The Hockey PDOcast - How Mikko Rantanen and the Colorado Avalanche do their damage

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Darryl Belfry to deep dive Mikko Rantanen's game, how he's turned into such a triple threat monster, and the way it all ties into the unique way the Colorado Avalanche play as a team. This podcast was produced by Elan Chark 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. 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.

Progressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the HockeyPedio cast. My name is Dimitri Filippovich, and joining me is my good buddy Dube. Belfry, Daryl, I had to have you back on after popular demand because the listeners listen to the show you and I did about Jack Hughes, and they were like, you got to get Daryl back on. We got to get another deep dive of a player. This was so fun. And so that's exactly what we're going to do here today.

How's it going, man? Awesome. And you know what? I thought about the last one that we had done with Jack. And I was, I kind of was the same. I was like, man,

I'd love to do that again. So I'm glad that we can kick this back up again. So here's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about the Colorado Avalanche. They are off to an excellent start this season. They're 5 and 0 at the time of recording. They're up 20 to 8 in those games against their opponents. They've really reassured themselves atop the pecking order of the Western Conference again

right there with the Vegas Golden Knights, right? It looks like those two teams, at least in the early going, if they stay healthy, are headed for another collision course. And so that's exciting. But the reason why I wanted to highlight them today here with you is because, of course, they're a fun team to watch, right? You see all the flash and all the razzle-dazzle.

You watch how Nathan McKinnon moves with the power he skates with, the elegance that Kail McCarr skates with the stuff they can do with the puck. And so they're obviously immensely fun and satisfying to watch. But I think for our perspective here, in terms of watching teams, seeing kind of cool, unique, innovative stuff they do, they present a really kind of fascinating opportunity for us, I guess, to study them because having that individual talent is one thing.

But I think you would agree here that the way they sort of play and the way they put those players in a position to succeed allows them to come together and get even more out of that talent than they otherwise would if they were just in isolation. Yeah, I think for me over the last several years of watching this Colorado Avalanche team built, like the build up to winning their Stanley Cup and then now, like you say, their resurgence, what I think impresses me the most is their willingness to have one line play one way

and have the other lines play a different way. So there's almost like two different systems going on with Colorado because the other lines don't do or don't have the same characteristics as the one line. And what I think the genius part of what Bednar is done there and all of the, whoever the decision makers are there in Colorado is the idea of putting a five, a group of five together. And while, you know, it started with, you know, with having what the captain, Landisog was in there. And then when he got hurt, then they moved in a different guys. but when you play and you're playing on that line, you're playing on that line,

you're getting the same D pair, you're getting the same group of forwards. And that just, to me, changes everything. Because, and I think it's a fascinating study. And I'm curious to see if other teams might do it. Because here you have five, you know, five of the best players in the world, really, on one line and you just basically let them go.

And they have certain properties and characteristics that show you that they're being coached to play a certain way as well. Like they do things in recurrence. It's not just random stuff that they're doing. Yeah, it's not pure freelancing, right? No, it definitely is not pure freelancing. You can see that there is a rhyme and a reason and that they're adhering to some level of guidance that allows them to make good decisions.

And one, if a player does something, everyone else seems to know what they're doing. So it's not just pure like, let's just play. And to me, it's fascinating because I think that there's a lot of teams that have similar characteristics as it relates to their team where you have a really high-end five, group of five that you could put together and they could play a certain way and then you would have the rest of the group would then play another way and I think that there's that's worth exploring more and I think what they've done in the when they won the cup they were doing that and I wondered at that time now that they've won maybe this is going to start we haven't really

seen a lot of that come to come to play particularly with the five man unit as like people they do do it on different teams at times but it's not as consistent as this this is like every time they play together so i think that that is one of the more fascinating pieces of it one that they play them all together that there's kind of two systems and then the second piece is that it's not just five guys just playing freelance like there there's a there's a rhyme and a reason into how they play. I just love that. Well, let's put a pin in that for a bit here.

We'll talk more about the individual level and then we'll circle back at the end and we'll kind of put a bull on the full conversation by talking about that team structure and kind of what they do and the way they play. And we've got some cool clips to highlight that. But let's start, I want to talk about Miko Randton and off the top, right?

Because I think especially when you have players with the obvious flash to their game, that the way Nathan McKinnon and Kail McCar do and he shares the ice with them so often when he's out there, it's easy to almost be blinded by that, right? Because even if you don't watch hockey for a living or you don't even watch it on a nightly basis, you can just sit down on the couch, turn on an abs game, and you can see that they move differently than everyone else, right?

