The Hockey PDOcast - How Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights Are Getting the Best Out of Each Other

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Darryl Belfry to talk about how Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights have been able to get the most out of each other, his evolution as a player off the puck, the way Vegas uses him, and why his particular skill set was instrumental in helping transform them into a team that could win the Stanley Cup. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovic. Welcome to the Hockey-Pedio-Cast. My name is Dimitri Filippovic and joining me for the Monday special in the PEDOCast. It's my good buddy, Daryl. What's going on, man? Excited to be back. Another really good one today. I'm excited for it.

Well, we're coming off a banger episode last week that we did, Sasha Barkoff, and people really enjoyed it. And I think that was not only us at our best, but that was why we're doing this show, right? the details, especially off the puck to make Barkoff so special and so it was really fun to do that. And this week, we are going to do Jack Eichel. We're going to talk about his transformation as a player,

his glow-up last postseason and how he's carried it over this year. I think he's such an interesting player for us to study and the reason I wanted to do him is obviously the rush ability and his ability to create and transition and the point totals and all of that is certainly flashy and

warranting a conversation on its own. But I think there's so many other little kind of like details and considerations for us here to to parse and study so i'm looking to getting into it with you um what sticks out to you with ikel what do you want to start with in terms of like things that catch your eye when you watch and play or things that that we need to talk about right off the hop well i mean like originally when jack ikel first came into league he was you know he was so electric off the rush i mean that skating was was unbelievable blue line to blue line and and he played very like plays his offense like on the outside which which is interesting like he he does a lot of pull-ups

he's on the back wall a lot he drives the outside he'll turn up in the in the offensive corner and walk up the boards like playing off the half wall so what's interesting to me about ikel in what i thought was fascinating in in not only his transformation i thought last year and then into the playoffs, which I thought he was unbelievable in the playoffs. And then now into this year is he's one of those players who can play so effectively and generate so much offense from the outside, but yet has found a way to become much more defensively responsible, which is very difficult to do. When you're a half wall player, a back wall player, you're going to play off the delay

or the corners. And then now the puck turns over. you're in a bad spot to be defending from. And I think early on in his career, especially when he was in Buffalo, he got a lot of heat for that because it was very difficult for him to shake that he wasn't engaged

when I think he was. He was just trying to figure it out. And now I think he struck a very unique balance of a player who can play in those areas of the ice offensively as a center, but yet still find a way to be able to contribute defensively, which I thought last year his playoff was unbelievable. It was similar to the McKinnon the year before in that way.

Yeah, watching him play that actually is exactly what it made me think of because I remember you speaking to me about the just effort level and energy expenditure it takes to play that way not only night tonight, but shift to shift, right? And I think it's probably a lot easier, I imagine, doing so when you're in this type of environment when you're on your true Stanley Cup contender when like last postseason the Stanley Cup is within sight right you're competing for it there's so much talent around you by all accounts it sounds like Bruce Cassidy is a big part of this as well because he's a very no nonsense coach and he has specific requirements and asks that and he won't tolerate anything less than that

and so you put that all together and and he really took that step last postseason and he's carried it over this year as well in the regular season and it's very impressive just seeing like him get on his horse and hound puck carriers when he's considering the amount of distance he's having a cover right sometimes he's on that back wall in the offensive zone and all of a sudden he's having to come back provide that back pressure and then stick to the guy driving the middle lane and either knock him off the puck or provide enough sort of resistance and obstruction there to stop the play in its tracks and so just seeing him do that time and time again it's it's really cool to see that for a player who's now what 27 years old healthy in his prime and it's really put it all

together both on and off the puck. Yeah, that's what I see. I see the maturity in his game to be able to do that. And I do attribute a lot of that to a couple things. I think one, the environment in Vegas is one in which he doesn't have to be the be all and end all, which when he first came in the league and was playing in Buffalo, that he was really the savior there. That was a complete dumpster fire that he was walking into.

and then, you know, he doesn't handle himself very well early on in the, in interviews and that he kind of takes on the target role. And all of a sudden, you know, it's a bad situation there. And then he goes to Vegas and they just have created an environment that allows him to feel like he's just a part of the, a part of the problem, a part of the solution. And I think that that's what he needed at that time. he had spent so much time by trying to be the guy, the savior. And they go, listen, we just need you to do these things. And that's all we need from you. And he has just taken off.

But I don't think it can be overstated how difficult it is to generate so much of your offense from the walls and still be able to track guys across the ice, break up plays, create transition. and then be the first guy back in the defensive zone and do that for however many games they played in the playoffs last year and then to carry that over this year, I think it's incredibly impressive. That's why I put them in that category with McKinnon from the year previous where I thought McKinnon had really set the bar for centermen

in the NHL about how to play both ways. And then Ikel comes in the very next year and does exactly the same thing. but I mean, he's a guy who skates so well and it's effortless skating. Like it's it's not effortless, but it looks effortless. And he's flying and he can take the corner on you. He gets you to pivot and then he pulls up and then he has all the passes. He can sauce it. He can go cross ice.

