'A third defenseman' — A strong puckhandling goalie can help your team in several ways

Seattle Kraken goalie Joey Daccord spent hours down in the basement of the North Andover, Mass., home he grew up in with the soundtrack of pucks ringing off goalposts.

Forehand, backhand, bar down.

Ping! Backhand, forehand, post and in.

Ping! Forehand, backhand, bar down.

Ping! Daccords parents furnished the basement with a plastic shooting board, a full-sized hockey net and dozens of pucks for him to fire at it.

Advertisement I didnt do it because my dad told me to do it.

I did it because it was fun, Daccord told The Athletic as he remembered those days (and nights) fondly.

Daccords father, Brian, was a pro goalie in Switzerland, and has coached goalies both collegiately and in the NHL .

Daccord remembers his father telling him he should be using his goalie gloves and stick, not a regular players stick, while shooting in the basement.

I was like 12 and Im like, Dad, this stuff is so heavy.

I cant get the puck off the ground, and after five shots my arms are killing me.

This isnt fun at all.

I want to snipe.

A decade and a half later Daccord is sniping in the NHL, but hes not firing pucks at nets.

Hes launching them 120 feet through the air to the opposing teams blue line, straight onto the tape of his teammates sticks for breakaways, showing off his unique puckhandling ability as a goalie.

Daccord is one of the best, if not the best, puckhandling goalies in the NHL.

He regularly swoops behind his net to collect dump-in attempts and start breakouts.

Hes a good example of how much a goaltender can impact a hockey game beyond simply making saves.

I think all of that work in the basement is where I built up the muscles, and its the biggest reason Im able to stickhandle well with a goalie stick, Daccord said.

There are the flashy plays such as the goal by Pittsburgh netminder Alex Nedeljkovic on Jan.

17 that end up on highlight reels for the rest of a goalies career.

But the real benefit of having a puckhandling goaltender comes from the dozens of small, simple plays they make every game.

Those plays make life easier on their defensemen and add up over the course of a long season.

The ultimate goal is just trying to break your team out as easily as possible, Daccord explained.

The more successful you are at breaking the puck out, the less time you spend in the defensive zone, and the fewer opportunities youre going to give up.

Advertisement Daccord has followed up his breakout rookie season with another brilliant performance over the first half of 2024-25.

His .917 save percentage and 19.05 goals saved above expected both ranked fifth in the NHL entering the weekend.

On top of that, his aggressive puckhandling prevents him from having to make several more saves per game.

Its almost like having a third defenseman back there, honestly, Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak said.

Hes good at moving the puck, and hes also pretty predictable with it.

Ive played with some good puckhandling goalies, and hes definitely up there with the best of the best, Kraken defender Adam Larsson said.

You notice the crispness of his passes, and how hard the pucks are coming to you.

He has good hockey sense, which I think is underrated, so he makes the right play.

Daccords hands, strengthened by hours of puckhandling drills in his basement, allow him to fling the puck around the rink in a way few goalies can, but as with most skills in hockey, good puckhandling begins with good skating.

If youre able to get out there and stop all of the rims because youre a good skater and you can get to all of them, thats step number one, Daccord said.

Another thing is, if youre a good skater, a lot of times you dont even have to stickhandle.

You can just position your feet around the puck to make the play you want.

I try to stickhandle as little as possible, and just use my feet to shift my body to wherever I need to be to make the pass.

One of the biggest differences between goalies who handle the puck well and those who dont is how they rotate their body around the puck to position themselves for a pass.

Another NHL goalie who excels with the puck on his stick is St.

Louis Jordan Binnington .

These clips from his game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan.

20 show how Binnington doesnt just get to the puck, he spins his body around behind it, allowing him to face the ice rather than facing the boards the way most goalies do.

Not only does this make it easier to read the ice, it also opens up additional passing options and makes it difficult on the opposing teams forecheck.

I just want to make life easy on my defensemen so they take less runs and get smoother exits, Binnington said.

It also keeps you in the game.

Sometimes youre not getting shots, so you get out there, feel the puck, make a play, and you feel more connected to the game.

Advertisement Like Daccord, Binnington also grew up with shooting nets in the basement of his childhood home.

At my dads house, he put it together where the whole basement was basically a rink, with a full-size net on each side, Binnington recalled.

There was a fake ice sheet so I could stickhandle and shoot.

Then he had a huge carpet with the net cut out, so it would block the walls.

I did a lot of work in that basement.

I just loved it, looking back.

Its funny how it all transpires.

Now that Daccord and Binnington are in the NHL, the work doesnt stop.

Both say they regularly practice their stick skills during practice, taking any extra moment between drills to sharpen their craft.

Its something that I try to work on at least once a practice, even if its just for a minute or two, Daccord said.