It's like, all right, I bet that guy is pretty good without knowing any stats or anything else because they just look like they're operating on a different wavelength than anyone else. Now, guys like Ranton and Devon Taves in that mix are certainly dominant in their own right, but they kind of do it in a bit more of a subtle or nuanced fashion. And so I wanted to give them their due here. If we talk about how they don't get the spotlight nearly enough, well, we're going to change that here. You and I are going to shine the spotlight brightly on them

and talk about their games. And starting with Ranton, I think what really stands out to me in watching all of his tapeback is just the ruthless efficiency that he displays as a shooter, right? We can get into here the technique, how he holds his stick, the way he puts you in a bind because you don't know what he's going to do when he's in that shooting

pocket. But he's really assured himself. He scores 55 goals last year, of course, and that's kind of his breakthrough as a goal scorer. Once again, he's got four goals in the first five games, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him flirt with that 50 to 60 goal range again if he stays healthy. And that's taken his game to another level. And so I think that's a good starting point or entryway here for us to talk about Ranton's game. It is that ability that he's displayed as a shooter, especially the past, I'd say, calendar a year or so. Yeah, I think one of the things with Rantan in how he shoots is he is equally effective in his shooting off the pass as he is carrying the puck. And he can beat you.

What I love about him is he can beat you coming downhill and he can also beat you coming up above the goal line. I think he's a unbelievable goal like guy that can create offense from below. the goal line and do like walk out type stuff but that line in particular in the group of five they tend to attack down they bring they start low and then they bring it up high into the high three on two and then they start coming down onto the net and it creates a lot of these dot to dot seam pass shots um both mckinan and rantingan are extremely effective one-on-one they can carry the puck break defenses down and then all of a sudden create these these shooting opportunities so one the shot opportunities that he gets are interesting because of the way that they play in the dot to dot nature of

how they do it and is one-on-one skill is so high that he can create his own shot where i really love him is his one-timer i think it's unbelievably elite and he can do it at a high rate of speed too Normally that one knee one timer, you see it done mostly when a guy's like standing on the dot and a power play and the puck comes across. He one knee one time. This guy will do it off the rush coming down on a puck off the rush. I think it's phenomenal. His short stick at the net is another thing like where he chokes up on the stick is incredibly unique. And I just love that.

Now, when he carries the puck, he has some interesting pieces because he does. doesn't always use like his lower body very much. He tends to anchor his fees. Got a lot of like the Kuturoff will do that as well where he'll, he'll, he'll like anchor both feet into the ground, into the ice. And then he really just uses the violence of his upper body and his wrist strength

and his arm strength to be able to deliver the puck. What the value of that is is that he gives no tell. He gives no tell as to when he's going to shoot. he gives no tell of where he's going to shoot or anything like that. His feet don't give you give anything away. He's obviously got ridiculous hands. But to be able to work himself into a scoring area, anchor both feet onto the ice,

and then all of a sudden just deliver the puck out of nowhere is incredibly difficult. Like that is a great example right there, that clip that you just put up there is basically him coming in and he anchors both feet. And then all of a sudden, he just out of nowhere, he releases it. He can do it inside of a stick handle, but he can also just hold the puck and do it. He can do it with people on him because he's, he's, what one of the things with ranting in is, you don't realize how big he is.

Like he is a big guy and he's very, very strong on the puck. He's almost got a lot of dry sidel tendencies that way where he's very good, very good one on one, one on two and he can create his own shot. So yeah, 50 goals. I mean, it's not surprising when you have that kind of skill set. Well, and what really stands out in that clip here in the shootout against McKenzie Blackwood and poor McKenzie Blackwood played the game of his life essentially where I think he stood on his head and stopped 50 plus shots and Randton finally beats him in the shoot

out is we look at it and there's essentially no tell there that he's going to shoot or when he's going to shoot, right? The hands are so close together on a stick. And I think, Darryl, you generally would see, especially if you're winding up for the type of shot that ran into takes with that much whip and that kind of deliberate, you would think there'd be some sort of, all right, you move the hand down a little bit, or you kind of give some sort of tell in the hand placement that a shot is coming. And in this case, it almost, it's like he lures the goalie into thinking that there's an extra stick handle coming. And then he's able to all of a sudden, it's in the top corner before the goal even knows it. And so, it's like, it's like,

it's almost impossible to really tell when he's going to shoot it. And for him to actually be able to pick his spot with that type of velocity while it's masked in that type of hand placement is just, I mean, it's almost unfair, right? Like there's nothing you can really do. And hopefully the buck hits you. Yeah, it's basically on him then. Like he's picking a spot.

