlsson on the first unit already indicates that defense is clearly not a priority in this exercise. Although he is a rearguard, Karlsson’s defensive play this season has been about as good as if Malkin switched to defense; his focus has been on offense. So taking that into account, only one blueliner is being used in total.

This is about scoring as many goals as possible and assembling the best shooting, passing, skating, and puck-handling into one all-world amalgamation. The puck movement on both units would be comically good. Even though Shea Weber and his cannon would be a nice touch on the second unit, Malkin’s playmaking and versatility as an offensive supernova make him irresistible.

Zone Entry
The back-side pass on the zone entry when driving the middle should suffice for both units. There is so much talent in both groups that it allows for more ornate zone entries, but for the sake of not wasting precious power-play time or motion, it is best to keep it simple.

First Unit
Zone Setup: 1-3-1
Positioning: Sidney Crosby is set up along the half-wall on the right side; Erik Karlsson is at the point in the middle of the ice; Tyler Seguin is in the slot; Joe Pavelski is the net-front presence; and Steven Stamkos is the right-handed, one-timer sniper on the left-side of the ice.

First Option
“Half-boards Shot or Cross-Ice Pass,” per Hockey Plays and Strategies by Ryan Walter and Mike Johnston
This sequence will be the first unit’s golden goose. It would be unstoppable, and making it this group’s pet set makes perfect sense. Crosby, set up along the half-wall on the right side of the ice, passes to Karlsson at the point, and he passes to Stamkos for the one-timer on the left side.

Alternatively, if coverage sees this coming, Stamkos has the option of halting the slap shot and threading a seam pass to Crosby, likely for a cross-ice one-timer for No. 87. The flight path of the puck is in the shape of a triangle if Stamkos passes it back to Crosby. Any juicy rebounds around the net will be deposited by Joe Pavelski, who is setting the screen and deflecting shots from higher ice.

Stamkos likes to creep even lower than Ovechkin on the power play, like on this play.

If he dips below the dot, that is just fine. The pack of distributors on the ice will find him.

Second Option
Seguin is leading the NHL in goals and points right now, so it is probably a good idea to get him involved. Since Seguin is nestled in the slot and is a right-handed shot, it makes more sense for Crosby to feed him from the right side of the ice. The preliminary motion is similar to the first option, only run in reverse. Stamkos, situated at the top of the left circle near the half-wall, passes to Karlsson, who passes to Crosby (who is on the right side half-wall). Crosby then serves up a puck in Seguin’s wheelhouse as he is sitting in the slot for a one-timer. Bull’s-eye!

Seguin, a natural scorer, relishes that area of the slot and has great instincts for it. This goal is not on the power play, but watch how Seguin pops out here on the second goal. Good luck trying to prevent that.

Third Option
The first two options play to the three players in the middle’s strengths, but Karlsson, the best offensive defenseman in the NHL today, seems unfairly underutilized. That changes now. On the third option, Karlsson is the fulcrum of the man-advantage operation. Karlsson has the choice of passing it to Stamkos or Crosby for some misdirection window dressing, but ultimately he blasts it from the point into the double-layered screen of Seguin and Pavelski. Karlsson has the precision and power on his shot to score from anywhere on the ice, and he is shooting into a two-level screen of players who are incredibly adept at meeting the puck with their stick while its in flight.

This video is a nice montage of three Karlsson plays where he displays deft footwork and finds the shooting lane.

Fourth Option
The net-front presence is an extremely important job, and for some teams, the player in that role’s duty is to screen the goalie, and if possible deflect the puck. But Pavelski is the best net-front presence in the NHL. So as you can imagine, he has more offensive capability than just to screen the goalie and try to wave his stick at incoming shots. This low-release play allows him his moment in the sun.

On this option, Crosby passes to Karlsson, and Karlsson feeds Stamkos. Pavelski then releases from his position in front of the net and sits on the goal line, waiting for Stamkos’ pass from the half-wall to down low. Once Pavelski receives the puck from Stamkos he has three choices: He can pass to Seguin in the slot, dish to a cutting Crosby for the backdoor one-timer, or try a jam play, and preferably shoot off the far pad so Crosby has a chance for the follow-up opportunity.

Pavelski is a right-handed shot so the first sequence is easiest for him. But Seguin is a right-handed shot perched in the slot, so he might prefer the first unit running this in reverse, with Crosby dishing it to Pavelski and Stamkos making himself available for the back-door play. Either way, this play would be dynamite, and all of the players are talented enough to make this surgical in its execution.

