Jaccob Slavin: Anticipating the Weak Side
I think it’s no longer a secret how underrated is Jaccob Slavin is defensively, and obviously as a premier shutdown defender, we don’t see a ton of offensive upside regularly out of Slavin. With Slavin, he has the unique ability to attack offensively through anticipation and timing, where he relies more on that to get to space and be able to be an offensive threat on occasion.
Slavin brings premier defensive zone positioning and control over his stick, angles, and body control, and a lot of that translates to his offensive zone habits as well. He can drive inside of guys, maintain goal side positioning, find soft space that other players miss, and can activate across the offensive blue line effectively for space creation as well.
It takes more time for Slavin to really showcase his offense, because it’s really rare to see a goal or even an assist happen regularly for him, but he does a great job being involved in those situations and making timely reads when they do happen.
What I really like about this is how Slavin sprints the weak side to make himself available in the neutral zone and eventually in the offensive zone. By making himself available in the O Zone, Slavin becomes a threat on the back side of the defenders, opening a passing lane for his teammate Jackson Blake. Slavin does a great job reading the space, attacking it, and initially making a weak side pass in neutral ice to Jackson Blake.
Blake handles the puck on entry, maneuvers, and with Slavin attacking the back post area, Blake delays and holds on to the puck to allow Slavin to become an option. Blake does a great job finding Slavin on Slavin’s slash across, and Slavin taps the puck home into the back of the net.
An excellent display of skill, grit, and determination from Slavin here to initially manage the puck and then attack the defenders straight on in the entry scenario as well.