Analyzing The Charlie Huddy Coached Defense
When the Dallas Stars hired Charlie Huddy to preside over their young defense in early August of 2009, it was generally lauded as a solid hire. Our friends over at The Copper & Blue mentioned his 'tremendous track record', while Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News said Huddy had "all of the things Marc Crawford was looking for" to run his defense. Huddy has won the Stanley Cup 5 times as a player. He stressed defensive puck movement, and the team was expected to grow leaps and bounds under his watch.
Fast forward a few months, to March 2010. The defense is in shambles. The team ranks in the bottom ten in multiple defensive categories. Matt Niskanen has regressed to the point where some fans use him as a punchline. Trevor Daley has yet to tap into the offensive talent he supposedly has. Night after night the goaltenders are left out to dry with poor defensive coverage in front of the net.
So how can we explain this?
I took some time looking through the stats of Edmonton for the 9 years he coached for the Oilers, and it turns out there aren't very big differences between the two Charlie Huddy-coached defenses.
After the jump, a look at how the current Stars team and the past 9 years of Edmonton Oiler defense compare.....
To compare the teams, I focused in on goals against per game and shots against per game rankings:
| GA/G | Shots Against Per Game | ||
| Dallas '09-'10 | 25th | 18th | |
| Edmonton '00-'01 | 15th | 6th | |
| Edmonton '01-'02 | 2nd | 8th | |
| Edmonton '02-'03 | 20th | 9th | |
| Edmonton '03-'04 | 16th | 11th | |
| Edmonton '05-'06 | 12th | 1st | |
| Edmonton '06-'07 | 17th | 17th | |
| Edmonton '07-'08 | 26th | 25th | |
| Edmonton '08-'09 | 22nd | 26th |
(Note: In this case, the teams are ranked from lowest GA/G and SOG/G to highest. So being ranked 25th is not a good thing.)
Overall, the Huddy-coached Edmonton teams were inconsistent at best. Notice, though, the steady drop in ranking in both categories for the last three seasons. That is a bit concerning to me.
One thing I kept reading about when I was researching Huddy was that he works great with young defensemen and brings out the best offense in them, stressing puck movement and an aggressive offensive game. So far that hasn't been the case.
I would be less worried about the bad defensive numbers if the Stars could generate any scoring from their defensemen. Trevor Daley gave us a great example of that last night when he assisted a great Toby Peterson goal minutes after scoring a goal on Marty Turco. It's easier to forgive a player's lapses in judgment when they can produce on the other end.
But for whatever reason, we haven't seen much improvement offensively while the defensive play has regressed.The top three offensive defensemen from last season:
Now the same three this year:
Robidas' improvement offensively can be traced to his role on the power play early on in the season, and is one positive improvement from last season. But the diminished offensive output from Niskanen and Daley is almost scary. Huddy was brought in specifically to help those two hone their offensive talents. And this is what we get? Nisky's assists and goals are way down even though he is on pace for the same number of shots as last season. And I'd rather not talk about his plus/minus. Meanwhile, not only has Daley's defense plummeted but he is not even going to match the number of shots as last season. He'll need ten more points to reach the 24 he posted in '09, and that's highly unlikely at this point.
Is this the fault of Charlie Huddy? Looking at the stats above, you could point a finger his way. The last three seasons under Edmonton saw a clear drop in defensive ranks, and eventually led to Huddy's departure from the Oilers. Teams don't just give up on a guy after 9 years without reason. Eventually his defense didn't produce.
And so far that's the case in Dallas. Granted, it's only one season. But the regression of the unit has been so sudden that it's hard not to wonder if Huddy's philosophy is behind it.
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Comments
My God, Pat, you must be a mind reader
Last night, my hockey friends and I were discussing the defensive breakdowns in the Buffalo game. Afterwards, I was wondering about Charlie Huddy and how much blame we should lay at his feet for the shoddy state of the defense right now. I mean, if we keep wanting to argue about how much culpability Marc Crawford has for the state of the entire team, shouldn’t we look at the individual parts as well? A new offensive system in which the defense is suppose to jump in and help with the scoring and this is what we get? Very interesting to see the numbers in black and white. Yes, Robidas has improved greatly from last year, but even he has regressed offensively from where he was earlier in the season. Thanks for the analysis. It is definitely something to think about.