He has every little touch pass that you need. It allows him to make other people better. and then he can really shoot it. Like I love the way he shoots the puck. So he's a complete package player who they, who that's what he was advertised as. But it takes like it just shows how hard this league is. It's a really hard league.

And a lot of times that environment makes all the difference. And in this case, I think that was the biggest factor is the environment in Vegas has really helped him. Well, one final note on the defensive stuff. and then we'll get into all of those skills and all the puck stuff that you mentioned there. I think something that shouldn't be discounted is like the pride that top players take in being used

in these like high leverage key defensive situations as well, right? And I think he's spoken about that as well where, and they didn't necessarily have to lean on that hard last postseason actually because they got to use that Marcia So, Iko, Barbashev line in more offensive situations because they had the benefit of having guys like William Carlson and then Stevenson and Steevinson. to handle a bit more of the defensive assignments. But you see this year, now he's playing with Stone on the 5-1-5 line the past 10 games or so.

On the penalty kill, he's already played more short-handed minutes this season than he ever has in a single season previously in his career. And we're not even at the 30-game mark. They're using him with William Carlson on that top PK unit. Those two guys look amazing. He's essentially seamlessly stepped into the role that the Riley Smith used to occupy there. And it's a big reason why Vegas is, I believe, third in the league. in goal suppression on the PK. And so he's really being used that way as well, right?

And I think that's kind of like a measuring stick for some of these top guys, because obviously the points and the highlights and everything is one thing. But especially for these top centers when you get into that conversation and the way they think of themselves and the way they want other people to think and talk about them, this is a key part of that, right? It can't just be all the fun stuff. It has to be the hard work as well. Yeah, I mean, the ultimate leverage in the NHL, in my opinion, is to have a centerman, your top centerman, be able to play and produce against anybody.

So whether the opponent wants to play some like third line checking center who's only going to spend all their time, just making sure that you don't touch the puck and you try to take away your focus and all your puck touches. if you can produce against that guy, then that's a big leverage. And then to be able to go against the other team's top player and be the best player in the series is the ultimate leverage. You just need your centerman to just be able to do that. And that's what Ikel, I thought, did last year. He just was, I mean, Marcossoe was the Konsmite trophy winner

and rightfully so I thought he was fantastic. But my pick was Eichel. Ike. Ikel really changed everything there. And because he was able to play against anybody and he could play it defensively, he could still produce offensively. And I thought there were times in which he just dominated, which was in both ends of the rank.

And that's just to me, that's the ultimate leverage in the NHL is to not have to worry about your top guy, that your top guy is going to be okay. no matter what the opponent does, he's going to be able to still produce and still be a factor in winning. Well, it's interesting as you watch these clips kind of comparing and contrasting to Barkaw,

who we talked about last week, because part of his brilliance is tying it into that Florida defensive system and their for-check we talked about, right, where he basically patrols the middle of the ice conventionally between the two dots at both ends of the ice, and he lets the play come to him, and then with his reach and his ray and his range, is Ray and she's able to basically just be like a safety in the middle of the ice and

completely control traffic. What you're seeing from Michael here is is totally different where he's often coming just completely out of frame, right? In some of these instances, he's so far out of the play because he was so deep offensively or he was along the wall and then the puck quickly gets transitioned going towards their end. And all of a sudden he's coming, flying out frame back checking and just erasing guys and taking them off the puck and and that's i mean part of that is a skating ability right and then part of that also is is combining those offensive requirements of his with all of a sudden this work ethic defensively and putting it all together and that's why it's been so special so i wanted to start off with that because i think this is like the less glamorous

part of things but i do think this is it's not it's not a trope this is true this is like the step he took last year and what he's carried over now and what's made him just such a different player the season. It's just, like I said, it's incredibly difficult to be to play this way. This is not easy to do night in and night out because so much of his natural offensive instincts are to play from the outside in. He likes to be on the outside and he, he's very comfortable out there. And then so having your offensive game become very, it's perimeter base, but he's not a perimeter player, but he's on the outside and he generates so much from there and then coming inside to then be able to track and win pucks back and stuff. It's incredibly difficult to do that,

especially when you're playing against the other team's top players who are, who are very good offensively as well. It's very difficult to do that. And there's like you would, in my mind, I was expecting him to have to change or adapt a lot of what he does offensively to be able to do both. And the fact that he was able to figure out how to still stay in his wheelhouse offensively in the where he's most comfortable offensively and yet still have this defensive responsibility is a credit to both him and I think the Vegas nights.

