Avalanche Film Room: The struggles of Patrik Nemeth

We’re back with another edition of the Avalanche Film Room. My apologies for the delay between them as I was dealing with some oddities in writing this but with everything sorted, we’re back! Last time, we broke down some great teamwork that led to a highlight reel goal from Matt Nieto.

This time around the focus is on a player who has surprisingly carved out a large role on the better-than-expected Avalanche defense, Patrik Nemeth. Claimed from the Dallas Stars off the waiver wire, Nemeth has steadily ascended the Avalanche defensive lineup and he is fourth on the Avalanche in time on ice (18:53), has already set a career-high in points (12), and currently sits tied for 10th in the NHL in plus-minus (+17!).

Sounds great, right? Kind of. There have certainly been positives for the 26-year-old Swede but today we’re going to look at an area where he has consistently struggled this season: puck management. Below is a single shift from Colorado’s game at the Edmonton Oilers last week. Being just one shift, it’s obviously a small sample but it’s a problem that rears itself all too frequently.

Let’s jump into it and look at how Nemeth’s struggles kept Colorado hemmed in their own zone for over 30 seconds.

First Contact

Below, we see the Oilers dump the puck in and Nemeth wins the foot race to the puck. That’s the good part. The problems begin immediately. Watch Nemeth’s head as he never looks back for his support. He keeps his head strictly focused on the puck. Upon immediate contact, he rims the puck around the boards.

He’s blindly trusting one of his teammates to be there but you’ll see Carl Soderberg thinks he’s going to reverse the puck, where there is additional support, which Nemeth would have known had he taken a look. He did not and instead forces the puck right on to the stick of Oilers forward Mark Letestu, who immediately goes to put the puck on net. Soderberg reads it well and makes up for the turnover by blocking the shot.

Second Chance

The blocked shot squirts away into the corner, where Nemeth is fortunate enough to be in position to get there first. He again wins a race to the puck, which is good, but there’s a slight hesitation that allows the Oilers forwards to close in on both Nemeth and Sam Girard, his defensive partner and recipient of the pass. Once again, Nemeth fails to look back at all and see where his teammates actually are and Soderberg and Matt Nieto were available had he just moved the puck up the boards on his forehand.

Instead, he forces a pass through two Oilers players and to Girard, who has no option except to try to clear the puck to the side where the Avalanche only had one player. The lack of support allows the Oilers to contest the attempted breakout and the Avalanche ultimately were unable to clear the zone when the puck was poked from Soderberg to the defenseman at the point.

Not Again

The Oilers’ defenseman then dumps the puck in and around the boards, setting up a similar situation at the beginning of the sequence. Nieto is the first Avs player near the puck but he loses the race to the puck and the Oilers chip it into the corner. Nemeth was in perfect position when the Oilers did this and he makes the right play this time in sending the puck to Girard. The problem is simply the execution. He backhands a pass that is unplayable and hits Girard’s body, forcing him to adjust to the puck after it bounces off him and move the puck on his forehand.

A simple chip from Nemeth that would have been playable would have once again put the Avalanche in a man advantage situation as Blake Comeau was ready to receive a pass from Girard’s backhand versus just one Oiler forechecker. The poor quality of the pass forced Girard to move the puck around the boards into yet another contested situation.

Freedom!

Finally, the Avalanche are able to work the puck around and out of the zone. What role does Nemeth play in this? Well, he loses two consecutive puck battles along the wall and the Oilers pushed the puck to Girard and he found Soderberg, who was finally able to chip it out of the zone, though not in such a way that allowed Colorado any kind of possession to do something offensively.

The point was getting it out after they had spent their entire shift hemmed in their own zone, in large part thanks to the issues Nemeth was having with the puck. That isn’t to say Nemeth was the sole reason for the extended stay (Soderberg getting poke checked from behind by Zack Kassian at the end of the second gif, not shown, played a role).

While Nemeth has been a revelation for the Avalanche, especially on the penalty kill, the glaring hole in his game continues to be his puck management. Given the increased emphasis on puck skills on the blue line in today’s NHL, it’s an issue that may ultimately decide Nemeth’s fate as a long-term player in the NHL. He has the size, skating ability, and defensive acumen to stick for a lengthy NHL career but the lack of development of his puck skills may betray the rest of his talents.

For now, Nemeth will continue to see the ice but with several promising young defensemen on the way and the growing presence of Girard, all of whom are known for having good puck skills, Nemeth’s stay in Colorado’s top four may not last much beyond the rest of this season.