And if it doesn't hit you, it's pretty much in because there's just no, no tell. Now, the other thing that's interesting about Rantanin is for a guy, his size, he doesn't use a particularly long stick. His stick is when you see him shooting, where it really shows up is when he's shooting, you can see that his hands are directly in front of him. He doesn't have like his hand over, his elbow over to the side. His hand is base, his top hand is basically right in front of his body. And, and then like you say, his hands are also relative.

relatively close together because his stick handling position and his shooting position are basically the same. Like on his one tee, he'll slide it down, particularly it goes to a one knee. But he is stick handling and he's shooting from the same hand position, which also is incredibly difficult to manage as a goal. He was trying to read this situation. You can see like his hand, how much it's directly in front. And then the other hand is also hidden.

So his hands are directly in front of his, like his body. And then all of a sudden, boom, it's gone in an instant. And like to me, like that Carolina one actually is more impressive because it's in it's in like not in a shootout. It's more in a game situation where he's able to take the middle of the ice. And you can see his hand position. He anchors his feet. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, boom, puck is gone. To me, that that type of shooting ability, you just don't, you don't see.

The only other guy that I see do it quite like that is like that Kutrov will shoot it like that. But like you see even like with Badaard, Badaard has this kind of a shot. He shoots a lot with his upper body. But Badaard uses a really long stick to get that lever, right? And he does also use his lower body a little bit more than you would expect with a guy with like, with a guy who shoots like he shoots. But this guy here, he is so big, so strong,

uses a shorter stick, and like it's a true weapon, the way in which he releases the puck with no tell. Yeah, I'm not sure if I necessarily classify him as underrated just purely because of the fact that he plays on the Colorado avalanche. They won the cup two years ago. He's put up the numbers. I think people are generally understanding of how productive.

he is, right? And when you see a lot of rankings before the season or whatever, he's really high on the winger's list, I think where he probably doesn't get enough credit is being one of like the most efficient shooters in the league. And it's interesting you bring your site up as a comp like that because it's not quite to that degree. But here are Ranton's shooting percentages for every season he's been in the NHL, Darrell, 15, 16.3, 16.1, 17.8, 16.9, 14.2, 18 last year, and then 21.1 now early in this season. He's just routinely living above that 16% range. And what's notable about why he got to 55 goals last year

is because he always started playing 22 minutes a night, a bit out of necessity just because they had so many injuries and they relied on him every single night. And then he just kept shooting more because he's the best player on ice. He's got the puck on a stick. The abs as a team are so much better these days than they were early in his career, that they just have more offensive zone opportunities.

And so it's, I mean, the 55 goals last year, 32 at 5-on-5 were, I think, tied for second most in the league. Like, it was a ridiculous season, but I don't think it was an admiration by any means. It's kind of who he is at this point because of his talent and because of the situation. So I wanted to shout out like the shooting. And I'm not even, is he even a dual threat player? Because it's almost a triple threat position. He keeps that pocket in, right? Because I guess it's past or shot, but he can also just extend the play.

like he's so confident and comfortable that he'll gladly hold it, make a couple stick handling moves and wait for a different lane to open up. So it almost is a triple threat position in a way. Yeah, like I said to you, the thing that impresses me most about him and has been something that I've been like when I studied him for years because, of course, he was playing with McKinnon. So I basically saw every shift that he played for the last however many years. and early on in his career, he was, I thought he struggled with pace.

Like I was concerned about pace that he wasn't going to be fast enough because he doesn't, he's not a guy that skates like he skates well, but he's not like a burner through the neutral zone. I'm like, oh my God, you're going to play with McKinnon and McKinnon's just so fast. And then they got a car in there. Like, how is this going to work? And he, he is actually deceptively fast. Like I wouldn't say he's like, like, you remember the old days we would talk about Lemieux and be like, man, he doesn't even look like he's moving, but then he's flying right by guys.

Like he's not quite like that. It's not that's not that's not the right comparison. But it is a similar type of thing. Drysidal is similar in that way too where you look at him and you're like, okay, like he doesn't look like he'd be that particularly fast. But if he does, I get a chance or he sees a window, he's getting there. He gets into those spots and he can manage his way through it. and he's very good off the rush. Where I found that he,

where when I first started studying him, though, was he was an absolute monster on the back wall. And the back wall is a tremendously difficult place to create offense. A lot of times you're in the corner. Many people refer to the corners as like a cemetery because the defense are going there and they just kill things and close things off. And it really is a place where they're trying to, they're trying to kill the play and start transition to go.

the other way. He can play one on two in a corner and he's very strong on a puck. He works off the back wall. And I always thought that that and it was times where I felt like he would like overhandle it there. I'm like, man, you got good players here. Like you should play more off the puck. And I think over the years he has done that. And now I think he's really found a rhythm in being able to play with those players and not only have a great game below the goal line and off the back wall. But he's also got a great game of now as they've worked those many years, the last several years of where they go that high three on two.