I think the coaching staff and the environment there, those guys obviously did an unbelievable job with him and his teammates and the level of encouragement you need because you're going to make mistakes. You're going to get caught behind the play. You're going to, you know, that's a process. You don't just wake up one day and go, you know what? I think this is what I'm going to do. There's things that need to be figured out in terms of timing and spacing.

Like we said with Barkoff, like Barkoff, if it looks like it, remotely might not be a play that's definable, meaning one team has the puck or the other team has the puck, he's immediately reloading into the defensive position. Ikel is not going to do that. He is going to hang around in some spots and he's going to wait it out and he's going to see and he's going to trust his skating ability and he's going to trust his instincts of when to leave and when to bail out to do that. And there's going to be, there's a rub there. There's going to be a time where it's not going to work out. And to have a, you know, he has to be supported to figure out those, those things.

And people have to believe that he's capable of being able to do both and have that foresight. But what he did, I think was really incredible. And it is a fascinating study on a guy like him because in the end, he really made very few offensive tradeoffs, which you would have fully expected him to have to do. given where he really likes to play. And I think that's really fascinating. Well, yeah, part of that is just the privilege of being able to get around the ice the way he can.

But I think the other key point you hit there was Vegas is just such a well-oiled machine in terms of the way they operate, particularly in transition on and off the puck, where there's going to be very few times where if he does get caught deep or he's kind of hanging around a little bit too long to see an offensive play through, there's always going to be someone back and also the way they just move as a five-man unit is so interesting in transition.

Now, that's been the case for them pretty much since inception, right? Like literally from year one, when they made that Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup final, they were a team that attacked off the rush. What I find interesting about them, it kind of comes with Bruce Cassidy being hired as their coach last year

and then Ico kind of coming into his own the way we talked about as well is they've very, they underwent a very big philosophical change at both ends of the ice. They used to be such a shot quantity team where they were comfortable just keeping the puck on the outside, taking a ton of shots in transition. As soon as they got in the zone, just take the first shot, even if it's not necessarily the best one you're going to get. And they just trying to try to wear you down through a volume perspective. And they kept bumping into these obstacles and hurdles and road bumps in the playoffs against either good defense.

teams or goalies that were playing really well, and it became a real bug boo for them. And one of the big changes they made was going from a shot quantity team to a shot quality one, right? And now you look both offensively and defensively, they're amongst the best teams in the league at controlling that home plate area in the inner slot where defensively, they won't let you get there at all. And then offensively, they're doing a much better job of getting the puck in there. And I think this is where a guy like Eichl ties in because it's one thing for a coach, to come in and say, all right, we need to get better shots, right? We need to try to get the puck into the inner slot.

I think every team knows that and every team wants to do that. But you actually need the individual talent and problem solvers like Eichol, who can start on the outside the way you're describing and then find a way either through stick handling and skating or just elite skills that they have to get the puck into those high danger areas, right? And I think that is probably beyond all the defensive stuff we've already talked about. that's probably where he allowed this team to take the biggest strides last season into this year. Well, I think that's well said.

I also think that what goes under the radar as it relates to last year specifically is when he was playing so much with Marsa Sol. Marsa Sol is a forward, a winger who likes to play in the middle of the ice. Jack Eichol is a center who likes to play. who likes to play on the outside. That is a beautiful combination. What would be awful and happens a lot is where the center wants to play in the middle and the winger wants to play in the middle.

And then you run into these problems where there needs to be switches at the right time and there needs to be, you know, the guys coming off the wall and attacking and there's just a lot of nuance that goes into that when that's the case. When Marsa So was coming off the boards, it was music to,

music to Eichl's ears because now he's in the middle of the ice. He could give it to Eichol on the outside. Eichl's passing ability is underrated. As good as it is, as good as he is, it's underrated how well he can pass a puck. He can put it in seams. He can pass it through traffic. He has one unbelievable saucer pass that he can,

use with touch or with distance. And it really did open up that slot area. And Marcosso's loves the middle of the ice. He attacks through the middle of the ice with speed. He's got obviously great scoring ability. And he's fast and can get through that middle of the ice quickly. And it requires some touch to be able to find a guy like that who so consistently wants to play there.