Second Unit
Zone Setup: Overload
Positioning: Henrik Sedin is set up along the half-wall on the right side; Daniel Sedin is straddling the goal line; Wayne Simmonds is the net-front presence; Evgeni Malkin is the left-handed shot from the point; Alexander Ovechkin is plopped onto his spot along the left circle – like Stamkos, he is the right-handed, one-timer sniper.

First Option
It seems like heresy that Ovechkin has been shunted to the second unit. But mad scientists can require sacrifices! Plus, Ovie gets to be the centerpiece of the second unit. And the following first option is run by Washington, and has been run over and over again with prolific success.

Ovechkin slips into his spot along the top of the left circle and sets up for the one-timer. Malkin and H. Sedin can play catch, with Sedin feigning an attempt down low to D. Sedin, before they flex it to Ovechkin for the cannon slap shot. That can come by seam pass from H. Sedin or high-low exchange by Malkin. Malkin is a left-handed shot and John Carlson, generally in the point role for Washington, is a right-handed shot, but Malkin is a gifted enough playmaker that there is a lot of confidence on this end that he would get the puck to Ovechkin fluidly. H. Sedin is playing the Nicklas Backstrom role, and both players (H. Sedin and Backstrom) are lefties so that is not an issue as far as cross-ice seam passes.

Second Option
The Sedins do the half-boards interchange. This opens up the possibility of one of the Sedins (the one with the puck) shooting off of the half-wall or dishing the puck back out to Malkin at the point, which allows him to step into a one-timer. If there is a lot of room down low, a Sedin can do a jam play if he sees a ton of room around the goal line. Simmonds is in his tripod position (coined by Doc Emrick) and can score off the loose rebound.

Third Option
The Canucks run the Low-Play option (terminology again from Hockey Plays and Strategies) with Alexander Edler a lot, and often it morphs into a hybrid of the second option; i.e., the half-boards interchange and the Low Play option. With the Low Play option, D. Sedin passes to his brother, who passes to Malkin at the point. Malkin fakes a slap shot and passes the puck back to H. Sedin, who rolls off the wall and fakes a shot before passing to D. Sedin. D. Sedin then can either jam the puck or feed Simmonds in front of the net or pass to Ovechkin for the backdoor play. Essentially, on the second and third options, the Sedins are rolling off the wall or making plays from the goal line. All of this is accomplished in varying degrees and off the Sedins’ patented interchange.

In this video, the Sedins run the interchange and then feed Radim Vrbata for the backdoor play.

They score, so the play was clearly effective – albeit with the caveat that it came against the Edmonton Oilers — but with Ovechkin commanding attention as the back-side presence, this sequence would be a force of nature against any team.

Fourth Option
In a stunning turn of events, Malkin has been a supporting actor in the first three options. Partially, this is because Ovechkin is an assassin on the man advantage and needs the puck, but also it is because of the incredible efficacy of the Sedin interchange. But Malkin is a beast, and it is time to give the man some love.

The fourth option starts with D. Sedin down low. The puck moves gradually from low to high, with Malkin as the intended recipient. D. Sedin passes to H. Sedin at the right side half-wall, and he passes to Malkin, who is stationed on the right side near the point. Malkin gracefully carries the puck toward the center of the ice – he is a gazelle when moving laterally – with the sequence’s crescendo rapidly approaching.

The key to this play is that, as the puck is shuttled up the boards to Malkin, all four skaters crash the net. Malkin brings the puck from the right side to the middle of the ice and cranks a heavy slap shot at the net from the point. Both Sedins are pragmatically moving toward the net, trying to position themselves for the rebound. Ovechkin is doing likewise. Simmonds stays front and center as the screen, with both Sedins coming from the strong side for a rebound and Ovechkin coming from the weak side.

Malkin has one of the best shots in the NHL, and four gifted scorers are swarming the net. This play would be horrifying for the opposition.

Closing Thoughts:
Scoring at five on five is an important way to gauge a team’s Cup legitimacy, but the otherworldly skill sets of the NHL’s marquee superstars are often more visible on the power play. The man advantage allows for coaches to get creative in how they manufacture space, and enables them to devise fun sets to get their best shooters and passers in positions and roles that play to their best attributes. When working with two units stocked with the game’s greatest talents, putting them into positions where they would thrive was the easy part.