Breaking Down Mike Green’s Start to the Season

Mike Green, like the Detroit Red Wings, had a very strong start to the season but has slowed down of late.

Green has always been known as a puck-moving offensive defenseman who can change a game at any moment, sometimes for the good of the team, other times not so much. His high-risk style of play has worked for the most part this season, partly due to Blashill’s adjusted strategies this season to get him more involved in the rush while still covering for him. I’ll look into what’s been working for him this season, why he’s been producing at such a high rate offensively, and how he can still be much better in his defensive zone.

Green’s season started off with a bang, putting up eight points in his first four games. He’s regressed back down to normalcy, grabbing three points in the next six games. He’s still 11th among defenseman in 5 on 5 points/60 min, solid for someone who has had just over 36% of his points come on the power play.

A big reason for his early success was his freedom to join the rush and act as the third forward in transition. A new little wrinkle coach Jeff Blashill has thrown in this year is having Green or Kronwall hit a forward with a pass at the blue line or just outside of it, then have Green streak forward and either take a pass from the forward and carry it in, or just join the rush as a third forward if the pass goes to one of the other forwards. This has allowed someone like Abdelkader or Nielsen, guys who aren’t great in transition, to activate someone who is in while still being able to cover for him with Kronwall if a turnover occurs in the neutral zone.

Green is one of the few Wings defenders who possesses the skill to gain entry into the offensive zone on the regular.

The Wings have struggled for a few years now at gaining entry into the offensive zone with possession. The dump and chase strategy can be effective and necessary against some systems, but being able to consistently carry the puck into the offensive-zone with possession can instantly improve your team’s puck possession stat by a significant margin. This is what makes Green so valuable, especially for a team who lacks skilled puck carrying defenseman.

But Green isn’t just doing it by carrying the puck in, he’s also been very active in trailing the rush and coming in late to create an odd-man situation. He was able to score his first goal this way.

He has consistently beaten the opposing teams F1 or F2 down the ice. The Arizona game stands out as an extreme. Arizona went with a heavy forecheck that featured two forwards below the goal line to try and take away the D to D pass. While it was effective and disrupted the Wings exit strategy, if broken correctly, Green or another Wings d-men has the ability to join the rush and try to catch the Coyotes F1 and F2 on the forecheck behind the play.

He needs to continue to be aggressive, but at the same time clean up some of his defensive errors. If you look at the basic numbers; points, plus/minus, power play productivity,etc., it looks as if Green has had an incredible start to the season. But the deeper you look into his advanced numbers the less encouraging it gets. First off, Green’s turnovers continue to be a massive problem. His 17 giveaways are tied 3rd in the NHL, according to TSN.

The risky stretch passes up the middle to some of the Wings speedier forwards are more than understandable, they’re not going to work every time. The inexcusable ones are where he gets too casual in his zone and gives the puck away in dangerous areas.

Outside of just his turnovers, his overall defensive play has been suspect. He’s over-committing to the puck too often, often chasing which leaves gaps on his side. Look how high he gets caught up here on this chance in the Vegas game.

Instead of dropping a few feet deeper and taking away the passing lane til a back checker came in support, he gets caught on the boards leaving Karlsson a significant bit of ice to skate into after receiving the pass.

His other issue has been getting caught too far up the ice before the puck has entered the offensive zone. Yes, I know I said he needs to continue to be aggressive, but not to the point where he’s leaving Kronwall, his defensemen partner for 106 of his 186 minutes 5 on 5, out to dry. One little turnover here in the Vancouver game, and its an instant 2 on 1 leading to a goal.

Blashill has done everything possible to put his top pairing of Kronwall and Green in situations to succeed, or possibly he’s just protecting them. Green’s has started 41.88% of his possessions in the offensive zone, 16th highest in the NHL according to corsica.hockey. Kronwall has the second highest percentage. This is a very underrated stat that can really boost or hurt a players possession stats. Green’s 52.38 corsi for % is 4th best on the team, not exactly what you’d expect with the high number of o-zone starts.

All together Green has had a very strong start to the season offensively, which is why the Wings signed him in 2015. Blashill has put him in the perfect scenario to succeed this season, so if things start to go south, there’s only one person to blame.