And so you get a guy like Eichel who has the skill set that he has and you put it with a guy who wants to play in the middle of the ice. To me, that, to me, that's huge. The other thing, too, is that that Vegas defense is so good. And where I think they're really good is they create a lot of reentry situations. Like a lot of your rush chances that are on your edit that you put together and the videos that I watched when I watched Eichel myself, especially in the playoffs last year and even this year,

There's so much re-entry as their rush chances. It was an offensive zone sequence that now the opponent is not able to exit cleanly. They have to chip it out or they try to skate it out and they get rubbed out. And now the puck is in the neutral zone and now it's going to transition and get going the other way. Now you're getting Eichol with speed coming back against a vulnerable defense where they're not, they don't have the right gaps that they want. They're not in great positions. And it allows him to all of a sudden attack the middle of the ice effectively both off the pass.

And there's times where he catches defensemen in awkward gap situations where he makes it look like he's going to go to the outside. But then he has so many like quick little moves that allow him to get the middle. And he'll he'll turn a reentry into a breakaway or a short two on one into the end because he can beat that defenseman who's in some awkward and vulnerable positions. And that's why I think for Vegas, it all fits for, it all fits for Ikel because you got guys like Marcoso who want to play in the middle, which really helps him. And then you also have a unbelievably strong defense corps who creates a lot of reentry opportunities for him, which creates a lot of vulnerability in the defenders, allowing him

to take full advantage. and I've been saying he's on the outside. He's not really, I don't want anyone to ever think he's a perimeter guy because he really isn't. He's comfortable out there. But if you give him a crease, he is coming to the middle with those hands and that body and skating ability. He is a lot to handle in the middle of the ice. No, he makes a lot of his plays on the outside in terms of like that's where the origin of it is. But the end goal is always either he himself teleporting into the inside of the ice,

or him getting the puck to a teammate there, right? And I think that's a really important distinction. You know, a lot of the concepts you mentioned on Marsha So, I think, also apply to Mark Stone. Like they flip-plop those two guys 10, 15 games ago. And like last year, those two played together at the start of the year, their 5-1-5 numbers were through the roof. Then they split them up. And obviously, Marsha So and Ikel had a ton of success in the playoffs together. But Stone's also a guy who is always above the puck, is always in the middle of the ice,

and essentially plays like a center even though he's a winger, which is why. It's always funny that for years, he never got the Selky love he deserved because he's a winger on the depth chart. But really, he may as well just be a center for them. The other thing that I love about those two, and I think applies more to Stone than maybe a Marsha's so in playing with Eichol is he's one of the best players in the world, if not the best, at flipping the ice on change of possession. Right. So when Stone gets a steal, we all, like I've always put together the supercuts of him just taking the puck from people. And it's just amazing how effortlessly he seems to do it in a variety of ways. But the reason why it's so effective is because as soon as he gets that steel, his head is up.

And he already kind of knows because he's shoulder checked or he's gotten a good mental image of who's on the ice. He knows where the puck is going right away. It's not like he's stealing it, settling it down and then figuring out what to do. And that works so well with Eichol speed because, and that's why I think Stone and Stevenson, it worked so well together over the years because he gets that steel change of possession. Boom, it's going up the ice. and all of a sudden now you're tapping at dikels pace and his transition ability. And so I just wanted to make that note of like why I love those two guys together and how fun they are to watch. But yeah, I mean, part of Vegas's charm is that they're just blessed with this like embarrassment of riches and luxury of options.

And this is just one of them. Yeah, you know what? And like again, like you get a guy like Stone who's going to extend possessions in the offensive zone. He's going to get steals. So people are not really in good defensive positions. Like you said, after the steel, he makes a good play. And so now you get Eichel with competitive advantages in terms of speed and spacing and positioning. And that just allows him to really start to run wild offensively.

And, you know, he's also sprinting back through the middle of the ice himself to contribute defensively. So he's already moving really well. So it creates this whole transition juggernaut that makes them very, very difficult. call. We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about Eichel's shot. Did you want to dig into that now or you want to, where do you want to go? Well, just let me one more quick note while we're kind of on this theme of outside

to inside and then we're going to get into a full section on the rush. I just wanted a note because this happened last year and it's happening once again where if you look at just raw like shot attempt chair, they're 19th in the league and it's like, all right, this is nothing special. They're not really controlling the puck. Then they're 12th in shots on goal. their fifth in high danger chances,

their third and inner slot shots, and their fourth and goals, right? And so you can see that escalation of, like, as the quality and the danger of the shot improves, that's what they're controlling and what they're focusing on. And so part of that is defensively with that decor and the way they play,

and then part of that is IECO's ability to create those high danger chances. Let's get into the rush stuff because I think, you know, obviously it's world class and there's so much good stuff to look at here, both from how much creates for himself and his teammates,

the fact that I think he leads to the league or he's second right now in penalties drawn. He's got 16 of them already in 29 games, and he just puts you in such a bind in terms of having to reach and hook and try to obstruct and slow it down because you can't keep up with him. What sticks out to you when you watch him

in terms of his creation off the rush? Because it's worked so well with the way Vegas has always wanted to play as we talked about, but also I think it's provided them with an added layer of kind of like sophistication and nuance that they didn't really possess before they got a player with his with his talent level. So what stands out for me with Eichol in the rush game is he has tremendous patience. And so he will wait you out to make the perfect pass.