Same cunclusion, different route.
I was reading the players comments after the game and it was like desha vu all over again (channeling Yogi)!
I was hearing the same comments and the same excuses that I heard after the first ten games of the season. That got me to wondering; has this coaching staff made no progress all year?
You would think that the experience level of this team would make them very coachable. Maybe not after 6 weeks, but certainly after 6 months! But, No, it’s the same breakdowns, the same lack of involvement from the defense, the same excuses and the same outcome as we saw at the beginning of the year.
So, my thought was, where is the “coaching” from the coaching staff?
by Cowpokealong on Mar 12, 2010 8:05 AM CST up reply actions
Yea! You wrote the piece!
I’ll have to come back to read it during lunch.
Good luck in Austin!
Supporting your local ice troll, 24/7/365
To hear Crawford speak after the games
It sometimes sounds as if he’s implying that the players aren’t doing what they’re told.
I still can’t figure out if it’s the scheme, the talent, the coaching, the forwards not helping… it’s maddening. It could be all of the above.
tangent
great article and something I had not even thought about.
something that stands out to me is that all three mentioned above have seen their PIMs drop dramatically. typically that is a good thing, but could it be that our dmen are not being as physical as they have been in the past? it might not mean anything, but maybe they are playing more tentatively b/c of such a poor penalty kill this season.
Those are good things to ponder.
As a defenseman for the latter part of my short hockey career I can say that you tend to get more penalties the harder you play.
For me it wasn’t about smarter vs. harder it was more about getting in there and not quiting until you had wrestled the puck away from the forward against the boards or whatever. It often led to more penalties.
Also I’d like to add that on those days when I was less motivated I’d get less penalties because I was simply playing position and taking up space in the “right place”.
I think we’ve all seen a lack of grit and determination from our defensive core. It’s like they give up way too quickly or something.
Just my thoughts.
Carry on.
by Damien Franco on Mar 12, 2010 6:38 PM CST up reply actions
Niskanen jokes...
People are using Niskanen as a punchline? I have no idea what you’re talking about Pat…. :)
View From My Seats
Sarcasm: God's gift to smart people...
Yeah I've only heard about it...no personal experience whatsoever ;)
"It would've been a huge momentum boost if we had beaten the St. Mary's School for the Blessed, Blind, Deaf and Dumb."
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by Pat Iversen on Mar 12, 2010 6:14 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Agree 100%!
Niuey needs to start listening in at practices and find out what Huddy is preching to our Dmen. What ever it is, its not working…..at all…….If the same problems have been happening night in and night out, all season long, isn’t that a sign that what your teaching isn’t working???
by Jeffrey Kaminsky on Mar 12, 2010 5:35 PM CST reply actions
half of it
The problem with a new coaching staff is the growing pains we must endure with a switch in coaching philosophy. Problem is we can probably blame coaching technique as well as players inability to adjust. The coaches always seem to be the easy way to blame for faults as our beloved players stay shiny. Here is the deal though… we are going from a Tippett system that was played for many years to Crawfords system that was instituted this year. It is a 180 degree turn. As much as we want to win win win now it may not be in the cards. The real question would be how many years do you give a new system to yield results? Another may be how many first year coaches starting with a team and giving them a new system have great seasons? As much as I hate to say it this year has really become an evaluation year to prep for the draft and free agency to see what we truly need to make this work. The playoffs I think were the bonus.
I don't understand
Why it took everyone so long to come up with this. I’m not a hockey tactician, but it seems to me like the defense is constantly out of position. It honestly seems to me like they’re trying to do something they’re not comfortable with or used to. They seem lost for long stretches of the game and end up scrambling
The biggest problem defensively is not being able to transition out of their own zone. I have yet to see another team be as bad this year as the Stars at clearing out the puck. To me, that’s a positional problem.
Watching the Olympics made it even more obvious that grossly outclassed teams can still prevent a LOT when they’re positionally sound. That doesn’t mean they won’t give up a ton of goals- just that they clog up the neutral zone and clear the puck out during a PK.
When you do NEITHER on a very consistent basis, that would seem to lay on the doorstep of the defensive coach.

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