Ill grab two pucks and just do a figure eight around them.

Or Ill have my goalie coach rip pucks on the ice hard at me, and I work on catching passes on my forehand and backhand.

For many goalies, improving in this aspect is low-hanging fruit.

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy who was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1983 watched that transformation happen for one of the all-time greats.

When I was a young player, Eddie Belfour was a rookie in Saginaw in Chicagos minor-league system (in the IHL), Cassidy recalled.

He was terrible at (playing the puck), but he idolized Ron Hextall and he worked at it every day, every day, every day, and he became one of the elite puckhandlers in the league.

It wasnt by accident.

He worked on it.

Good skating and stick skills are both required to play the puck well, but the most important ingredient could be poise.

Ive coached him for three years, and Ive seen some outrageously good plays, Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said of Daccord.

Hell pass it over a guys stick to a defenseman, or even pass the puck through a forechecker to his defensemen.

Those are plays that players with poise and good intelligence and vision can make, and Ive seen it happen so many times that I have a lot of confidence in him going back to play the puck.

You have to understand that you have more time than you think, Daccord said.

If youre able to go back there and have some poise, usually youll end up making pretty good decisions, because you have an extra second.

You have more time than you think to get your head up, find the guy and snap it to him.

Advertisement When a goalie passes the puck the way Daccord and Binnington do, it can completely change the way the opposing forecheck attacks.

You have to be less aggressive on the defensemen, so now they have more time and thats the advantage, Cassidy explained.

We have to change our (forecheck) a little bit.

On (the goalies) forehand side, our right winger would have to be a little less aggressive.

Id rather give up the play to the defenseman below the goal line, than one that traps two guys (deep in the zone).

Heres a visual of the scenario Cassidy is describing.

When a goalie stops the puck behind the net, he typically has two easy passing options to a defenseman on either corner below the goal line (labeled A and B).

In this scenario, both of Seattles defensemen are being pursued closely by Winnipeg s forecheckers.

The third option (labeled C) is the center swooping to the front of the net.

You cant see it in this photo, but he also has a forechecker right on his back.

There is the fifth option of simply ripping the puck off the glass and out of the zone, but Daccord resorts to that only when necessary.

If I have to rim the puck, I call it punting, he said.

Nobody likes to punt on fourth down, but sometimes you have to.

At this point in the play, the Jets probably feel like they have the breakout covered, but Daccord makes a special play by sending a saucer pass to his winger at the blue line.

Not only does this relieve all forechecking pressure and clear the zone, but it also springs a rush chance the other way because Winnipeg is caught with three forwards below the puck.

As Cassidy explained, many coaches alter their forechecking strategy to avoid getting caught in this scenario.

Instead of rushing to pressure the defensemen in the corners, wingers must hold up to make sure the goalie doesnt pass to the wing, then continue with their route to pressure the defensemen.

Advertisement It gives the defensemen a little more time, because now you have to stop, then go at them, Cassidy said.

Forwards dont want to do that, they want to keep their momentum, but thats something you have to game plan for if the goalie can do that.

Looking at the 139 defensemen with at least 600 minutes of ice time in the NHL this season, their average hits taken per 60 minutes is 5.4, according to Natural Stat Trick .

All five of Seattles top defensemen in ice time average fewer hits taken and the Blues have two of the top 10 defensemen in the NHL in fewest hits taken per 60 minutes.

Sometimes we dont even have to go all the way back for pucks, said Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn , who also played with Binnington for three seasons in St.

Louis.

The other teams forecheckers try to get the puck, Joey can pass it by them, and that already creates an odd-man rush getting out of our zone.

Comparing the two, Dunn said both Daccord and Binnington make life much easier on their defensemen and save them from taking as many hits but that Daccord is more aggressive and willing to make the riskier passes, like this rainbow flip to spring Tye Kartye for a breakaway against Ottawa .

Those types of plays are rarer, but they keep opposing teams honest, especially if they mistime a line change.

Daccord has built up the confidence to take those shots over years of playing the puck aggressively and believes thats the only way to reach that point.

If I was talking to younger goalies, I would say to just keep trying, he said.

The more reps you get with it, the more confidence you build.

Its OK to not be perfect.

Even if you do turn it over, or dont make a great play, you just go out there and keep trying.

When mistakes do happen, theyre usually of the more embarrassing variety.

Getting caught out of the net on a turnover can look bad and draw the ire of the thousands of fans watching.

It may seem like the risk of disaster isnt worth the reward of playing the puck, but dont underestimate the impact of a goalie who plays the puck well.

After all, the NHL did create a rule to hinder New Jersey Devils great Martin Brodeur from playing the puck as much because the league felt it was becoming too difficult to score.

(Photo of Joey Daccord: Steph Chamber / Getty Images).

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