LHS D on right side and RHS D on left side

[CuriousGeorge]

Most teams use LHS D on left side and RHS D on the right side, but why isn't it popular to see LHS D on right side and RHS D on left side? I'm surprised since having a RHS D on the left side works better since he can one time the puck much easier rather than a LHS D. Poke checking could be easier too.

 

[Roboturner913]

Ever tried to clear the puck down the boards with your backhand? That's why.

Also, if you notice, many LHD play the right side on the power play and vice versa because of the scenario you just described.

 

[Summer Rose]

Defensemen on their off side is common on the power play, where defensive zone play isn't really a consideration. It does make a big difference in the defensive zone though. believe me.

 

[Martinez]

Works in NHL 18

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Ever tried to clear the puck down the boards with your backhand? That's why.

Also, if you notice, many LHD play the right side on the power play and vice versa because of the scenario you just described.

I meant 5-on-5, not on the PP or PK.

 

[rent free]

to me it doesn't make a difference where they play. they're on their off-side on the powerplay because of the slapshot from the point i think

 

[The Macho King]

I meant 5-on-5, not on the PP or PK.

And he answered that with the first part of the post. Much easier to clear up the boards forehand than backhand.

 

[HSF]

I think Phaneuf did this before

 

[Albus Dumbledore]

Not only clearing. But d to d passing is easier as well as pretty much everything not related to scoring. Basically playing strong side if your on the appropriate side.

 

[Gsus]

This is an easy answer. Already in first post.

It's a lot harder to make plays playing your off side. Remember defenceman's main job is play defence and once you get the possession you make D to D passes and most effective way to move the puck is when you have no off siders.

 

[zeke]

In the ozone being opposite handed can help, you're right.

But coaches care about the dzone, and it's much much easier to clear the zone on your strongside than your offside.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Not only clearing. But d to d passing is easier as well as pretty much everything not related to scoring. Basically playing strong side if your on the appropriate side.

Another thing... if you're a left-handed defenseman skating backwards against the rush, proper position would have you holding your stick only with your right hand, so you can reach out and cover the inside lane with one arm.

If you're on the other side of the ice, you have to reach across the ice and probably have both hands on the stick in order to cover the center lane. Not only does that shorten your reach when defending the pass, it makes it much much easier for the puck-carrier to fake that pass and then blast past you on the outside while you're slightly off balance.

Furthermore, a defenseman trying to hold the blue line offensively is going to be severely disadvantaged if he has to pick the puck off the boards on his backhand. That's a formula for blowing possessions and allowing odd-man breaks in the other direction. Teams recognize those situations and attack them when they present themselves.

Basically the one real advantage to playing on the off-side is when you have the puck in the offensive zone, which is relatively uncommon for a defenseman. Any other situation (95% of the time you're at ES) it's a disadvantage.

 

[Anglesmith]

D-to-D passes are more effective with defencemen on their correct side, as aside from making the pass cover more space, the receiver of the pass always has the option to pump the puck down the boards if he gets stuck. If he's on his wrong side and receives the pass, then a pressuring forechecker can take away this safe option and make every possible play a relatively risky one.

 

[Seanaconda]

Some offensive dmen like their offside but they will normally just switch in the ozone and go back to their strong side when they go back

 

[Seanaconda]

Some offensive dmen like their offside but they will normally just switch in the ozone and go back to their strong side when they go back

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Handedness is most important for defenseman, and least important for centers (Well technically goalies, but skaters speaking yeah). And the reason has been explained multiple times on this thread.

 

[Kamina]

happy i am the first to post this (not the exact scenario but relevant)

 

[JD1]

when you are skating backward you are in a stronger defensive position if your stick is on the inside. when playing offside d your stick is outside and it is easier to get beat in the middle.

 

[Michael Farkas]

to me it doesn't make a difference where they play. they're on their off-side on the powerplay because of the slapshot from the point i think

This is my vote for favorite and most dedicated poster trying to match his own avatar. It's every post, so awesome haha

Great answers by the Canes guys, positional/lane management, puck battles, board management, pass acceptance into protection situations, clears, retrievals...basically everything fundamental about the position is involved. All the Bowman disciples (and those that tried to take everything they could from him, right down to the ice chips...like myself) are pretty married to this.

 

[Tweed]

The Russians studied this extensively. Tarasov, I believe. I remember reading the reports, and all data indicated that the extremely slight advantage (almost negligible) of playing on the "correct" side in terms of puck containment... was not worth the loss of advantage gained offensively from playing on the off-hand.

I tried to google up the report, but put very little effort into it... however, first thing I found was this. I'm not reading all that, just to make sure it's the data from the same report

http://thesportjournal.org/article/...discussion-of-theory-and-an-empirical-review/

 

[tarheelhockey]

The concept there is fascinating, but there are two BIG issues:

1) For all the work that appears to have been done writing the article itself, the data is pulled from: 10 hockey defensemen who were males aged 14–16 involved observation during an ice rink’s 2-hr open “puck-n-stick” session.

That's an incredibly underwhelming source of data for something this ambitious. You'd almost have to go out of your way to find a less adequate sample of hockey activity, than a tiny group of teenaged amateurs messing around at open hockey.

2) The tasks measured were all offensive in nature (holding the puck at the blue line, making passes, taking one-timers) which leaves the majority of the defenseman's job un-measured.


I like the level of detail that they explore to illustrate their findings, but I have serious reservations about the findings themselves. If someone does a more robust study, I'd be interested to see the results and I expect they will be quite different than what we see here.

 

[Paulinvancouver]

You'd almost have to go out of your way to find a less adequate sample of hockey activity.

Made me lol. Thank you.

I on more than one occasion had to play on my off side bc we didn’t have enough active lefties. It was uncomfortably awkward trying to get a pass through to my partner and clearing the puck was like rolling the dice. No thank you.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, I clicked the "report" as well because I'm always looking for a new perspective on things like this...and I read it through it and was like "is this a joke?" Brutal "study", I have more data on line holding and board battles than that and it's more relevant than the entirety of that piece...yoi...

 

[Viqsi]

The concept there is fascinating, but there are two BIG issues:

1) For all the work that appears to have been done writing the article itself, the data is pulled from: 10 hockey defensemen who were males aged 14–16 involved observation during an ice rink’s 2-hr open “puck-n-stick” session.

That's an incredibly underwhelming source of data for something this ambitious. You'd almost have to go out of your way to find a less adequate sample of hockey activity, than a tiny group of teenaged amateurs messing around at open hockey.

2) The tasks measured were all offensive in nature (holding the puck at the blue line, making passes, taking one-timers) which leaves the majority of the defenseman's job un-measured.


I like the level of detail that they explore to illustrate their findings, but I have serious reservations about the findings themselves. If someone does a more robust study, I'd be interested to see the results and I expect they will be quite different than what we see here.

Or, IOW, "needing more data" doesn't mean you pull even more minutae from the paltry collection you already have.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

clearing pucks and making hard accurate outlet passes/d2d passes is harder on the backhand

also to protect the puck on your off side it has to go across your body takes more time and leaves you exposed to be stripped/poke checked.

its only viable on the PP or set OZ plays where the D play their off side so they can one time pucks.