And he will so he can he can pull up and he can find people late. He can accelerate in the zone at a high speed. He can slow down to create passing lanes. He can make plays to people behind him while he's still advancing towards the net. One of the things that really impresses me about Eichol that I think is really understated for a lot of players with that level of skill is he can pass at all areas of his stick handling range. So he can pass with the puck close to. to his feet. He can pass in all the distances all the way to the outside where his hands are

fully extended off of his body and he can hook a pass around somebody's ankles. He has ability on his off wing to hold the puck in what we've talked about when we went through the whole Kuturoff thing in that loaded position behind him. He's very comfortable with that range. He has, he can go from his forehand to his backhand back to his forehand with a lot of control to both shoot it and to pass it. So you think about how tall Eichel is. You think of how great his skating is. And then you look at he's a guy who actually, he's a tall guy who uses a tall stick. So you don't expect him to be able to have all that kind of range.

And he has all of it. So he can make a play in all of his range. And that is very, very dangerous because what it does is it allows him to be patient or to create a play or a pass that others wouldn't be able to make. So when you're able to create something that is largely off the table for most given your range, that in itself creates patience. because now you can, you know, you can create some deception, you can pull people into certain positions, you can wait for the time in which your support gets there, and then you can find a pass or manufacture a pass that needs to be there. He doesn't rely solely on, you know, saucer passes. He can pass it any which way you want, and he can do it from either side. So what impresses me

about him off the rush is his passing ability and his patience. And the way in which he manipulates his speed and the patience and puck he can protect the puck so effortlessly because of his body and his skating and his hands. I mean, he just, he's not, you're not going to force him into a pass. You're not, you're not going to rush him into a play. He can be patient. And I think to be really effective off the rush, patience, active patience, I think is critical, which is the ability to, you're not just waiting, you're manufacturing a play that needs to be made.

And I think he has that ability. And that's what impresses me most. And that's been such a fundamental skill to when I say like their rush attacks become so much more sophisticated. what we don't like is when teams are just exclusively north-south from the perspective of yeah it's good that you're getting on the move and transition and creating rush opportunities but if it's just the guy skating into a shot where the other goal he knows it's coming and he can easily defend it it's not necessarily that dangerous you're kind of doing yourself a disservice what ikel's brought to the table here is a lot of what you're talking about where he's

gotten so strong he can keep a defender on his hip pocket he keeps his head up surveys he's protecting the puck, and then he can either wait and hit someone cross-seam because Vegas is now attacking in layers in transition, or oftentimes you'll see him sort of stop up and then hit that trailer, right, whether it's Shia Theodore or when he's playing with him or Petrangelo, and then all of a sudden, you're not only going to east-west, but you're got, have this guy coming in downhill, it's a new player you got to account for, and it's going to be a much more dangerous opportunity, typically in the middle of the ice, right? And so I think that's been a huge part of this and that's, I think,

I've been a massive development for Vegas. What's interesting to me is I was talking about this a lot last postseason during their runs at a cup final, in particular in the West Final against Dallas. And it was what you see in a lot of these clips where I think he much prefers to attack off the rush on his offside. So he's a right shot, but I think he loves coming in down on the left wing.

The reason why that's interesting to me is I think you can, there's about a hundred rush examples here that I've put together. I think you can probably count on one hand how many times he actually decided to continue going down his offside on his backhand and attacking the net that way. He really seems to show no interest or desire in actually doing that, right? Because he wants to get into the middle of the ice. So he's starting outside, he's moving in. And so what he loves to do is either stop short and then walk along the blue wall.

or loop back the way you said or sometimes even come out of the zone and regroup and then try to attack that way. And so it's really interesting just seeing that because it's, it kind of runs a bit counter, I guess, to the way we think about rush attack and also top players where we've spoken about a lot of guys like a Kucharov who seeks out opportunities almost to make plays on his back end. And in this case, I think I call it has a talent level to do so. But he always just finds a way with that patience to put himself in a spot where he's attacking in the type of the exact situation where he prefers and he never lets the defender force him into a spot he doesn't want to be in.

Yeah, like he, I don't think, I don't think, well, the way I view it with him is that he has such an ability to be able to manufacture these passes in all kinds of different ways because of his range that he knows he could just bring the puck back into his forehand and make that next play. And I think that that's the best part's the worst part. The best part is he has that ability. The worst part is he probably doesn't make as many backhand plays as he probably could

or the situation might even call for it at times where a backhand play is really good. He uses his backhand to set up his forehand. So there's a lot of times where he'll go to the backhand to pull the puck back to the forehand. He'll use that to get the puck back into the middle of the ice. He uses it to change the angle. Sometimes he'll catch the puck on the backhand. The pass was ahead of him.

