The Breakdown - Sacco's  System.

Video isn’t appearing for me, I’ll have to wait until home until I read this, but nicely done in the emantime. This is the stuff I’m talking about

how often does this play out. It seems to me they play more dump and chase and less straight line attacks. I know we got to play what is given, but just wondering how often this played out in a game that you saw?

really enjoyed this.

Very well done. Nice work Taco. Now figure out how to fix it, eh?

Fantastic post. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

The problem since Q left, is the pass from 1 to 2 in your illustration. Why? Because that’s a 10ft+ length pass. The center (X3) needs to be about five feet from the D man making the pass out to keep a forechecker honest and give the D TWO options on the breakout instead of one. It also allows the center to support the winger (X2) to get a lose puck or grab it on a pass for transitioning. Toewes is masterful at supporting the breakout deep in his zone. Does it mean a longer skate to break out? Yeah. But you can still stretch the D with your offside winger or skate the puck out or have your other D help break out. Avs had a phenominal breakout with Hartley and Quinville.

Wait wait wait….Sacco has a system? When did THAT start happening!? Unless his system is called “just play pond hockey.”

OK, getting serious now…lol. This can be a good scheme to help keep the other team’s defensemen back a bit, but it falls flat when the other team crowds the area between the red line & the Avs’ blue line. I think Dario makes a good point on how to possibly counter-act this (thus rec’d).

solid work, thanks.

Good breakdown on the fast breakout against a forecheck. I’d like to see what they are trying to do against a more passive trap. I really think that’s where they are getting beat.

Rejoice!

First of All Damn good job

As stated above now that you actually map it out I see this a lot now that I think of it, and because this is basically our only strat I can see why Johnson has made some horrible turnovers he is going by the plan of attack passing to where people should be and not where they are. Is this muscle memory kicking and or not reading the ice quick enough or what but I see it now.

As stated earlier also this is countered fairly easy keeping center ice clogged and stopping that cross ice pass that Landy took in the linked video. Also if you catch that pass from D to Forward your all alone and it really looks like that is what the Flames looked to do. Look back at most of Flames Goals and you can see that fairly clearly they aren’t keeping the forecheckers honest and its creating pretty good turnover opportunities when going 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. This puts a heavy weight on your D to basically be supermen.

Again thanks for the Post even after last game trying to analyze what the system specifically was I couldn’t vision it (most likely due to camera changes and not being able to piece that play with changing views) but I see it now and I see how people are countering it.

From observation this system seems favor Dutchy at wing vs Dutchy at Center he has alot of the skills Stewart brought for that wing. I have some more musing that I want to observe more before posting them up but I think I know why Dutchy needs certain types of players on his wing just gotta watch the system closer for couple games now that I have seen what it is and can analyze it better. It basically comes down to Sacco needs to better suit his Scheme to the players he has.

Last little thought this has to be while Porter misses so much he can’t make those high speed decisions.

Your diagram and the video illustrate the break out, well. I’m not so sure it is a system, per se, because it is a very basic breakout, exactly like what my high school son’s breakout looks like. At his level, the wing will take the puck at the halfboards, your no. 3 is the center who is usually in the circles area in relation to the goal, center takes the pass and passes up to rushing forward, and how the puck is brought in is dependent on how the opposition reacts, with the dump only happening when the forward cannot bring the puck in cleanly.
What I find the most problematic with the Avs is they use this as a fast break offense, and do not have a real puck cycling one, mainly due to poor puck possession skills. Your break, here leads to one shot and done, and I agree that it worked well for Stewie because he had that shot from the wing that could beat the goalie, but if he misses, or anyone misses the net on the wing, the puck quickly turns up ice, the other way. If the opposition’s defense does what it is supposed to, which is make the Avs go outside, then the angle of the shot is from the wings, making it difficult to score, and only Stewie and sometimes Dutchy and Jonesy, can score from there, but it is an outside angled shot that the goalie should stop. On the Landy goal, the Chicago dmen go to radar, which is a fatal mistake, on their part, opening it up free ice for Landy. Because the Avs do not possess the puck well, they cannot set up in the opponent’s zone and earn those puck cycling type of goals the Detroits and the Chicagos do. Some of this can be addressed to Sacco, but the players have to get stronger on the puck.
I’ve used this analogy before, but we are like a fast break basketball team that doesn’t shoot particularly well. Our basic play isn’t great, so we can’t pass or do the basic things necessary to play what in b-ball would be, a half court game, which is necessary, along with a fast break capability. On the ice, our attack zone game is limited, and we turn the puck over quickly and often because of simple things, like not positioning the body at the proper angle in relation to the opposition and the puck, or not passing the puck blade to blade, and because of inability to pass well, not making the quick, timely passes necessary to keep the puck possessed. How Sacco cures those things, I really don’t know, it’s a basic skill set the players should already have at the NHL level.

Fantastic article.

This is the exact breakout that my high school and lots of teams use. It relies heavily on the winger to be able to be a great passer and be in position…I wasn’t too hip at it for the first year we did it…oops. I think it illustrates the Avs lack of depth at wing when this breaks down. Between the defenceman not always having a great outlet pass, and a lack of skilled wingers, sometimes the Avs have have problems with this. But i could be crazy wrong, too.