EHM The Blue Line

Sorry in advance if this has already been discussed. I did a 'search' and didnt see anything, so i thought i would take a shot and ask: what exactly IS 'gap control'? And what does it do if i tighten or relax it? And while i am here , i have a second question, which may also have been covered: If i do NOT have the 'Use Unit Tactics' box checked, will the game default to the 'personal tactics' i have set for each playor? Thanks for any responses!

Isn't it the gap between your players playing defence towards the opponents offensive attack?

Wroom wrote:Isn't it the gap between your players playing defence towards the opponents offensive attack?

Yup, that's exactly what it is.

If you have a tight gap control you'd need speedy defensemen that have a high pokecheck stat. If you do a loose gap control that means the d-man won't really pursue the guy rushing and will stay back.

ah, i think i get it then, thanks! I wasnt sure if it was that, or if it was how much space an attacker would allow between him and a teammate before he would no longer make a pass to another teammate. ha! So the best guys to have a tightened gap control would be higher rated checkers, with poke checking ability high and speedy, whereas the ones you want with relaxed gap would be guys with high positioning skills and slower?

If you play a tight gap control, your players will stay very close/tight to the opposition puck carrier when you're on the defence.

The advantages are that it will put great pressure on the opposition puck carrier, there is a better chance of forcing them into mistakes, and they will have less time to control the puck and make a play.

The disadvantage is that if the puck carrier gets past your defenceman, the puck carrier will be free and your defenceman will be out of position. It will also be quite tiring and physically demanding.

A particularly useful attribute will be "checking" (i.e. the ability to shadow the opposition player and force the puck off the puck carrier). Obviously, pokechecking and stamina will be important too. It would help if the defenceman is speedy so that he can quickly close the gap on the puck carrier and also to get back into position in case the puck carrier gets past him.

Playing a relaxed gap control will mean the defencemen will hang back from the puck carrier and close the angles instead. This will enable your defencemen to stay in position but it'll be much harder to turnover the puck from the carrier as you're not forcing them into making mistakes.

I've tended to find I get best results from normal gap control. I find I start conceding goals if I increase or decrease the gap - perhaps this is because I've never gotten the correct mix of players to pull this off.

Can anybody explain the difference between "gap control" and "pressure"? I've always thought there's quite an overlap between the two. Perhaps gap control is more to do with the pressurising the puck carrier whereas pressure is pressuring all of the opposition players in general?

I guess Gap Control is closing down, but that automatically doesn't mean pressure, just keeping it tight and "under control". Sort of passive aggressive?

I also think pressure must be team pressure, and more so the aggressive attitude

Gap control is how close you cover the opposing player. A slower player with good positioning might give him a good bit of room, knowing that he will lose a straight up foot race but if he hangs back and covers his angles he should be able to make up for that lack of speed. A fast player might play very tight so that he's practically on top of him.

Pressure is more about how hard your are trying to make the opposing player turn over the puck. If the player doesn't have the appropriate attributes to really put on high pressure, they could end up making some mistakes and taking shortcuts like slashing or hooking and getting penalized.

This is discussed a bit (along with the attributes that affect these) in some posts in the Even Strength Tactics thread.

My forwards have decent speeds. Most are over 80 and a couple are over 90 (speed). My defense are mostly over 70 with bouwmeester being a burner at 94.

I just called up Marc Staal. He has 92 positioning and 80 something poke check. He has good endurance at 90+ but his speed is just awful at 51-56… how should I compensate/use him? Should I pair him with another blazer? Should I set the gap control for the line at loose?

I usually set the gap control on a player by player basis, depending on their attributes. Staal I would probably set to "Normal".

I noticed you're new here. Why don't you head over to the "Arrivals" forum and introduce yourself?

masarume wrote:I just called up Marc Staal. He has 92 positioning and 80 something poke check. He has good endurance at 90+ but his speed is just awful at 51-56… how should I compensate/use him? Should I pair him with another blazer? Should I set the gap control for the line at loose?

This is the main reason I rarely ever go after Marc Staal. His speed rating is horrid, and I love my speed.

I was hoping that Staal would turn into a chris pronger type player. Pronger was not that fast when he first started…

The Lidas roster update gave him a speed rating of 77 (He’s 35 in year 3) so I figured if Staal could hit 66 by 28, (he varies b/w 51-56 in the AHL after two years).. he’d be a good #3/4 guy to have. At age 23, his defensive attributes are pretty decent and his offense is coming along… most are in the 70’s with a couple in the 60’s.