He'll catch it. We call it a two touch where he'd go backhand forehand. And he has all those skills. And he can do it at all different speeds. But the other thing that I think is really interesting with a guy like Eichol is one of the hardest guys to defend on the rush is the latest late guy who's wide. So, you know, when you were talking about teams. that get, you know, unsophisticated rush, North rush offense is literally dead straight line going down. And there's no real thought to make a play to anything behind you.

Everything is going forward, forward, forward. And either the puck carrier is ahead of F2 or F2 gets ahead and they play like a little two on one going to the net. What Ikel's so good is he can, he has so much poise and so much patience and his reach and range. give him so many more different types of options that he can allow this play to materialize. And a guy who, you know, when we think of players joining the rush, we think of like, they join the rush at the beginning of the rush. And then now they're actively in the rush. Ico finds guys that weren't originally thinking that they were going to be in the rush,

but because of his poise and his patience and how much time he takes at times, sometimes he'll pull up or whatever the case, may be. Now all of a sudden they realize, you know what? Like, I could be in this play. It's two hard strides. Next thing you know, they're an option. And he has an ability off the rush to utilize the whole zone. And that means players beside him, anybody that might be in front of him. And then, of course, people who are behind him.

That's really a fascinating aspect of his rush game that I think is what makes him. and Vegas so much more dangerous because he has that capacity. And obviously he's got, I mean, not only the skills where he can kind of make, make you look silly and dangle around you, but also just the raw speed and the easy pace, right? Like he covers so much ground where, and it can be deceptive at times just because he makes it look so easy where I imagine there's like a level of self-preservation for an defender where you respect what he's capable of.

So you sag back a little bit. and that ties it and that plays directly into what he's hoping for when he's coming down that off-wing where now he's got space to stop up and probe into the middle. It's funny. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on the show before, but I was talking about this concept so much during that West Final last year because he was just torching all of Dallas's defenders with like the same play over and over again.

And I was wondering, I was like, why don't they just almost like in basketball where you, you slant so hard in the opposite direction where you force, the guy to go on his week hand just to see if he's going to do it and he's to be willing to beat you that way. And obviously it's more difficult to do it off the rush

against a talent like Ico, but I got a friend of the podcast, Sean Shapiro, who was at the Stanley Cup final to ask Ivan Barberchav just like off to the side during one of those scrums about it and playing with Ikel and how he was doing that against Dallas. And it was very telling that Barbershap

just gave him like a smirk and he was like, I don't think we should talk about that. And so it's, it's interesting because obviously all these teams do scouting and preparation, right? And especially for a playoff series where you're playing the same team over and over again, you understand all the players' tendencies in the way they're going to want to beat you. But it's just in Eichol's case, I think it's so, on the one hand, you can beat you in so many different ways. But on the other, so much of it starts with like the one same simple play.

And then he does a bunch of stuff off of it. And so it's really interesting to just think about how he plays mind games as a defense. offenders and how he's able to constantly put them in these compromising situations that they probably don't want to be in certainly but find themselves in time and time again. Well, what you're what you're talking about is like I've never studied or I shouldn't say that. I should say I've yet to study a guy who's considered to be in the upper echelon of the NHL who doesn't have something along those lines where they have a root.

play that they go to over and over and over and over again. And that's the start of it. And then once they're in it, then there's situational plays and options that they then employ. So once they get into it, then it's just what's this situation? What are the numbers? What's the space? What's the time on the clock?

you know, it's those types of considerations, and then they execute their next movement. And sometimes it looks random, but it's not. Like how they got into it, they've done that maybe 20 times over the course of those like two or three games. They just keep going into it over and over and over again. But when you watch all 20 of those instances,

they're all, the end play is slightly different all the time. And that's the situational aspect of it. And the root, the root habits are what's so important to study. It's so important to understand that because that's your insight into how the player actually thinks. And what you're talking about is just that. Like he is able to manufacture this one situation over and over and over again. And then once he's in it, well, who knows what he,

what might happen. He doesn't know what's going to happen. He's going to react based on the situation, and then he's going to manufacture the best play he can based on the assets he has available to him in terms of time, space, numbers, time on the clock, etc. I want to talk to you about his shot and the mechanics of it and his finishing and all that

because he clearly has, I mean, he's a highly gifted player. We've spoken a lot about his passing and his distribution. he's got the shooting calendar. And when you see him, especially from a set position, when he's able to get one off, he can pick his spot and beat a goalie cleanly. And he's clearly got that in his bag.

