Left and Right D-Men

by Gould Old Days on Mar 5, 2009 5:09 PM EST

I have to admit that the question of which defenseman plays on which side has always made my head spin. It seems to me that every time someone says a general rule, there are always a ton of exceptions. Today, I'm trying to figure out where Pothier fits in, and it's giving me a headache. So please correct any of this if it's wrong.

First, some facts:

Pothier shoots right (the Caps website is wrong on this -- I checked some photos to make sure)
Green and Jurcina shoot right. So does Ovechkin (your PP point)
Poti, Schultz, Alzner, Morrisonn, Kronwall and Erskine shoot left. So does Fedorov.

Green plays on the right side. Poti also seems to usually play on the right side. Between them, they can handle almost 50 minutes a night out there. Juice and/or Erskine often seem to play the rest of the right side minutes.

Schultz and Morrisonn seem to take on most of the left side minutes, with Kronwall or Erskine taking what is left over. I think Alzner has typically played on the left side when he's been up with the team.

Based on all that, it looks like the right side of the Caps' D is much better than the left, thanks to Green and Poti. I assume Pothier would play on the left, but I'm not sure of that since he shoots right. Maybe Poti would move to the left to make room for him.

One of Pothier's best attributes is his skating and his speed, so it would make sense to me to pair Pothier and Green (if Pothier's on the left). Pothier would be a good "safety" when Green pinches in. Of course Pothier can't handle as many minutes as Green, so someone else would have to play on Green's pairing some of the time.

Here are some possible pairings, by TOI:

PP: Ovechkin - Green (5 mins)

PK1: Alzner - Poti (4 mins)

PK2: Schultz - Green (2 mins)

EV1: Pothier - Green (15 mins)

EV1a: Schultz - Green (3 mins)

EV2: Alzner - Poti (14 mins)

EV2a: Schultz - Poti (3 mins)

EV3: Schultz - Juice/Erskin/Kron (12 mins)

That breaks down to 25 mins for Green, 23 for Poti, 20 mins for Schultz, 18 mins for Alzner, 15 mins for Pothier, 12 for Juice/Erskine/Kron, and 5 mins for Ovechkin.

Does this look reasonable? Or would Pothier play on the right and push Poti to the left?

If this FanPost is written by someone other than one of the blog's editors, the opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect those of this blog or SB Nation.

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Pothier doesn’t push Green or Poti anywhere. Pothier won’t play with either of those guys. BB talks more about having a puck mover and a stay at home guy on each pair than he talks about having a righty and a lefty on each pair. Pothier won’t be able to handle big minutes so I think he’ll be the puck mover on the third pair. That leaves you with:

Green/Schultz
Poti/Shamo
Pothier/Juice/Erskine

by Rob Parker on Mar 5, 2009 5:49 PM EST reply actions

I think that’s what we’ll end up seeing, perhaps with 55 and 26 flipped. And if Pothier is his old self (not holding my breath), it’s a good group.

If Pothier is not his old self, I want Alzner up. Juice/Erskine in the playoffs is going to take years off of my life.

by grapejoos on Mar 5, 2009 9:38 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks

Thanks for asking this in a FanPost — it’s something I’ve always wondered about, and hopefully someone can enlighten us all. Now all I need is someone to explain why right-handed shooters play left wing and my education will be almost complete!

by Scott in Shaw on Mar 6, 2009 11:34 AM EST reply actions

Generally plays play the side of their handedness: Fehr is right wing, Kozlov is a right win, Gordon plays right wing when not at center, Brash plays on the left, Bradley on the right, etc.

Sometimes teams will play skilled wingers on the off wing (Ovechkin, Semin, Bondra, Kovalchuk, Jagr, Malkin, etc) in order to get their forehand to the center of the ice and thus give them better shooting opportunities.

by David Getz on Mar 6, 2009 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

Does it work the same way for defensemen as a general rule?

by Gould Old Days on Mar 6, 2009 1:53 PM EST up reply actions

To be honest, I’m not 100% sure, but I want to say no. I think with defensemen it’s generally an issue of minimizing mistakes rather than to maximizing offensive output. For example, if you’re Boudreau there are guys (Jurcina, Erskine, arguably Schultz and Morrisonn) who are weak puckhandlers who need to play on the same side as their handedness. I think you address those cases first and use the more skilled guys where they’re needed and I think that if you see someone like Scott Niedermayer or Nicklas Lidstrom playing on their off-side it’s as much because they’re capable of doing it as it is that it might boost their offensive output.

by David Getz on Mar 6, 2009 2:19 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks. I was mainly wondering about guys like Ovi and Semin. I guess the upside of a center-ice forehand outweighs the bad angles caused otherwise? Because almost every time Ovi skates down the wing he has to take a couple strides to the right before shooting. Now granted, he’s unreal, so it works for him, but it’s awfully predictable.

by Scott in Shaw on Mar 6, 2009 2:42 PM EST up reply actions

I also think European wingers tend to like to like the off side more than North Americans. So Ovechkin and Semin are natural left wings because they’re right side shots.

by Gould Old Days on Mar 6, 2009 3:09 PM EST up reply actions

There’s a little more to it than that. This is really an issue for D-men. It is much easier for a D-man to play on the side on which he shoots, for several reasons. The main consideration is that it is easier to play a puck off the boards on your forehand than on your backhand. So when a D-man is in his own corner trying to clear the puck, it is an advantage to be able to play it on your forehand. Similarly, when a D-man is pinching at the blueline trying to keep a puck in, it is easier to corral a hard-around on the boards on the forehand. In addition, when a D-man is backpedaling with the rush coming in, if he’s on his shooting side, his top hand, which controls the sick, will be on the inside. That means he can reach to cut off the cross ice pass without turning his shoulders, so he can stay square to the oncoming forward.

Incidentally, Poti only plays on the right because they don’t have enough right-handed D-men. He’s better on the left. They are all better on their forehands. That’s why the answer to JP’s question is: Jurcina is going to get the nod over Erskine.

by Kirg on Mar 6, 2009 3:54 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

Sweet!

Thanks — exactly what I was looking for! So I guess if you’re uneven as a team, the veterans typically play on the off side so the rookies have one less thing to worry about.

by Gould Old Days on Mar 6, 2009 4:05 PM EST up reply actions

Rec’d. Best explanation I’ve seen.

by Scott in Shaw on Mar 6, 2009 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

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