Thomas Harley: Angling Into the Catch
Thomas Harley has really continued to blossom as a top-4 offensive minded defenseman, where we see a lot more offensive flair and skill that continues to become more prominent out of his game. Harley does a great job of activating into the rush, inside the offensive zone, and has really continued to get better at patrolling the blue line for the Stars offensively and on their power play.
What I think is really noticeable about the young defender is his ability to use angles both within his body position and also defensively. Defensively in terms of angles, there’s still more polishing needed to be done in terms of anticipation and when to jump at the blue line defensively and when not to, but his angles really blossom the most offensively.
If he continues his trajectory with time, it sure looks like Harley could become a top pairing offensive defenseman because of the reps he is getting in many different situations, how his value has increased in the aftermath of the 4 nations tournament, and how Harley is continuing to showcase his poise and finesse offensively.
For a 23 year old defender, Harley plays with an offensive maturation controlling the blue line like he is 27 or 28, which is really impressive to watch in his game already.
What I really like on this sequence leading up to Harley’s goal are two things:
Harley does a terrific job of utilizing his awareness and anticipation to open up his body to present himself as a passing option. That allows his teammates to read that he is open, he is scanning, and he is looking to be an immediate shot threat on the weak side here.
Off the cycle sequence, with Dallas’ strong side forward coming up the wall, Harley activates the opposite direction coming downhill from the point, allowing pass options to open up that way. This also creates chaos for New Jersey’s D coverage, where they can’t make the read in time to get over to the other side where Harley is.
Once Harley catches the puck on his blade, he does a great job receiving it, using a few stickhandles, and shooting on the far side of the net to put Dallas ahead with just 3 seconds to go in the game.