The building blocks must be established at the youth level in order to set a player up for future success.
5
(4)

For this edition of The Breakdown, we go back to last Summer’s TCS Live, where Dave Starman presented on the characteristics that define an effective defenceman in the today’s game.

In the presentation, Starman breaks down what he looks for in defencemen into seven building blocks:

  • Deception/determination
  • Effective
  • Forward
  • Explosive
  • Nasty
  • Stickwork
  • Efficient

He believes those building blocks must be established at the youth level in order to set a player up for future success.

“What can we do to lengthen the track and put the building blocks in to make sure that these kids get a really good early education, physically and mentally, so that when the concepts at the older levels start to take over, we can see some of the progress.”

Watch as Starman takes you through how the likes of Cale Makar, Charlie McAvoy and Devon Toews are providing the blue print for the modern defenceman.

Gain access to the series and all of our content with a membership to The Coaches Site.

See also:

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 5 / 5. Vote count: 4

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

Since you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media!

We are sorry this post was not useful for you...

Tell us how we can improve this post?


Add comment

David Starman

Starman has spent 11 years as an NHL scout with Toronto, Montreal, Seattle.  He is a member of USA Hockey Player Development staff in New York State and has spent  25 years as an instructor with USA Hockey Coaching Education Program.
Starman tended goal for the University of Hartford before turning to the other side of the game, becoming the youngest head coach in Central Hockey League history in 2000 when, at age 31, he took over the Memphis River Kings. Starman later guided the New York Junior Bobcats of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League and was associate coach of the New York Apple Core of the Eastern Junior Hockey League. Starman is now one of the nation’s most respected college hockey TV analysts.

View all posts