Seeing the icing discussion in the game thread.
I feel like the Devils defenseman desperately need to get comfortable the high flip to the opponents blue line when the other team is ramping pressure up. Especially for the top 2 lines.
Opponents aren’t fearing the Devils turning a puck recovery in the corner into an odd man rush so they’re pretty comfortable keeping 4-5 guys in the zone to see if a turnover can happen.
The Devils have to get the opponents defenseman leaving the zone so that they have more space to breakout. The Devils could do this by having a forward break out of the zone through the middle but the team currently doesn’t seem to want to risk anyone leaving the zone early.
If the Devils won’t allow even 1 guy leave early and opponents are keeping 4-5 guys in then I think your best option is the high flip to center ice or the opponents blue line. It relieves pressure, avoids defensive zone turnovers, forces defenseman to turn around, and can still lead to offense but at worst forces the opponent to try and re-enter.
Even Florida was high flipping a bunch when the Devils were ramping up pressure. If your opponent is taking away all your space east to west in your defensive zone then the area of least resistance is going to be vertical.
This isn’t to advocate for high flips being plan A but the Devils defenseman seem to be struggling with what to do if plan A and maybe B aren’t available. High Flip should get on their menu as a planned option for right now.