Now, it seems odd to say for a player who I think last year scored at like a 33 goal pace. This year he's around 34. His career high was that pre-pandemic season in Buffalo. They got shortened where he scored like 36 goals in 65 games or something like that. Like he's got scoring chops, yet he has historically been a slightly below average shooter.

This year he's under 10% again. And for perspective, forwards are at about 11.8% the season. And I think part of that is, you know, it ties into what we talked about where he's on the outside, look in a big play. So sometimes he'll sort of not waste a shot, but he'll try to shoot it off of a goalie's pad to either get a rebound or set up someone later on the sequence, right, just to get the puck off the boards. And so I think that suppresses his shooting percentage a bit.

But also I find that off of these rush plays, and this happened last postseason where I think he would have won the cons might if he had just been able to bury some of his breakaway and two-on-one opportunities, but he kept getting these chances time and time again and not scoring on them. And you love when a player puts themselves in that position. But I do wonder about his shot off the rush, because it feels like he scores on it, like an ordinarily low percentage of the time.

And I'm not sure what to attribute that to. I know you and I have spoken quite a bit in the past about that being something that was, you know, a bit of a source spot for a guy like Nathan McKinnon earlier in his career and then little tweaks to the mechanics and what he was trying to accomplish off the rush, all of a sudden totally blew the door open

and changed his school scoring profile. I'm not sure that's ever going to happen with Ikel and if this is a thing or not. But it just seems to me like watching all these clips and watching him play that he gets himself in that spot time and time again and then doesn't necessarily get the most optimal shot off or whatever reason. Well, I think his number one suppressor for goal scoring is spacing.

He often, because he wants to pass so much and he's looking to make plays and alike, and oftentimes when he is like in a half breakaway or he's in a two on one, his shot distance is too close. By the time he decides that he wants to shoot, he is too close. And so he leaves himself with some awkward spots in which the goalie has a significant advantage. The magic formula for Eichel to be able to get into that range where he is a threat to score 40, 50 goals, which he in my mind has the totally has the skill to do it is,

shot is more than good enough to do such a thing is to understand where the shot distance is that is most optimal and have decisions be made prior to entering that particular part of the ice. So once he gets into that part of the ice, he knows, okay, this is, if I'm going to shoot it, now is the time. And if I'm not going to, and if the play is not there for me to shoot, well, then now I'm going to make another decision. What happens to him, in my mind, when watch him in a lot of the scoring situations that don't work for him is that he attacks the area prior to that he's looking to pass he goes through the prime shooting area because he's still interested in trying to manufacture another play and then now he decides he wants to shoot well then

by that time he's now reduced the space between him and the net there is an optimal place for a guy like ikel particularly the way in which he likes to shoot the point. puck is if he has to be somewhere between, I would say, 18 to 22 feet is probably his most optimal position to shoot. And he often will overrun that position and get it into lower than 15 feet before he actually makes a decision. Now he puts himself in an awkward spot. If he could get into 22, you know, start in at 25 to 22 feet and be in that. range and start looking to shoot, I think that that would dramatically improve because the closer you get to the net, the more fine the shot has to be to go upstairs. It's really hard to go

upstairs when you get close to the net. And you have to change the angle. And the goalie, of course, is, you know, their hands are protruding out in front of them and they just reduce the net. So the goalie has his hands at like knee level what knee level would be or knee height and he's covering the top of the net at when his hands are at his knees but if you go to 22 feet you can't have his hands there the net is now the trajectory of the puck and everything starts to favor the goalie and with his velocity and his release he has the ability to blow it by him with a little bit more range so he he reduces not only when he gets too tight, he reduces his ability to move the puck. He puts himself in a spot where he has to be absolutely perfect. He tries to use his hands, maybe to open up a five hole when maybe there was a better shot that was available previously. And he left a lot of assets off the table in the shot.

Assets, meaning trajectory of the puck, spacing, ability to have minute, small changes of angle that actually create feet of space in terms of shooting. He takes all that off the table. And then his velocity. I mean, at his, the way, how hard it is that he can shoot the puck, the reaction speed of the goalie is at certain distances. He is at the advantage. He shoots the puck harder and releases it quicker than the reaction time of the goalie

would be to be available for him. So, but he'll, he will actively skate through those areas, which is what I think explains a lot of why he sometimes doesn't push over to where you would think, yeah, this guy has a talent to score 50. Why is he not scoring 50? That's my hypothesis on him. Yeah. No, I, I think there's just that there, there's something missing there between what he's clearly

capable of a talent level and, and his shot ability. and then the conversion. And I think this is why it will work. I have a question and you have an answer. And so that makes a lot of sense. But this is the definition of champagne problems, right? Like this guy's got 12 goals and whatever 32 points in 29 games. And we're here talking about how you could probably have a few more goals.

