Also, Colliton is again trying to clarify that his defensive system is NOT man-to-man, as some in the media keep saying:
You can argue the Blackhawks don’t have the correct personnel to play it, but there are teams who play similar systems, like the New York Islanders, Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals.
So what is it?
“We started calling it ‘man-and-a-half’ just because we’re not looking for guys to follow around their check in the zone,” Colliton said. “We want to defend from the middle. We want pressure on the puck. That’s important. If you don’t have pressure on the puck, guys are going to make plays. If you give them time, they’re going to find something. But also we need to assign some responsibility to the other four guys as far as taking away their time and space. We want to be ready to jump on loose pucks. We want to be ready to join a battle if the pressure on the puck, the guy who’s putting pressure on the puck, creates a battle.
“But when there’s a play that goes to the net or there is time for the puck carrier, we need to be able to close on them. That’s where the man-to-man part is. There’s some responsibility assigned. You’re not standing beside them, but there has to be some sorting, there has to be some responsibility as far who’s going to have who when there’s a loose puck or there’s a potential scoring chance or there’s a scramble at the net.”
