Avalanche may have just found the missing piece with their newest addition
Photo credit: Christopher Mast / NHLI
The Colorado Avalanche's recent hiring of Dave Hakstol to replace Ray Bennett raises an important question: Will his coaching philosophy mesh with head coach Jared Bednar's system and the current roster?
A familiar face with years of coaching experience, and former bench boss of the Seattle Kraken is making his return.
Avalanche's new coaching hire raises questions.
Conor Lively from Mile High Sticking writes that Hakstol's many years of coaching experience will benefit the rest of the Avalanche's coaching staff.
Hakstol's entire coaching philosophy centers around puck possession. He emphasizes an offensive system built on cycling the puck and wearing down opposing defenses. Outside of his structured defensive zone concepts, his players are consistently taught to prioritize puck control and make possession-driven decisions in all areas of the ice.
"On both his defensive-zone and neutral-zone breakouts, Hakstol's players are compelled to make more low risk passes and maintain possession through to the offensive blue-line. Zone entries though are a bit different. More often than not, Hakstol's teams do more dump and chase over carrying the puck over the line." -Lively
One of the Avalanche's biggest issues last season was their transition game. Too often, opposing teams applied heavy pressure with an aggressive forecheck, particularly in the defensive and neutral zones, leading to costly turnovers. This disrupted Colorado's ability to move the puck cleanly up the ice and limited their offensive rhythm, especially against faster, more structured teams.
"If Hakstol can instill a puck possession first mentality in the Avs players, it could definitely help the Avalanche get more clean zone entries or at least reduce turnovers in the neutral zone. Taking some of the risk out of the Avalanche offense should allow the skill guys more time to create offense if they can commit less turnovers." -Lively
Simply parting ways with Bennett already feels like a step in the right direction. I was skeptical at first about bringing in Hakstol, but after digging into his coaching style and philosophy, I'm beginning to understand what the front office and Bednar likely saw in him.
"The Avalanche have become increasingly irresponisble with the puck over the past few years and correcting that behavior will help the team in all phases of the games. I'm actually excited to see what Dave Hakstol can do with this team." -Lively
A bit of added discipline could go a long way for this group, especially considering the locker room has faced its share if turbulence since the Stanley Cup run in 2022.
A structured voice like Hakstol's might be exactly what the Avalanche need to tighten up their habits, restore accountability, and re-establish the kind of focus that carried them to the top not long ago.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 15 | 22 ANSWERS Avalanche may have just found the missing piece with their newest addition Do you like the Dave Hakstol hiring for the Colorado Avalanche? | ||
| yes | 18 | 81.8 % |
| no | 4 | 18.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