Like I guess when you're in that conversation in terms of the truly elite players, right, you have to start nitpicking and trying to find little edges you can gain here or there to kind of compare yourself with the top like 1%. of your peer group, but ultimately, like, this is in the grand scheme of things, a guy who is constantly getting into one-on-ones with the goalie and two-on-one transition abilities. Like, I think that's a good problem to have even if you're not necessarily scoring on them. So, yeah, I find that really interesting. One more point on that.

One of the things with Eichol is the hardest thing to do in scoring in the NHL is to be an on-stick shooter. So, and you can see a lot of his chances, he's, carrying the puck for long distances into where the shot might be. That's really difficult to do. The goalie is now set. Defenders are set to where he is. And so now he's trying to manufacture a shot from the hardest position to do. The easiest shot to shoot is one that's off the pass that goes the width of the rink. So when it's, you know, from one dot and it crosses the midline and it goes to the other side. And then now you got a chance to shoot that off the pass. Eichael doesn't really get a lot of shots in which, unless it's a power play situation in which he shoots off the pass regularly. It's not something that really does because he's on the puck so much. And he tends to be the architect of the play.

So when you're the architect of the play, unless you can make a play to somebody and then they're going to give it back to you and then now you're going to shoot it, it's hard. But a lot of times, again, he'll make a play. That person doesn't have a shot. They go back to him. Well, by that time, they've advanced closer to the net. And again, it makes it a little bit harder.

So that's another factor. And a way in which Eichel could find more goals is to find situations in which he's off the puck, to position himself in spaces in which he could be the prime. he could be a shooter. So when you look at McKinnon and McKinnon's trajectory over the last few years where he took his goal scoring to another level, you'll notice shot distance was a major factor. And the number of shots in which he takes off the pass is exorbitantly different.

And that doesn't take away from the amount of on-stick times where he blows the doors off your defenseman and takes the puck to the net. So he still has that threat. but now he shoots off the pass. He finds those and manufactures those chances and then also his shot distances much, much better. And I think that those factors weigh into it for those types of guys. Another way is I land at the net, time it so you can land at the net and find rebound,

which is very difficult to do. We make it sound like it's easy like, hey, just go to the net, find rebounds. It's really difficult to do. but that is another way is to try to find some second chance opportunities. But he's making a play. He's in the corner. He's on the half wall. He's not going to be able to make that play and then land at the net.

So he leaves a lot of those pucks off the table, which if there's three or four rebound goals, and then you have three or four off the pass, and then you have three or four from better distance, well, I just gave you 12 more goals. that now he's, you know, he's flirting with 50. You know what I mean? And, you know, maybe he punches in a couple empty editors and or picks up now,

he might be able to pick up a short-handed breakaway or two. Now he's 50 goals. But, you know, that's kind of how I look at it. It's going to be three goals here. It's three goals over here. And it's three goals over there. And next thing, you know, that's what puts you into that space. So.

Well, I love it there. I'm, I'm absolutely buzzing right now. I don't know if it's because I'm on a couple hours sleep. after having watched 29 games worth of Michael shifts last night or just this 50 minutes of chatting with you. But I thought this was great. I really enjoyed it. I'm sure the listeners will as well.

I'm going to let you go here. Everyone go check out Belfry hockey and look at all the cool clips that Darrell posts on a daily basis. And we'll be back here again next week with him as we pick a new subject to deep dive. So looking forward to that, Darrell. This was a blast. That's all the time we've got for today. So we'll put a pin in the conversation here and then reconvene next week with a new subject. everyone go follow Belfry hockey

where he posts clips on a daily basis if you like it when we get together to chat about stuff like we did here today then you'll certainly love those and if you enjoy these weekly chats that we do then I also recommend checking us out on YouTube as well we post these episodes with Darrell every week there as well so you can watch along with us and see the clips we're talking about

as we go through them just search HockeyPedio guests on YouTube and you'll see all of these episodes in the channel archives and finally please go join the PEDO guest Discord server as well server as well. We've got so much good content going on and there organically every single day. It's really becoming the place to be. Don't worry if you've got no Discord experience because I don't either. So we are figuring it out together as we go along. But I do know that it's a ton of fun. And we're going to keep using it more and more for mailback questions and other show content moving forward. The invite link is in the show notes. So hop in there and I'll see you there.

Okay. That's going to be it for today. Thank you to everyone for listening. And we'll be back tomorrow with another Kevin Woodley episode here on the Hockey P.D.O.cast streaming. on the Sportsnet Radio Network.