“The idea of playing fast is something where coaches, in my opinion, need to understand that playing fast isn’t just skating fast. Playing fast is thinking fast, it’s moving the puck fast. It’s doing all those things, there’s different kinds of fast. In the speed of the game in the NHL you do not have time to make decisions. Your decisions have to have been prepared and worked on for all the years before coming into it. We’re lucky that we’re getting a mostly finished product where the youth coaches have worked on that with them all the way up.”
Keeping all players involved in the play and always moving on the ice makes players stay engaged. It forces defences to be alert and read what is developing on the ice.
“If you can get those young players to understand that every single time you take a stride as a skater, the picture changes for the other team. If you’re standing still, it’s a lot easier for the other team to sort their own problems out. If you have the puck or you don’t have the puck, as soon as you take that stride… you’re always moving, you’re always skating.”