“That also helps players to experience multiple positions. If I’m a forward and I kind of have a sense of knowing what defencemen are doing or what their role is or how they play, it’s going to help me understand how to be better offensively against them,” said Hamilton.
“You’re going to learn concepts of pressure, contain, stick in the lane, how to forecheck, how to defend, how to layer. Those concepts should be universal,” added Taylor. “I think the other thing that comes into it, you may be a defenceman but you may not be the first person back into the zone. There has to be some familiarity. I think it’s going to improve the player’s overall experience, their ability by having some exposure to playing all positions.”
When players are inevitably away for a game or suffer an injury, it’s often that a player from internally needs to fill in at a different position.
“Everybody wants their kid to be the one who scores the game-winning goal in overtime to win the championship. The reality is, one, that’s not going to happen and two, that’s not the only thing that should be valued,” said Taylor.