After the embarrassingly futile loss in San Jose last week, Jeremy Colliton made a season-altering decision: he’d switch back to the more offense-friendly system he let the Blackhawks use during their 2018-19 spring surge.
That switch has led to the Hawks earning five of six points since.
After Sunday’s wild win over the Maple Leafs, which exemplified both the Hawks’ increased attacking aggressiveness and looser defensive structure, Colliton went public with the decision. And after Tuesday’s practice, Colliton described the strategic changes more in-depth.
In the defensive zone, the Hawks have pushed their winger on the weak side — the side opposite where the puck is — higher towards the point, so he has more space and a head start for a counter-attacking outlet pass if they force a turnover.
That has simultaneously switched them from “four low” to “three low,” meaning there’s less defensive coverage in the slot, but two forwards above the puck to make defensive zone exits and offensive zone entries easier.
“Before, we had four low a lot of times, to try and overload in certain situations,” Colliton said. “The problem is, when you win the puck back, a lot of times you’re very close together, and it’s harder to make clean plays, it’s harder to exit with space.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about how we have been dumping too many pucks in. Well, we’re not trying to dump the puck in, but when you’re attacking and you don’t have numbers, you don’t have space in behind, you have to.”
The idea is that this new system will give the Hawks’ more numbers and more space to execute offensive zone carry-ins, and so far, that idea has been proven correct.
Of course, it’s been proven correct in games against the Canucks and Leafs, two run-and-gun, speed-based teams. It will be more difficult to execute in the next two games, when the Hawks will operate without the advantage of the home ice last change — which can create more favorable matchups — and against two defensively stout opponents, who held the Hawks to a combined one goal in two matchups earlier this season.
Still, even the best defense often can’t stop Patrick Kane on his A-game, and he’s definitely on his A-game right now.
“It was a different game, there wasn’t as much flow to it, for whatever reason that was,” Kane said. “We’ve tweaked a few things here and there, and then all of sudden it gives us more motion, more speed and more options coming out of our end, which helps move us up the ice a little bit faster.”
The Hawks’ incredible team goaltending so far — Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford have combined for a .918 save percentage, sixth-best in the NHL — gives Colliton more confidence to reduce their support from the forwards. They’ve shown they can hold their own even on an island.
“We were trying to be tighter in our own end,” he said. “So you push a weak-side forward down, you have that extra safety in the slot. And I think that area had been better. But now when you push him up, the guys that are down low have to do a better job.”
Last year, when Colliton made this similar switch, the Hawks played some terrifying hockey — but, in general, made up ground in the standings.
The coaching staff hopes deciding to do so again this season will be equally effective with less side-effect chaos.
“We kind of felt it was time,” Colliton said. “I think we can still hold onto those defensive gains we’ve made and score more goals.”