And now it's a bit of a shell game at the top and they're attacking down. And now he's finding all these seam passes and shots off the pass and other types of plays. I mean, I think when you say like triple threat weapon, like he's really the entire offensive zone and any through the neutral zone, he's a threat to score basically anything off the rush and any place in the offensive zone, he can break you down and find his way into a chance. And I think you have him on one side and then you got McKinnon usually working the other side. The two of them are working together like that. Like it is a major problem when you have guys who can break down the defense like that.

And I think that's like to your point, that triple like that third threat. is the ability to break down the defense if you need to even further, where you're not comfortable with the chance. You can be a little more judicious with your chance because you know you can extend a possession. So he's not, I think this is where the shooting percentage also becomes interesting as a study. He doesn't have to waste a lot of shots either.

He's shooting when he feels like there's a good chance. You don't see him like spinning and just throwing pucks at the net. he can be a little more judicious because of the first the amount of time they spend the offensive zone they recover a ton of pucks by their their style of play that that unit has and then he also has so many different types of threats I think that also really helps him with that shooting percentage because he just has such a diversity of weapons and threats and he can he can score anywhere anywhere in the zone when he touches the puck, he can create a scoring chance. And that, you just don't see a lot of that.

I mean, there's a lot of great players in the league. But this guy obviously has a real special nature. And I think that back wall early in his career and then evolving it back out, like being good around the net and then working it back out, I think is a really fascinating way to develop once he's caught into the league. well i'm really fascinated by that topic of of his movement right because it seems like we're all so fixated on or preoccupied by just playing fast and how the pace today's game is played at and you got to just be a burner to fit in and there's different ways obviously as we know

to get to your spot and part of it is sometimes just either your processing speed being able to think the game at such a fast level that you can kind of make up for any physical deficiencies or other areas and i think part of what what's working for him is certainly playing with a guy like Nathan McKinnon, you see time and time again that they almost use McKinnon sometimes like that, like field stretching wide receiver in football where he'll just go as fast as he can and almost clear out. And the other defenders are so nervous about being beaten by McKinnon's raw speed that they'll as a self self-defense mechanism, they'll back up, right? And then all of a sudden that creates this layer for Antonin to basically just glide into and operate with that he might

not otherwise have previously had in a different situation. But part of it is also probably, like you said, I think he's deceptively not fast, but able to get to his spots because I think sometimes it can be a bit of an optical illusion when you see someone with that six four frame. It kind of looks like they're not trying hard or not skating fast, but in reality, the steps they're taking or are covering the same amount of ground that a guy who's maybe 5'8 would look like he's working significantly harder to get to. I'm sure there's part of that as well.

Yeah. I can tell you where I landed on this because like I said early on in his career when I was watching him playing with McKinnon I was like oh I don't know if this guy can get through the neutral zone that well and this and that and I was I was kind of down on his speed like I said before but where I land now is like how many guys can skate with Nathan McKinnon like how many guys are going to be able to skate through the neutral so am I grading him like where I landed was I'm I might not be grading him fairly enough. Like that he should be skating at the level. Like McKinnon blows through the neutral zone in a blink of an eye. Like is it really fair? Does that mean that Rantanin is not a good skater? No, he's still.

And that's where I started to back off my thoughts about that and really look at it differently. And like, okay, like how many guys can actually skate with him through the neutral zone like that? Like it's not really fair to watch him. And then there was a section of time where like McKinnon was out. and Rantanin was left on his own. And I watched him create off the rush. Or there's other times where McKinnon is in the D zone low, and the puck comes up to Rantan.

And Rantan's got to get off the wall. And he's got to initiate the rush. He's got to back people off. He's got to be able to make plays. And he was able to do that. So I'm now of the opinion that there's nothing really wrong with Rantanin skating and that it was just, just like early on when I was evaluating him,

it was a bit of an optical illusion just because of who he was playing with. It just wasn't fair. And then the same with McCar. Like, McCar can flat out fly. Like, and so does that mean like, does that mean that we should be grading granted indifferently?

So I think ranting skates more than well enough. And clearly he finds more than enough time to get into his space. And I think he contributes more to the. speed and how fast they play than I ever really gave them credit for, I guess is the best way to say it. And I think he's more of a contributor than that than I thought he was getting carried maybe early on. And that's, I think that's fascinating.

It took me a while to get there. I'm sure. Yeah. If your grading system is, can they skate as fast as Nathan McKinning? You're going to wind up failing a lot of players. So as we see, like the grades are able to control pace too, right? And I think the fact that for a defender, I imagine, it makes you a step slower by contrast because you don't know what he's going to do as well with that unpredictability of him masking his intentions and kind of how he holds the puck and how he holds his stick. All of a sudden, you can't necessarily be as aggressive at yourself because you can't anticipate what he's going to do.

