The best way to combat the Colorado Avalanche’s aggressive style should be to catch them with counterattacks, particularly making them pay for high-risk mistakes.
There’s just one problem. The Avalanche rarely make those mistakes, and when they do, they erase them.
Avalanche fans who watch from a high enough vantage point at Ball Arena have likely gasped or thought “uh oh” when it looks like the opposing team is about to leave the defensive zone with the puck and a clear odd-man rush opportunity developing. But when the conditions are right, the Avs take a page out of the playbook from some of the best teams in European football.
What’s the best way to stop a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2 or worse? Squash it before it develops. This is a hockey version of “gegenpress.”
“I think we just have good instincts as a group back there of understanding where trouble could arise and trying to mitigate it before it becomes a real problem,” said Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews, who might be the best defenseman in the league at this particular tactic. “A lot of times, there’s an opportunity to force a player to make a play under pressure that they don’t want to make or they try to make a different play because there’s pressure without realizing that they have a situation that’s advantageous.
“If you’re able to find a guy with his head down or just in a vulnerable spot before he knows it, then we’re able to mitigate a lot of those plays.”
The Avs are one of the best offensive teams in the league. They want to keep the puck. Most teams know that when Colorado is cooking, it could mean a lot of time playing defense.
But, even the best players on the Avalanche make mistakes in the offensive zone. Or someone makes a great defensive play. Or the puck just bounces funny.
That’s when a small window opens for the opposing team to strike. The Avs try to find a way to close it, and they’re very successful at it.
There isn’t a lot of publicly available data to confirm this. Megan Chayka of Stathletes, a Canadian company that tracks proprietary data, revealed a ranking of fewest odd-man rushes against per game in early December. The Avs were tied for seventh, which seems impressive considering the amount of time they typically spend in the offensive zone — essentially giving other teams more chances to find an odd-man counter-attack.
The Avs are also just outside the top 10 in shot attempts allowed off the rush at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick, but that data point could also use a lot more context.
The philosophy in soccer is called “gegenpress” — the German phrase for counter-pressing — because several top German coaches have used and cultivated the tactic, and now it has spread and been fused with other strategies.
The idea is pretty simple. The best time to win the ball back is right after losing it, when the opposing team is still trying to transition from defense to offense. Attack the player who just gained possession of the ball and cover off the closet outlets to force a mistake.
“It’s reads,” Toews said. “In soccer, you make reads about where the ball is and where you think it’s going to go next, who the most dangerous guy is and force him to make a safer play instead of a more dangerous play that’s harder to defend.
“When we’re able to put pressure on guys and get our sticks in there before they’re able to turn and make that heads-up play, that’s what we’re trying to do. If we’re able to shift the puck on a 3-on-2 to the left side to a player on his backhand, that’s better for us because he usually isn’t going to throw it across (the ice) on his backhand. He’s going to want to pull up to get to his forehand and that slows him down, so then you can play off that.”
The natural first stride for a defenseman who sees multiple players transitioning into offense could be backwards. Fall back into a defensive position and either hope someone hustles back to help, or defend the odd-man rush closer to the goal.
Colorado’s defense in this situation actually begins with the offense, and the forwards. Jared Bednar uses phrases like “reloads” and “playing above the puck” often. While the Avalanche are attacking in the offensive zone, the forwards also must remain cognizant of their positioning. Staying above the puck means being positioned between the puck and your own net, and reloading when necessary to make that happen.
When the forwards are in good position, it allows the defensemen to get more aggressive with theirs. When the Avs lose the puck under these conditions, that’s when their version of counter-pressing works.
“If you’re backed off, then there’s no way you’re going to go step up, because then you’re going the wrong direction,” Avs defenseman Josh Manson said. “We trust our forwards to get above the puck, which means we can stay up and make those plays.”
Good positioning from all five players is why it works. How is fueled by two factors: Colorado has a collection of great skaters on the defense corps, and it has commitment from the forwards to get back on defense and help out when needed.
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All six defensemen skate well, which allows them to either be the point of attack on the counter-press or the guy who can get back and still negate the play before a shot attempt actually occurs. And when one of the defensemen has pinched down along the wall to try to keep the puck in the zone, or gone below the goal line to create an offensive chance, the Avs almost never get caught without a forward replacing them.
Andrew Cogliano called forwards sliding back to replace a defenseman on the blue line, or hustling back if an odd-man rush does get past the red line, non-negotiables in the Avalanche system.
“We have a pretty good conscious and know that defense is going to lead to our offense,” Avs defenseman Jack Johnson said. “If you’re being aggressive, you’re forcing them to make a play. For the most part, we are very aggressive.
“If we’re going to get beat, we want to get beat being aggressive, not sitting back.”
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