Forum Discussion

Hero

3 years ago

Tips for Defending in '23

Seems like many people have some gripes about defense - myself included. Over the last couple of weeks, I've refined and adjusted defensively, and I feel that I've gotten more comfortable in defending than I was at launch.

Here are a few tips I'd like to pass along to the community. Some of this might already seem self-evident to long-standing defenders who understand the position inside and out. So, these may not be for you - although I hope my GIFS can add some context to age-old defensive nuance that may provide a new perspective and encourage everyone to up their game.

Also - I play an incredibly passive defensive game. This might not be for everyone. You're likely going to see instances where I should've gone for a poke/body check and I don't. My argument to that would be that I feel in '23 - a poke check or a body check is more likely to put you out of position than it is to actually knock the puck loose and cause a turnover, especially when a puck carrier skates into the zone.. Of course, this will vary depending on who you're controlling and their body check/poke check attribute.

Tip # 1: Be passive & Cut off the inside track

Offensive players have become accustomed to lackluster defenders online. They will bait you into using an R1 poke check, thus killing your speed, and then taking that open ice to get right in to the slot. To defend this - resist the urge to poke check as soon as you've locked on to the puck carrier and guide them wide of the slot and/or force them to attempt to cross in front of you.

Here I am taking up position and not allowing the puck carrier to cross in front to the slot. It forces him wide, negates the threat to the slot and I've also retained the speed & agility on my defender, allowing me the speed to keep tracking him and cut off his eventual 2nd attempt at getting a money-goal-slot-shot:

Here I shut down his anticipated move to the slot. When he has no recourse, he pulls up - thus negating his speed. This allows me to match his positioning while utilizing poke check to stifle another attempt at moving to the slot. If I had attempted a poke check while the puck carrier was skating full speed, he would've blown right by me. But I maintain composure and only utilize the poke when I know he's slowed down and it's not as big of a risk for me to use it:

Another example of being patient, keeping in line with the lateral plane of the puck carrier and not letting anything get to the slot:

Tip # 2: Use the threat of a poke check to slow down the rush, allowing backchecking forwards to get into their defensive positions

Here, I am once again being very passive but that's because I KNOW my opponent wants me to go for a poke check so he can abuse the slowdown and get to a prime scoring area. However, I don't poke check immediately (which is what he expects) and I force him to glide and hold the puck forehand/backhand. This slows him down considerably (thank goodness) and you can see this allows my teammates to clog the slot and snuff that threat:

Tip #3: Poke check when the puck carrier's feet stop moving

Puck carriers love to bait the D in to using the poke check. However, when they stop moving their feet, a poke check will not penalize the defender as much and is generally more accurate:

Also - once the players' feet stops moving or they've entered the dreaded LT in the slot - use a flick of RS to knock them off:

Tip #4: Pump LT on defense

A weird habit I've picked up is pumping LT while defending. This ensures my defender is constantly facing the puck carrier, even at weird angles:

This allows me to maintain my forward speed and match the puck carrier while facing him, without being victim of the animations that get triggered when you fully enter LT:

But be careful - in this clip, I pump LT just one too many times and almost get caught:

Tip 5: Lateral movement is paramount and NOT chasing is key

Here, my opponent is having difficulty entering the zone. Because they are not too keen on dumping and chasing and they want to just carry the puck in to wheel-snipe-celly, I can completely shut it down by ensuring I don't chase him but also that I move laterally to cover his intended entry in to the zone:

By not rushing the puck carrier, it forces them to make a movement that they didn't anticipate and it sends them right in to traffic:

I'll continue to update this thread with anything I find useful to pass along to my fellow d-Men. If there's anything specific you'd like me to capture, let me know!

100 Replies

EA_Aljo
Community Manager
3 years ago
@KidShowtime1867

Nice work, Kid. Hopefully, this helps people adapt to defending in NHL 23. Thanks!
Sega82mega
3 years ago
Looks like the defence is startin to be on that place I always wanted it to be.

Were being patient is a key factor, if you don't like to be caught up flat-footed, or being way too over- committed by using poke spam and hustle towards the puck carrier.

It's good for the balance of the game, if you as the puck carrying team gets more time with the puck and also good for the defence if you know you can 'trust the game' by being more patient and careful with the pressure and still know you eventually will get your chance to force the opponent to a turn-over.

The fun factor goes in both direction.

It takes some guts to play passive, because it 'feels wrong' from the beginning, but it's definitely worth to try.
It's good to figure out how much you can trust your own goalie and your own AI, to do that you need to take some chances(give up some goals), but it will help you to improve your own defence in the long-run. When you get a better feeling for how passive or how aggressive you have to be for diffrent type of situations.