And so all of a sudden, he's kind of playing faster than he otherwise might have because you're playing slower by contrast. So it's interesting to think about it. You mentioned the back wall kind of there and sort of his work there. Can I just, can I just, just give me one more comment on that. I think it's a really important cart before we get to the back wall. One of the things that he does particularly well, and I think this is huge in terms of how fast you can play on the rush or through the neutral zone or what have you. And that is, it's less about how fast you can skate and more about how well you can play inside of a differential of speed.

And I think Rantanin is elite at understanding how to play in a differential speed. So, for example, McKinnon blows through the neutral zone and he stretches everyone out. And Rantaninin is coming behind that speed. And you see it all the time. McKinnon then pulls up just after entry or he pulls up even in the neutral zone. He'll pull up. And then he finds, he finds Rantaninan. So now the defenseman was originally gaped to McKinnon.

and now they were flying back because they're worried about McKinning get behind him. McKinnon's now pulled up. The defenseman has now come to a slowdown or now a stop. Now you have Rantonin coming in as a second wave who is flying. And now he is at a differential where you have a defenseman who's slowing down or coming to a stop. And you have Rantanin who is now accelerating. To me, that's what he's really good at is under. And that's a skill in playing with.

that you have to have to have to understand how to play in a differential. And so I wanted to make that point because I think that that's a huge part of what makes him so great. No, I love that. That's a really important point to make there. All right, let's take a quick break here. And then when we come back, we'll pick the conversation back up with Daryl Belfrey. You're listening to the Hockey-Pedio cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.

I think a stat that came really into focus in the postseason was right, Dallas-Akens goes on the Hockey Night and Canada panel. he brings up how 80% of the NHL game is essentially played within three feet of the boards or what have you. You made that note in your book as well. And I think we're in agreement that being able to make plays off of that wall is an essential skill for a top end winger in today's game, certainly. And that's what really also impresses me about rant in here watching it, whether it's coming out from behind the net off that back wall or whether it's off the board as well. I mean, the play he made in the season opener this year where it kind of encapsulates all of these concepts we're talking about. And if you haven't seen it, certainly go back and watch it is essentially Nathan McKinnon backs up the defenders, right? Creates that space in the middle of the ice.

Ranton comes in. He frees the defense because they don't know whether he's going to shoot or pass. He passes it off the Taves for a one-timer. The Taves just unfortunately misses the net on. But then Ranton and retrieves the puck off the wall and expertly seals the defender. brings it back out, once again, puts them in that spot of what am I going to do here next? The goalie is kind of, you know, doing that low reverse VH. They're playing the past potentially on the back door and he's able to pick the corner above Cam Talbot.

And so that was a play that I really wanted to highlight that shows the full package. But also like these seals that don't necessarily aren't very glamorous, but the ability to just win these battles against opposing defensemen and then keep the play moving. and all of a sudden at times even be immediately in an attacking position when you're coming off that wall is a trademark of his that a lot of other topwingers have, but he just using his frame and his hands and the fact that it's almost unfair that someone that big is also that nimble. He's able to just time and time again utilize those boards to his advantage and make plays

off them. Yeah, I think like early on in his career and up until now, there's a lot of evidence when he plays lower off that. like off the back wall or the half wall, where he will invite the defender to the wall. And then he uses his frame. He has excellent, like deceptively good footwork as well. He spins, he turns.

He's got great inside edges, which allow him to then spin and roll off the check. So he invites the defender, uses his frame. And next thing, you know, he's beating the defender off the wall. He would do it routinely early on in his career. and now you see even more evidence of it where he will do these things like on loose pucks because that's the one thing with Colorado is they do they have a literal avalanche of shots. Like it's nonstop.

It's a shooting gallery when that line is out there many nights. And so puck recovery becomes so critically important because a line like this, if they're not effective in puck recovery, they're just one and done. The other team just grabs a puck and off they go. One of the things that are real staples that I think that both him and this line benefits from is they play the whole zone, which makes it incredibly difficult to defend, and they elevate the speed that the play is going to be at. So they play, the offense is playing at a higher speed than the defenders. So now, because they move like it's a whirling dervish at the top and coming down,

and up and they got five people moving and all engaged. What ends up happening is because they're playing so fast, they win a lot of these loose pucks. And sometimes they're contested, but many times they're not. But on the contested ones, that's where you see Ranton so effective in his one-on-one skills of being able to win the puck,

get someone on his back, spin-off, and now he beats the guy off the wall. And now he's got that dual, triple threat. He's beat someone. He can take it to the net himself. he can make a play and then he can also, he can thread a needle like the best of them with no tell to be able to score. And I thought that clip that you showed,

it is a perfect clip to kind of describe exactly who he is and what he's really good at. It was, it had a lot of those pieces in there. But that is an interesting piece as it relates to them is the shot recovery aspect of the way in which they play. and that allows them to continue to control the game offensively and create even higher chances. Because the one thing that I stumbled upon over the years of studying elite players is that in a possession sequence, if the elite player can get the puck a second or third time in the sequence,

