#nhl #hockey #torontomapleleafs
The ‘Slap Shot’ is a dying art in NHL hockey. In this video, we break down why this is the case and how players like Connor Bedard, Auston Matthews, & others are evolving the game with their techniques.
Thank you to our Sponsor Hockey Training:
Check out Hockey Training here!
Hockey Training YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/hockeytraining
Hockey Training Shop: https://shop.hockeytraining.com/
Alex Ovechkin Erik Karlsson Connor McDavid
37 Comments
Does anybody remember when Zdeno Cara blasted the puck by the goalie in a shootout?
I stopped slapping almost entirely when I was playing 25 years ago. Wrist shots are more accurate and can generate 85% of the same speed very quickly. So it makes senses to me. Just natural to play smarter and faster.
Al Mcinnis is my favorite.
I still believe defensemen are under utilized in the offensive zone. A pass to them and quick wrist shot would often score and for a team to quick their wingers higher up.
I always wondered this. One of my favo(u)rite highlights is Steve Yzerman shooting a slap shot vs. ST. Louis (not sure the goalie). Gretz used to do it all the time. But today you've got skill that wasn't even a thought back in those days. If you tried to pull off a deke or celly in the days of Scotty Bowman or Don Cherry, you were getting BENCHED!! But alas the game has changed. Could you imagine a player like Trevor Zegras 20 years ago. He wouldn't have made it out of training camp because he'd have got the crap beaten out of him! But today his skill set is highly welcome and for good reason: it makes the game interesting. Nevertheless I do miss the days when guys would gain the zone, wind up, and blast one past the net minder to his dismay. You'd see an elite goalie like Marty B or St. Patrick spin around and smash their stick on the post for letting one in.
Not that it's a major reason, but sticks as well…
If you look at Bauer and CCM (and others), they specialized their with a flex and kick point favoring a certain type of shot.
They do have "hybrid" sticks that fall somewhere in the middle, but they're a bit less common. It's a big heavy piece of lumber from the likes of Sherwood where they really were just meant to stand up to the punishment the players dished out.
Now they really dial in the stick to match and enhance their strengths
Wayne gret
Cky😊
I know Chara cut down his bomber because it was dangerous to his teammates
Matthews is the best pure shooter I’ve ever seen.
Best blue line clapper ever? Uncle Leo Komarov! The all star! Lol
As a casual hockey fan, watching the caps set up ovi for a slapshot off the power play is always exciting!
Speed agility is up for sure but fundamentals are way down with players making rookie pee wee mistakes
Drai sucks thats why
Gosh so many amazing rifleman over my 40 years of watching the game! My personal favorite has been big John Leclair, especially during his Philly years. That massive back swing and his strength and accuracy was legendary and just so fun to watch!! 226lbs entering the left zone and full stride and just cranking it +100mph was always exciting! Honorable mention to Al M, Freddy Modin and about 50 others!
GOALIE EQUIPMENT (blocker, glove, leg-pads, pants) is way over-sized and must be reduced by 30-40% or increase size nets and goal area. I sort of concur with your posit that the game of hockey has become too fast, however, I consider the rink dimensions for World-Class hockey players have become too small as result of better World-Wide youth hockey programs + coaching = bigger players with more talent enter the game.
ahhh, paul kariya. the guy who helped Umaine win their first championship
Ovi literally still does this every game
The evolution of NHL hockey just keeps getting more and more boring. I would love if the early 2000s hockey made a come back. Won't ever happen because of the soft rules.
Hell yeah I remember it. It's a big reason why I love hockey.
Elias Pettersson has a real Howitzer of a slap shot. But hockey sticks have evolved as well. They used to be mostly wood with minimal flex. New sticks don't have that inflexibility and firmness to generate that kind of power. Thats why you see more players whip pucks in rather rather than taking slap shots. more control
As dirty a player Subban was, he had one hell of a clapper. Also Webber would routinely hit over 100 plus mile an hour bombs.
As a goalie theres a huge difference between a hard shot and a fast shot,… and fast shots will always be harder to save.
The short answer is that the NHL has been fairy-ized so that people are free to skate wherever they want without fear of Scott Stevens playing the body. They say it's "skillful" when in reality they're playing with kindergarten rules compared to days past. Therefore, there's less value in parameter shooting.
There is no advantage of it any longer. With the improved stick, the wrist shot is almost as fast as the Ole Days Slap Shot. Now, if you attempt to slap shot. You telegraph your intentions to the goalie and the Defenseman. If you retain possession of the puck and drag it. You have more options but more importantly the New Stick whips the puck with extreme velocity.
Statistically more goals are scored off the snap wrist shot today. You also have goalies with profoundly more equipment using up shooting space on the net. Look at those freaking gloves of today's NHL Goalie. They are as big as an off ramp to an interstate highway!
But I have to say, today's modern stick is way better than the old wood hockey sticks.
I kinda cried from this video.. Heart broke
For d-men….Sheldon Souray when he could play was devastating, look at the video of that season where he scored 26 with Montreal or 23 with Edmonton. From when I was younger….Brett Hull's and Al MacInnis' were the most impossible to see slapshots that also happened to be hella accurate….and lastly, as Nords fan, Owen Nolan's was BRUTAL.
If we go by speed it’s chara with his 108 bomb
2023 Slap Shot GOAT is Alexander Ovechkin. At least podium GOAT.
Monster goalscorer, with the clapper – to the point if you hear "that player's standing in the Ovechkin spot", you know where it is. That's like having banner on the game of hockey. Great as others are, there is no MacInnis or Stamkos spot
Al MacKinnon
damn a clip of smith pelly scoring, where did you get that hahah
WOW everyone forgot 😢😢😢 Dustin and PK 😢😢😢 there the best retired slapers but its Ovechkin now
In high school and beyond there simply wasn’t enough time to get one off unless it was a onetimer that’s from my perspective unless a defender takes it up and hits it from the blue line
Tip drills via precise shots from the blue line now dominate D shots from what I see – for good reason (regardless of how much I miss a good slap shot).
Fulton Reed. No question.
Bobby Hull
Quick answer it hasn’t.
Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!