KidShowtime1867 you are a great asset for this board, kind of you to share your expertis to thoose that could be your opponent, the very next game.

Thats a true winner! 😏👏

* just to add, it's sweet music to see thoose typical NHL 22 plays, that Zegras in isles jersey, as an example, get shut-down without any direct effort from your side. People still seem to search for that one-timer infront. Guess that behavior is pretty deep rooted in our EA - veins.
Janikka
3 years ago
@KidShowtime1867 Great stuff man! This is definitely the way this year. I've had to unlearn some habits myself, and the hardest one to change has been my previous reliance on poke checking at the blue line. What I used to do (in 6s) was time the poke check at just above the blue line where the puck carrier has to avoid an offside whenever he has teammates entering the zone with him, meaning he can't avoid the poke at that moment if you time it right. I would also maintain momentum toward my own zone when going for this poke to mitigate the risk. This was incredibly effective for me, but it's no longer viable. You can no longer rely on a successful poke to remove the puck because the puck carrier will often just regain it, and then they'll blow past you due to the poke check slowing you down so much. So now I play more passively and try to stay with the opponent, as you suggest in these tips.

Also just to add to everything you wrote, I find it effective to pressure the puck carrier by inching closer to the puck. So you don't actually try to take the puck away, but you get closer to it which creates a stronger sense of urgency in the puck carrier, increasing the likelihood of a mistake that leaves them vulnerable to an actual takeaway.

Anyway, keep them coming!
PlayoffError
Hero
3 years ago
@KidShowtime1867Great stuff. All good tips to mitigate the problems in NHL 23 with the lopsided balance between offense and defense.
I'd just like to remind EA that just because there are things you can do to be somewhat effective defensively doesn't mean that the game is fine as-is. Far too often you can make the correct play defensively and still get burned because the offensive player will easily keep the puck. And even if you play defense perfectly the goalies are so bad at what should be low-percentage shots that it often doesn't matter.
While I think it's a good idea to sticky this post since it has valuable information, I worry that by doing so EA is just going to use it as an excuse to say "see, defense is fine" and wash their hands of the whole situation.
NAVergy
3 years ago
So my style of playing D works now! No more spam poke check cheese that has plagued the game for years.
IceLion68
3 years ago
@KidShowtime1867 wrote:
Seems like many people have some gripes about defense - myself included. Over the last couple of weeks, I've refined and adjusted defensively, and I feel that I've gotten more comfortable in defending than I was at launch.
Here are a few tips I'd like to pass along to the community. Some of this might already seem self-evident to long-standing defenders who understand the position inside and out. So, these may not be for you - although I hope my GIFS can add some context to age-old defensive nuance that may provide a new perspective and encourage everyone to up their game.
These are all good tips, some of which I have been using/figured out also.
The only complaint I have is that all this just underlines how very bland and boring it has become to play effective defense in this game. It just gets more and more boring and less dynamic and fun.
I mean there is the fun of breaking up a play but everything about playing effective D for the most part seems so passive now.. ya know?
TTZ_Dipsy
Hero+
3 years ago
You mentioned times where you chose a more passive approach over opting fore the poke and/or a hit - I commend your discipline, I just think these types of decisions are why so many people are having problems with defense as a whole.

What I mean by this is, in the game's current state, defenders are forced into a single type of defense in any situation -- you have to either depend on automatic responses from Defensive Awareness and certain X Factors, or you need to take a more active role with the Poke and Body Check stats: there is no mixing/combining these together (like, if you enter DSS, you lose the ability to snag an intercept unless your skates are in a pixel-perfect spot).

In any case, I like the examples you gave; A visual representation will always be better than text alone.
kezz123
New Veteran
3 years ago
Good post. But at the same time...holy crap im glad i refunded it and skipped this year. This looks SOOOO BORING and unrealistic defense I dont know how you can even play more than 2 games like that.
Basically one hand in your pants and the other on left stick is the way to play D this year...0 interaction...barely a game anymore.
yuck.
TheUnusedCrayon
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
You forgot to include one of the most important tips to playing defense:
Position yourself so that you eliminate the player's forehand. Unless a player is close to the net, 99% of the time you want to position yourself so that if he brings the puck to his forehand it exposes the puck to you and sets you up to poke it away easily. Most players are aware they need to be on their forehand to score, so position yourself so that if they bring it to your forehand you have the opportunity to poke or block it.
This single tip will eliminate over half of your goals against because people will just put themselves between the net and the defender and then wonder why they can't time pokechecks.
Every year my GAA in 1v1 modes is under 1.00. This is one of the main reasons why (also being smart and knowing how to read plays helps).
Sega82mega
3 years ago
@TheUnusedCrayon

Being smart is never a bad advice.

Like the rest you said. 😏👍