the play, that puck, especially if it's off the pass, will be relatively uncontested versus the first two pucks. So for each puck that you get in the sequence, in the possession sequence, the conditions surrounding that puck dramatically improve. And I think that's what you start to see with them is because they can recover pucks and they get more of these plays where they get pucks off the pass,

eventually it's a clean look to come into the middle of the ice because they do attack the middle of the ice or it's a thought, top player, real high, high quality chance. A lot of that comes from their one-on-one skill in puck recovery, which Rantanin, I don't think he gets enough credit for that. No, he certainly doesn't. I mean, they utilize the offensive zone, the geometry of it.

Maybe like the prime Bruins when Patrice Bergeron was still there with Marshaun and Pasternak and McAvoy, their ability to stretch you out and, pass it off the boards and kind of work with these interesting angles off the geometry of the offensive zone was right up there, but they're about as innovative as we get. And I think this is, I can tell you're itching to get into the team structure and kind of some of the unique tendencies that they display time and time again that actually show that it's, you know, there's a method to the madness in terms of it's by design and the fact that it's so recurring in terms of like

the routes that they're running shows you that it is actually something that they're working on and doing deliberately as opposed to just letting five great players out there to to kind of try to make sweet music together. And certainly if you get in a position, you can kind of go off script if the opportunity presents itself. But the way you see them move as a five-man unit in the offensive zone, I think is about close to the concept of positional interchangeability that I know that you love to talk about as we get in today's game, right, where if there's a 40-second shift where they're fully

spending it in the offensive zone, and that happens quite frequently for them, you will see every player occupy each possible position in the offensive zone at some point. And sometimes on multiple occasions, right? Like you'll see Devon Taves, who's, I guess by proxy their defensive defender, be net front. And then in the circle waiting for a shot opportunity, and then funneling through the middle, and then back at the point, and then coming down the wall again. And it's never just, you know, it's not a matter of there's open ice. so I'm going to move down there and see if something happens.

And if not, I'm going to just go back right to the blue line because that's where I'm supposed to be. They're so comfortable sort of seeing those routes through and staying in that ice. And then just keeping it moving is almost kind of like a, it's a continual chain, right? They're just all moving in unison as opposed to just one guy sort of going to open space. It's exactly it. And you know, what I love about it is, and it started with McKinnon years ago, where I think he reinvented the high three on two. And there's many teams that use now some characteristics of a high three on two.

And what McKinnon would do, and you'll remember this, is that he would position himself stationary at the point between the 2D. So you'd have the 2D at the point, and McKinnon would be in the middle of the ice. And the puck would come up to him and he would either shoot from there or he would engage the D's down the flank to get them organized. And then Rantanin would play one on two in a corner. You'd have Landisog at the net. And then he would work the back wall and then get it back up to the top.

And they did that for a couple of years with McKinnon in the middle. And then it evolved where you will now see, in many of these clips that you're showing, one of the things that you will see is that a forward, not necessarily McKinnon, although he does it very often. you will also see all three forwards at some point going into that position, reloading up into the high three on two, but in the middle of the ice. Where before McKinnon would do it,

the high three on two would be more a forward, like a Pat Kane years ago or Panarin, where they would climb up the wall. They would climb from the goal line. They would climb up the wall towards the top of the circle. the D man that was on the strong side boards would move into the middle of the ice. And so now you have the D in the middle. You'd have the other D on the other side, the weak side.

And then you'd have, you know, Kane or Panarin up at the top on the outside. And then they would come down those sides and use it for that thing. Where this change was you started to see McKinnon and this Colorado team start to use the high three on two, but with the forward in the middle. Now, where I think this really came like full on for them was when you watch their Stanley Cup run, the number of exit kills. So when the other, when the puck is, you know, either misplayed or the other team gets it for whatever reason, miss shot, rebound, whatever. And they're starting to break out when you watch the high three on two forward.

So most of the time it's McKinnon, but it'll be ranting or whatever. watch the energy that those guys would have to kill the exit from the middle of the ice. So now you have a forward, like take a McKinnon who's so lightning fast. He's now in the middle of the ice and he's now tracking over top of your breakout. And now wherever you pass it, he's right there, kills it, boom, out in the neutral zone, transition with McCar and Taves, and boom, they're right back at you on a reentry and they're spending 20 more and 30 more seconds in your zone. So it's not just the offensive aspect that makes them so good in the structure that they have.

