When I was afforded the opportunity to join the coaching staff of the Toronto Marlies in 2015-16, I wasn’t exactly new to coaching theory. For one, I was attentive as a player in both college and pro, but I also grew up with a Dad who played in the NHL then went on to coach a number of years in the minors. I had discussions about strategy and was in the offices to hear how decisions get made.
What I saw with the Marlies, though, wasn’t what I had seen from my Dad’s teams in late ’90s, or heard from my own coaches when I played. Stats were obviously a bigger thing, but there were new tactical concepts to be introduced to, many passed down from Mike Babcock to the Leafs AHL franchise, and many preferred by Sheldon Keefe himself.
Perhaps the most useful new idea in my estimation, at least when it came to defending, was the Babcock-termed strategy of “cut-offs,” which in plain English is running interference on opposing players who aren’t directly involved around the puck as they skate back towards your end.
Constantly.
Think of a team leaving their D-zone on a breakout and up through the neutral zone. If you’re the last guy back for your team (that doesn’t have the puck), you might as well step in front of the last guy up the ice on the opposing team and slow his ability to join the play on offence. It cancels second and third wave attacks, it widens the gap between their forwards and D (which makes breakouts easier), it slows them down, it tires them out. It’s just a lot of good for a little rat-like effort.
Basically you’re testing a ref: if you’re gonna call a small crosscheck (the part of the cut-off Babs calls a “sting”) 100 feet from the puck you’re gonna have to put 100 guys in the box every night. (Hey, it’s not the job of coaches to preserve the quality of gameplay.)
It’s with the introduction to that term we swing back around to the Canucks and the Leafs, and note that if the Canucks don’t start cutting the Leafs off out of their own zone — if they don’t employ some stings — their defence is going to get eaten alive again Saturday night. It’s not so much that the Leafs themselves are unmanageable on the rush, it’s that any team is unmanageable if they’re allowed to fly up the ice with speed, and the Canucks’ D simply isn’t good enough to bear that burden alone. Defencemen often take the public lashings caused by half-committed forwards who allow the opposition to fly up the rink unimpeded.
To drive this point home, here’s how Keefe responded to a question about whether he saw more offensive pace from his group:
“I did. It was the best we looked in that regard just in terms of how we left our zone, how we got through the neutral zone, how quickly we moved the puck — all of those types of things. I thought it was really good for all four lines.
Our defence, even after going down to five D pretty much the whole game, I thought those guys did a really good job of moving the puck up very quickly to the forwards and getting involved in the offence themselves.”
I’m writing this from a Vancouver standpoint because this is an obvious strength for the Leafs, which means it should be a focus for the Canucks. Inattention there allowed Toronto’s skill to build momentum into the neutral zone, resulting in the Leafs out-chancing the Canucks 29-14, with an advantage in high-danger chances of 13-5.
I’ll just use the plays that resulted in goals as an example, given the direct cause-and-effect relationship, but cut-offs are important whether missing them leads to a chance against or not.
On the Leafs’ fourth goal Thursday night, they’re left to fly out of their own zone, in large part due to the huge gap between the Canucks forwards and defenders. But if Adam Gaudette in the middle of the ice even gets above one Leafs player (ideally the man in the middle, Travis Boyd) the whole things slows down and develops differently, likely denying a goal before it has a chance to play out.
It’s Boyd’s speed through the middle that pushes the Canucks D back and leaves the gap for Nic Petan to sauce one over to Jason Spezza.
On the Leafs’ third goal, they win a neutral zone faceoff and regroup, which means the Canucks are starting from assigned defensive positions. The Canucks use what looks like a 2-1-2 with pressure from the wings off a lost neutral zone draw, and Elias Pettersson drops back to stay above the middle guy.
Only, he doesn’t stay above the Leafs winger (a simple sting would’ve killed Marner’s momentum), who gets in behind him by a step, gets to the puck first, and makes a great play. But there’s no reason Marner shouldn’t have been cut-off, leaving Pettersson to the first touch on this chipped puck.
A less obvious one was early on Matthews’ first goal, where he was allowed to wheel behind the net and get his speed up before getting fortunate with how the play developed. JT Miller was covering back for his pinching defender; after the game he mentioned that because of that, he thought he’d be playing left D, with support on his right (he readily took the blame, but was just explaining his thinking). It wasn’t until too late he realized he was 1-on-1 defending Matthews.
That aside, Brock Boeser has the chance to go “oh-uh, this might not be an offensive situation anymore” deep in the Leafs territory, and step in front of Matthews as he winds up what looks like a dangerous break out early.
Watch right as Matthews cuts and jumps up from behind the net, you can see Boeser watching and hoping the play kicks back deep into the zone so he can play on the offensive side of things. He lets Matthews jump by him and get his speed up.
He’s not solely to blame of course, but he could’ve taken a step into Matthews’ lane to slow the freight train down. If Matthews is a half-stride slower I like Miller’s odds of influencing a worse shot attempt, and it’s a game of inches.
That’s all any of this comes down to. You don’t know when you’re positively impacting the play with a cut-off, which means you don’t get much praise for each individual effort. (Your coaches can’t watch everyone at once, and it’s behind the play, so not doing it often goes unpunished.) But it’s a little thing good teams do consistently that makes them so difficult to play against. It can be a slog against a fully bought-in team who slows you down all over the ice, like the best Boston Bruins teams have over the past decade.
The numbers in blue on the right show the bottom five in the NHL in goal-against-per-game. That’s the Canucks there, in 30th.
This Canucks D may not be the greatest, but I certainly don’t think they’re that bad. Their forwards have to help them out.
Even offensive juggernauts can be contained with good defensive commitment from every position. If the Canucks want better results on Saturday, they can start by asking the forwards to better defend out of the offensive zone.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
