What do Alex Nylander, Leon Draisaitl and Elias Pettersson have in common? All three are young offensive difference-makers for their respective Western Conference team. But their games also share a specific growth opportunity that could make them even more exciting and effective in the playoffs.
Whether in terms of NHL point production or underlying statistics, few would argue Alex is the lesser of the two hockey-playing Nylander brothers. Yet in terms of their raw skillset, not much separates Alex and older brother William. Both possess above-average straight-line speed, bullet shots and lightning-quick hands. However, William has blossomed into one of the premier 5-on-5 right wingers in the league, while Alex is just now securing a top-six role in Chicago.
Why? It all comes down to the first touch.
In the first clip, Nylander (No. 92) receives a breakout pass in the middle of the ice, an ideal situation for a skilled player looking to spearhead the rush. While Nathan MacKinnon, Mat Barzal or big brother William would hold the middle, build speed and wait for the opposing defensemen to commit, Nylander shows a lack of patience and immediately sprints toward the outside lane after getting his first touch. His powerful stride was enough to carry him cleanly around a defender back in the OHL, where he scored 75 points in 57 games in 2015-16, but against NHL competition he must settle for a contested dump-in. With the puck out of his hands he is hard-pressed to influence the action. San Jose regains possession and Chicago finds itself on the back foot.
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At 0:12 in the video above, Nylander is the recipient of an excellent cross-ice feed from Patrick Kane. As in the first sequence, he steps toward the wall on his first touch before correcting himself and attacking the middle. But this momentary hesitation costs him dearly. Two Sharks converge and Nylander must once again settle for a dump entry. This is a sub-par move in the eyes of Kane, who would have preferred him to change speed and cut laterally to relieve the pressure and maintain possession.
Later in the same period (0:16 in the video) Nylander plays give-and-go with Kane in the neutral zone. He takes the middle after catching Kane’s pass but should have made better use of the space in front of him. Instead of forcing the two Sharks defensemen to skate backward a bit longer, he forces a return pass through the backchecking F3, narrowly avoiding a turnover and once again putting Kane in a bind.
On the offensive-zone retrieval at 0:23, Nylander makes first contact with the puck in the middle of his body, which takes away his ability to take an explosive crossover or cutback to evade the first defender. His only choice is a blind backhand rim toward the back of the net. Dylan Strome jumps on the puck in double coverage; his hope play to Kane in the slot is picked off by San Jose.
Once Nylander is able to make a successful first play, however, his game comes alive. Starting at 0:30 he shows high-end vision and hand skills by creating space and playing between checks in the offensive zone. But at 0:34 he once again blunders by catching a puck in the middle of his body with both feet planted. Unable to turn his feet and attack the near post, his only option is to feed a teammate in the slot area. Kane is available as the high F3 but the San Jose DZ coverage reads Nylander’s mind, collapses and kills the play.
Leon Draisaitl had an NHL-best 110 points in the 2019-20 regular season, but even he has room to grow when it comes to getting his body organized on his first touch. Look at the images below:
Draisaitl initially errs by catching the puck in the mid-line of his body. As mentioned earlier this prevents Draisaitl, a stiff-legged skater, from being able to cut both ways. He commits to a right-hand turn, shifts his weight and digs into his left skate’s inside edge. This is a difficult posture to get out of, even for an athlete as strong as the 6-foot-2, 208 pound German. He bleeds off speed, as evidenced by the ample ice shavings in the second frame, and has to cross his hands (a cardinal sin when carrying the puck) in order to make a pass.
Miraculously, not only does Draisaitl manage to find an Oilers teammate with his feed, but seconds later the play culminates in a Kailer Yamamoto rebound goal. Such is the skill and offensive instinct of the Art Ross Trophy winner.
But more often than not Draisaitl’s sub-optimal initial posture turns routine puck plays into low-percentage ones. At 0:06 in the video above, he receives a pass off the rush with seemingly plenty of room to get a shot off. However, he catches the puck in front of him with his weight centered rather than in his hip pocket, ready to shoot. This poor placement forces him to “dust the puck off” and gives the Flames defenseman time to interject. Seven seconds later he stops a rimmed puck under the Calgary goal line. Once again the puck is centered and he is flat-footed. His pass attempt immediately turns into a Calgary counter-attack.
At 0:20, Draisaitl’s puck placement and feet positioning make his intentions plain as day. Only a late stickhandling adjustment allows him to slip the cross-ice pass under the backchecker’s stick.
He’s one of the league’s absolute best players, elite offensively and brilliant on the powerplay. But he truly sucks defensively, and a model isn’t broken for acknowledging it. pic.twitter.com/yLXeqrVe97
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 3, 2020
An analytics blogger writing under the pseudonym JFresh notes that a good chunk of Draisaitl’s offensive exploits are cancelled out by his putrid isolated defensive impacts. When I watch Draisaitl play, I do see sense and effort on both sides of the puck. In my opinion, the most logical and effective way to improve Draisaitl’s defensive metrics is to work on his offensive details. If he can better care for the puck and increase his success rates, the Oilers should be better able to control the run of play when he is on the ice.
Canucks sophomore Elias Pettersson already drives 5-on-5 shot volume better than Nylander and Draisaitl. Tipping the scale at only 176 pounds, he is able to control play in the middle of the ice by leveraging his hockey IQ and avoiding unfavorable physical confrontations.
My only area of concern in his offensive game is his tendency to fall onto his inside edges and problem-solve checks with his hands rather than his feet.
Faced with the Islanders’ collapsing NZ forecheck, Pettersson decides to go 1v2 and attempt a carry-in. Like Draisaitl, he centers the ice, shifts his weight into his outside leg and attempts to use his hand skills to overcome Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Turnover.
Below is a better look at Pettersson’ posture, from my book Hockey Tactics 2020:
This A-frame posture limits the puck carrier’s options. They cannot cut back or change speeds, so all a defender has to do is to place a stick where the puck will be in the middle of the ice. Draisaitl or Pettersson’s head coaches won’t soon ask them to change their approach, but a lesser player showing this technical flaw may be told to “simplify their game” and dump the puck in.
In the offensive zone, however, Pettersson makes excellent use of posture and puck placement.
Fading backward toward the left corner, Pettersson catches a pass with his backhand and blends his first touch seamlessly into a pivot. This delicate skating manoeuver allows him to protect the puck while moving to safety behind the opposing net, where he can survey the ice and prepare his next play.
When taking on bigger, stronger opponents along the boards, Pettersson uses a bit of trickery to emerge with the puck.
Catching a rimmed puck in the middle of the body would surely spell disaster for the lanky Swede, so he allows the puck to roll to his backhand side. Once the puck is parallel to his right foot, he immediately taps it toward his forehand wing, initiates contact by pushing into the defender, then rolls off the hit with the puck still in his possession. A brilliant move by a heady player.
(Top photo: Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images)