It's that that forward reloading up to the top, that creates a defensive ability that allows them to keep the puck alive way more in the zone through Exikil. And now having, we all talk about, you know, getting guys above the breakouts, so that you can disrupt it, they inherently have it. Now, the only reason that you can do that is when you're comfortable that the players on the ice can play one on two in the corners or one on one in the corner. Because if you're not comfortable with that,

then they're just going to turn it over and start coming up the ice. Like you're going to lose a lot of that. But because those guys are so good, it just makes it so much more dynamic because they're controlling play, they're able to take the puck, they're moving, they're using the whole zone. But then if they lose it, you have a threat in the middle of the ice who's intercepting passes or tracking across and killing the play. But then they're also so good in the shell game at the top offensively.

And they elevate the pace of which you're playing. So I thought McKinnon in their Stanley Cup run where they won it, I thought his defensive game was unbelievable. I thought he was, I thought he basically like almost re, redefine how well you need to play defensively as a center. And what I mean redefine it, I mean from the places he was doing it from. It was very different than what we had seen and how he controlled the ice. And now you see these guys rolling up and rolling up and into the middle of the ice.

The way they do it now, it's just unbelievable to me. And it's really fascinating how it's evolved over the years. Yeah. I mean, there's this clip against the sharks where he comes down, he gets a scoring chance, he's down deep, and then he works his way back and shows that defensive discipline, as you mentioned. Part of it is because he's worked his way back up to the middle at the top. And so he's got a bit of a head start. He's not deep behind the other team's net.

But yeah, it takes that level of commitment. And as you mentioned, like we're already seeing in those clips, you see like Thomas Tatar working that position where he's funneling into the middle being available. And he's been there for two weeks or however a lot. right and so he's certainly he's been around he's a very smart talented player like none of this is necessarily new in theory but i'm sure it's a spot where he's like all right this is a pretty fun spot for me to play and i get to do this um certainly works you know one of my favorite goals this season that we've seen so far and it's not necessarily flashy by any means but it kind

of shows that is the devon tave's goal against the chicago black hawks and now they were just sort of running laps around them it was the end of a long road trip to start the season for the Blackhawks. So it is what it is. But he had poor Tyler Johnson in the torture chamber for about 40 seconds there. As you can see, he's just working down the wall, keeping plays live, right, doing that did kill where he comes in, senses they're about to try to get out of the zone, activates defensively, pinches to keep it in, and then stays down low until he eventually is rewarded for it with a scoring opportunity. And that kind of shows those principles as well. And maybe it's a good segue for us to talk a little bit about Taves because he certainly, you know,

he got rewarded and compensated for her with his contract extension this season. And I think anyone that listens to this show or has heard you and I talk is familiar with how passionately we feel about his game. But his tendencies in the way he ties into all of this is also an engine for why this can work. His ability to anticipate and jump in and get involved in those exit kills is, I mean, that's something that everyone really should be studying and emulating if you're playing that position because that is the future of the game.

Yeah, the, the best part about Taves and his contribution, I think, to what they do in Colorado is that he is extremely comfortable defending forward, skating forwards. And so when you look at, like,

I don't know what does anybody baneers here. Yeah. It's an exit. Yeah. It's crazy. Like, it's just, he skates forwards. He's got great anticipation. He can intercept passes.

He's got. got a great stick. He's got great timing. He attacks you from the backside. So like you're unsuspecting. You know, it looks like a pinch, but he's skating forwards. He's on a good angle. And he's protected. He's protected because they play that high three on two with the rotating forwards up there or a guy like McKinnon, excuse me, who's protecting him. So it allows him to feel like he can skate forwards without much conscience. You know what I mean? mean and so when you don't have a conscience because you don't have to double check and say like is my f3 up there you don't have to worry about it f3 with that group f3 is always there they're always covering so you can activate and get going and skate forwards and when you take a guy like tase who has a

skill set that he has uh to be and get him involved in that way where he can skate forwards and and then once he's in the zone he has the freedom to continue on because again they're protected so now you take you have Taves on one side. You got McCar on the other. You got an elite forward in the middle of the ice who's protecting you. Now, of course, you can engage. You can get going one on one or you can move. Like in Tave's case, he does a lot of stuff to your point where he moves off the puck.

Like he'll kill the play, keeps it alive, moves it. And now he'll move off the puck. Next thing, you know, he's on the backside post waiting for a pass across crease pass. Or then he'll rotate up and now he's on the other side. his ability to engage is in large part because of the way he's insulated by the group of forwards that's out there because he doesn't have to worry like, oh, geez, should I go here? He already knows he's protected. They are constantly rotating up. And the forwards are good.

Like I said, McKinnon is one of the best trackers in the league. I would love to know McKinnon's track takeaway numbers. It's got to be through the roof. And then you look at the other part that I think Taves is really good at is his reentry game. Because Colorado does a lot of, they exit kill, but you still get the puck out. Like you still chip it out. But they again, recover it and they come right back at you with another wave of offense. I think Taves is unreal in transition in that way.

