I blame video games for the mass concept among fans that being on the PK and being “good defensively” are the same thing because video games rely on some random “defensive rating” to have the CPU determine deployment.
Being good defensively is a trait. Playing on the PK is usage and deployment, pure and simple. It depends on the coach, the PK concepts and heavily on the players usage and endurance and effectiveness in the other scenarios in hockey - even strength and power play.
Good defensive forwards are often able to PK but not all of a teams best defensive forwards feature on a PK. And sometimes PKers are simply specialists who are really good at that scenario. Tactically - defending on a PK is not the same as being sound defensively in open ice, even strength play.
It’s like a kick returner in football. You catch a ball and run with speed and avoid people. It sounds a lot like being a receiver. And a lot of the best receivers are or would be great at returning kicks. But a lot of them don’t. And sometimes a great kick returner can’t have the same effect as a receiver during regular play. The skill set (catching, speed, avoiding tackles) seems similar but tactically it’s entirely different. Running a full route tree is a lot harder than having one specific task.
Well, being defensively reliable as a forward during open play is a lot harder than just being on a PK because your job is to do a lot more than simply defend your zone and prevent the puck from going in. We’ve moved on from the ideas that “player X blocks 300 shots they must be awesome defensively”. All that means is when their team has the puck, they do squadoosh in helping break the puck out of their own zone and transition the puck up the ice. But…they may still be a good PKer because when you are short-handed, you are already behind the 8-ball in terms of the pressure being in your zone.
Incidentally, the most fun PKing player I’ve ever watched is a guy who during normal play was a one-dimensional sniper. Peter Bondra. Guy scored a ton of shorthanded goals and was actually a weapon out their on the PK because his puck instincts and explosive acceleration were a one-man breakaway waiting to happen - and teams up a man had to respect that and alter their functionality accordingly.
TLDR; Mittelstadt has turned into an extremely strong two-way player, and PK usage has very little relevance to this.
Being good defensively is a trait. Playing on the PK is usage and deployment, pure and simple. It depends on the coach, the PK concepts and heavily on the players usage and endurance and effectiveness in the other scenarios in hockey - even strength and power play.
Good defensive forwards are often able to PK but not all of a teams best defensive forwards feature on a PK. And sometimes PKers are simply specialists who are really good at that scenario. Tactically - defending on a PK is not the same as being sound defensively in open ice, even strength play.
It’s like a kick returner in football. You catch a ball and run with speed and avoid people. It sounds a lot like being a receiver. And a lot of the best receivers are or would be great at returning kicks. But a lot of them don’t. And sometimes a great kick returner can’t have the same effect as a receiver during regular play. The skill set (catching, speed, avoiding tackles) seems similar but tactically it’s entirely different. Running a full route tree is a lot harder than having one specific task.
Well, being defensively reliable as a forward during open play is a lot harder than just being on a PK because your job is to do a lot more than simply defend your zone and prevent the puck from going in. We’ve moved on from the ideas that “player X blocks 300 shots they must be awesome defensively”. All that means is when their team has the puck, they do squadoosh in helping break the puck out of their own zone and transition the puck up the ice. But…they may still be a good PKer because when you are short-handed, you are already behind the 8-ball in terms of the pressure being in your zone.
Incidentally, the most fun PKing player I’ve ever watched is a guy who during normal play was a one-dimensional sniper. Peter Bondra. Guy scored a ton of shorthanded goals and was actually a weapon out their on the PK because his puck instincts and explosive acceleration were a one-man breakaway waiting to happen - and teams up a man had to respect that and alter their functionality accordingly.
TLDR; Mittelstadt has turned into an extremely strong two-way player, and PK usage has very little relevance to this.
