In chess, pawns are the most plentiful pieces for either side. You aren’t likely to win exclusively with them, but proper positioning and placement allows a player to develop their pieces. In time, the pawn can reach the other end of the board and become a new piece and fit into the game’s paradigm.
Hockey, in many ways, can be looked at like chess. Every organization has a pipeline of prospects just waiting to eventually join the NHL and become integral to a club’s success; regardless of whatever role they develop into.
In Pawn Hockey — a new series on Mayor’s Manor this season — we’ll be taking a deep dive at specific games played by a selected Kings prospect. While a singular game doesn’t tell a whole tale, there are details which can be looked at under a microscope for further evaluation. The game looks different when an individual player is watched instead of the puck. The purpose of this series is to look at a player’s tendencies, real or perceived strengths and weaknesses, as well as potential growing points to look forward to in their ongoing development.
First up, let’s examine Liam Greentree, LA’s first round selection (26th overall) at this past summer’s NHL Draft. Not every shift from the 6-foot-2 forward will be discussed, yet there are five key clips which do a good job of showing what sort of player he is right now.
As far as deployment, Greentree was lined up on the first line right wing alongside Ryan Abraham (undrafted) and Ilya Protas (Washington 2024 first-round pick). Windsor’s second-year captain was also utilized on both the power play and penalty kill. It’s worth noting the importance of a skilled forward willingly playing while shorthanded, even though he didn’t have a prior reputation of being a defensive forward.
In this specific game (Oct. 30, 2024), the Spitfires fell 3-1. Greentree’s stat line for the night read: 0 G, 1 A, 1 point, minus-2, 0 PIM, 7 shots on goal. The two areas of data to focus on are the minus-2 and 7 shots on goal, as they don’t necessarily tell the whole story.
We’ll begin this analysis with a look at things defensively.
The first minus of the game came on Greentree’s first shift. He had just come on and was further up the ice to make himself an option for a pass, but his teammate gave the puck away. The minus itself doesn’t indicate his defensive play, yet this clip highlights a point of necessary growth, as it happened with the other time he received a minus.
Note where he was positioned when the puck was given away, but also notice that despite freshly coming onto the ice, his sense of urgency to hustle back was not present. This also happened at the end of the game, when fatigue might have been a mitigating factor. In the future, he won’t need to be a one-man wrecking crew in all zones, but the intensity and focus with the puck should have similar application away from the puck. Remember, as a recent draftee, Greentree is only 18 years old. Thus, he’s just beginning his real development toward eventually becoming a pro hockey player; so this is normal, but still worth noting.
One other example of a defensive concerns is in the below clip. Note when the opposition has the puck and he is forced to defend, Greentree’s feet stop moving. In the span of 10 seconds, he took about 8 strides despite being behind the play almost the entire time. About halfway into the clip, you’ll see two paths he can take – either cut off an incoming player along the way, or go in the direction of where the threat was (once again, essentially taking himself out of the play). Had a rebound been available, Greentree wouldn’t have been able to beat the player to the puck.
This highlights a couple concerns about defensive play – intensity when away from the puck and threat assessment. They both leave plenty of room for improvement, while also being easily fixable through coaching and direction. Incidentally, while his individual coverage has room for improvement, he shows better discipline on the penalty kill. He recognizes that there are multiple options available when he has a chance to scan them; thus, showing more urgency when trying to neutralize the opposition – whether he’s successful or not.
Either way, Kings management didn’t draft Greentree to be a defensive forward, so let’s move on to what Greentree does well, and why he is among the OHL leaders in scoring. When he has the puck, Greentree shows two exceptional abilities on a consistent basis: puck protection and vision. In this next clip, he receives the puck for the purpose of entering the zone. His body and reach did an exceptional job maintaining control while a player stayed on him. Once there was no real estate left, the future LA power forward made use of open ice around him to buy another second, then scan the ice and zip a pass to his teammate, leading to a scoring chance.
Next, the below video clip best exemplifies Greentree’s general style of play. Despite having a larger frame, he manipulates the open space around the opposition’s zone very well. After entering the zone and losing control of the puck, he moves to various supporting areas for his teammates to recover and to feed it to one of them. He’ll drift from the left corner back to the weak side in case the puck gets wrapped around the other way, then shift back to the left face-off circle as he sees the progress of the puck battle.
In this final clip, we see Greentree make an end-to-end rush that starts with him carrying the puck from his own zone. He once more utilizes his puck protection skills to gain entry and create a scoring chance on his own, recover the puck, and take another shot. As this is all happening on the powerplay, his teammates take various chances, as well. He stays in position to assist but not battle with linemates. The final time the Oshawa native receives the puck, he shows great vision, paired with deception, to earn an assist. With his hips facing the blueline, Greentree glances over his shoulder and handcuffs the opposition with a cross-body pass, leading to an eventual goal for Windsor.
What does this all mean? In the grand scheme of things, this was a single game — that we once more caution should not be overly emphasized. However, it does provide some insight into certain habits and skills. For Greentree, this game provided examples of his tremendous offensive abilities, along with a few other points that suggested need of improvement:
– Intensity without the puck, particularly on the backcheck
– Threat assessment
A few of the skills on display that helped lead to him being a first round selection were:
– Puck Protection
– Vision
– Deception
The latter trio help round out a package that will go a long way to eventually succeeding in the NHL. Even though his seven shots on goal may suggest Greentree is a sniper, it was his playmaking abilities that stood out more when you break down the game tape. For some, the minus-2 can lead to a comment like, “This player is bad defensively.” While there’s certainly room to grow on that side of the puck — again, very common for a player of his age and experience level — neither goal against was really his fault. Just looking at stats won’t always tell the story. Hence why we’ll continue breaking down video clips during another upcoming article in this new series.
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