DaveG
Noted Jerk
to avoid having the mess that we did last time with a 1200+ post GDT.
I mean it makes sense to me. There's been a trend, and I wouldn't doubt that much of it is analytics based, over the past few years moving towards more and more aggressive PKs, at least for us but also feels like a few other teams like Tampa as well. The focus has moved away from simply clogging up the net front lanes and shooting lanes to pressuring the opponent in to mistakes. There have to be some numbers out there that show that pressuring the opponent is more effective at preventing shots (duh) and goals, whether they are public or proprietary is the question on that one. on the other end of things, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that a more aggressive PK generates far more shorthanded scoring chances for the defending team when properly executed.
Aho's ability to disrupt the other team's PP in their own zone may be the single most underrated skill in the NHL. I believe someone here posted the statistic that a short-handed goal has more influence on a single game's outcome than any other type of goal or situation.
He changes the back pass that almost all PP's use. When the opponents switch tactics to dump the puck deep, Aho is often able to tip the pass coming back to the PP quarterback at the point and create those short-handed breakaways.
There are some other great PKing forwards (Coleman, Atkinson, Stone come to mind) but none of them create the short-handed havoc that Aho does on a regular basis.
I mean it makes sense to me. There's been a trend, and I wouldn't doubt that much of it is analytics based, over the past few years moving towards more and more aggressive PKs, at least for us but also feels like a few other teams like Tampa as well. The focus has moved away from simply clogging up the net front lanes and shooting lanes to pressuring the opponent in to mistakes. There have to be some numbers out there that show that pressuring the opponent is more effective at preventing shots (duh) and goals, whether they are public or proprietary is the question on that one. on the other end of things, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that a more aggressive PK generates far more shorthanded scoring chances for the defending team when properly executed.