One of the first things Rick Bowness did as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets was to force the defense to press the rush. His reasoning was that he thought the four-man rush, which requires the inclusion of one defenseman, needed to be a key tactic in the modern NHL. Why? The NHL has changed, as he shows in the video below. Because players are so good and teams are so well-coached, teams must come up with creative strategies to outnumber opponents on rushes.
The ability of the defensemen to participate in offensive plays is a major factor in the four-man rush’s popularity. Josh Morrissey of the Jets is one such player. In 78 games during the previous season, he tallied 60 assists and 16 goals. But he’s not the only one. A growing number of other celebrities, including as Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, are creating plays and scoring goals. They can skate like the wind and have amazing skills.
It’s becoming increasingly necessary for every player in the current NHL to be an attacking threat. It seems sense to involve defensemen in the rush as a result. It also gives the team’s offensive plan a more dynamic component. Fans must understand, though, that a single error can rapidly turn the puck the other way. Undoubtedly, the game becomes more exciting and end-to-end.
Bowness highlights that teams become predictable and simpler to stop when they don’t have a four-man rush. When a fourth player joins the surge, opportunities are created. It also increases the difficulty of countering the offensive threat and compels adversaries to adapt. Because teams use their two-man forecheck aggressively, the four-man rush is a calculated move used to get past defensive setups.
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