He makes great decisions. He moves the puck north. He can skate it. He can go cross ice. and he does a lot of things and he's not scared to use the middle of the ice which is usually where McKinnon is where you'll find McKinnon

will come out of the zone and then he'll attack through the middle of the ice and you'll see almost like a football slant pass from the middle of the ice to him as like a tight end slant through the middle, bang and he's like on a half breakaway from there. I think Taves is unbelievable in transition, which is a critical skill to play in that unit because they get so many re-entries

because of their style of play. Yeah, the point you made there on sort of just knowing that the F3 will always be there is really important because if you are in the position and this happens with either like young teams or bad teams, quite frankly, where if you're not, if you don't have that confidence and you're having to look over it to see, all right, is he going to cover me if I go here? By the point of time you've done that, it's too late, right? Like the opportunity to attack is almost gone. You've neutralized yourself.

And so it's a difficult spot you're in. Yeah. No. Well, if you're going to criticize, sorry, if you're going to criticize a defenseman for a bad pinch, you will trace it back usually to a hesitation. Why are they hesitating? Well, it's usually because they have to check,

double check to see if the guys, it's there supporting them. And then they end up taking it like they hesitate, but then they decide to go. and it's in the hesitation where usually is where it's lost. And in Colorado, there's no hesitation there with that group because they just know the reload value of the group is so high and the forward's commitment to come up. You just don't see the hesitation.

So I think it's one of those situations where one plus one equals six. It gets really a multiplying effect on the player's game. And man, don't you just love seeing that? like these guys are incredible to watch. Yeah. No, it's, that's a perfect reentry clip there actually that you had with the ranting

thing that's just a reentry play where, you know, they, the other team, they had to chip it out. And next thing, you know, he gets it and it's zinc straight up.

It's a rush chance. Yeah, it's a rush. And next thing, you know, it's a rush chance going the other way. I mean, yeah,

they're just. Especially during the second period where if you're trying to quickly, you know, hustle to get off the ice and change. How many times do they catch the other, team with like three or four skaters on the ice and they got the five because the other team was trying to change and they just pounced on it right so no it's really fun to watch i mean it's beautiful hockey and i'm glad we're able to talk about it darrell i will uh i'll let you plug

whatever you want on the way out whether it's uh your twitter feed and the videos you're posting the shorter ones you're posting there yourself or whether it's your book let the listeners know uh where they can check you out yeah you know i've tried to um to to get involved with more with my Twitter feed or my Instagram where put out like a one minute on a and my goal is is to kind of highlight one thing that a player does at an elite level and just show the habitual nature of how they do it. One of the things that I was talking about in my book was, you know, those elite players, they leave clues as to why they're elite because they keep doing the same things over and

again. A lot of what we're talking about with Rantan and like you could watch. watch him any game of the season and you're going to see all of these things that we've been speaking about because they do it so habitually. So one of the things with that has been to just create more awareness or almost like a almost like a preview when you're watching these players as to what it is that they actually do great. And many of them have many skills.

Like you could pick any of them. So there's no shortage of content. I try to put one out every day. So if you love, if you love kind of getting a fix on learning about a different player and seeing it from a different perspective that's one of them and then you know you can always go to our website belfryhockey.com to see some of the other things that we have going on and uh yeah that's uh that's pretty much it i mean it's and when i'm not doing that i'm i'm trying to prepare for my next opportunity to

speak with you so uh let's keep it going well i was going to say i i enjoy those two minute videos you post but not as much as i enjoy these 50 minute videos that you get to do where we get to really nerd out on all the details and on that note i'm going to lock you into next time we do this whether it's in two weeks or whatever uh we're going to do dylan larkin because he's uh he's near and dear to our heart in terms of his playing tendencies as well and now we're finally getting to see it flourish to its maximum potential right with the brinket coming there at the pit the start the red rings are off too so i think there's going to be a lot of fun stuff for us to get into there and i think people should get excited about that

darrell looking forward to it it was the best uh be well and we'll chat soon thanks again and that's going to be it for today's episode of the hockey pdf Hopefully you enjoyed our breakdown of what Miko Ranton and the abs do that makes them so effective. If you were listening to us and thinking to yourself that getting to actually see some of the video we're referencing during our chat would help you better visualize what we're saying or kind of grasp the concepts we're bouncing around, then you're in luck. Just search Hockey Pediocast on YouTube and you can watch along with us for the full audio visual experience. These are a treat to do. I really am enjoying doing them this season, so we're going to keep them coming. if you feel the same way and you're digging it,

then certainly you can help us out by going and smashing that five-star button wherever you do listen to the show and drop in a nice little review. All of them mean a lot to us, so please keep that coming. And we'll keep the shows coming with plenty more of the HockeyPedocast,

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