Flyers Defense: What You Need to Know

Expect to hear a lot about this during training camp: How will the Flyers systems change under new head coach Rick Tocchet and his staff? Periodically between now and September, the Flyers blog on Hockey Hot Stove will look at various systems that Tocchet implemented with the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks.

In this occasional series, we’ll look at defensive zone coverage, offensive zone and neutral zone forecheck strategies, breakouts and how the power play may change under Yogi Svejkovsky’s direction. First up: defensive zone play.

The box-plus-one system

During the Stanley Cup Final last month, Wayne Gretzky referred to the Florida Panthers playing the “Rick Tocchet defense” against the Edmonton Oilers as a means of containing Connor McDavid. What did that mean?

 “They’ve got that forward in the middle. They’ve giving [Edmonton] the outside. Connor’s going to have to take it around the net or stop up and hit the late guy [with a pass],” Gretzky said.

Tocchet is a prime advocate for a defensive zone approach often called the box-plus-one system. This illustration shows the arrangement of the defending five-man unit. The red area is “home plate”, which the defenders must protect. They concede the blue region along the perimeter: the low-danger or so-called “soft” areas from the defensive blueline to below — but well outside — the faceoff dots. Note that the blue area extends down to the corners. The box-plus-one is designed to prevent dangerous plays from developing out of the corner into the home plate area.

Although Gretzky called the approach the “Tocchet defense”, the box-plus-one isn’t revolutionary. The main goal of any defensive zone coverage style is to minimize scoring chances from high-danger (red) areas. So what is involved in box-plus-one to specifically make it successful?

Centers have large defensive responsibility under Tocchet

It’s all about staying connected: coach-to-play communication and player-to-player recognition within the five-man unit. Players are coached to focus on which area he’s supposed to cover. Each player should have his feet positioned properly to his coverage area and his line of vision trained on danger areas.

The defending center is vital to the process. He is jointly responsible with the left defenseman and the right defenseman to help cover their entire area. This especially true in front of the net but spans the full gamut. Wingers have less demanding coverage ranges but the whole approach falls apart if the winger loses track of opposing D-men loses track of trailers moving into the higher sections of the danger areas.

For an easy-to-follow explanation of the player-by-player (center, left defense, right defense, left wing, right wing) vision lines, foot positioning and coverage spans, click here. The illustration above came from the same overview of the box-plus-one approach.

New Flyers defense and PK coach Todd Reirden shares many of the same philosophies as head coach Tocchet. While the Flyers lost an outstanding coach with the departure of Brad Shaw, they should hit the ground running with Reirden. He was an excellent defense coach in Washington under Barry Trotz.

Reirden didn’t have nearly the same success as the Capitals’ head coach or especially as the Penguins’ power play coach. However, in coming to Philadelphia, Reirden is returning to the specialization that built his stellar reputation as a bright hockey mind and strong communicator.

Flyers Daily: July 14, 2025

In this week’s Mondays with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus and I begin to “set the standard” of realistic expectations for the upcoming 2025-2026 NHL Season. We discuss the players that are contending to earn a roster spot out of training camp, the biggest question marks heading into the season, and goaltending. We also touch upon Cam York’s five-year extension and much more. The episode runs 32 minutes in length.