HOCKEY PROMPT

Do trick plays have a place in the sport of hockey? I believe that they absolutely do. There are number of instances where a trick play could be used to great effect, especially with a playoff system that uses a 7 game series between two teams. Trick plays are most effective when they create chaos, but that chaos can last well beyond the play itself. They open up whole new paths you can use to destabilize an opponent by feinting the play again on purpose, or just showing that it is something which could occur to make them second guess their next moves. Now I think the one aspect of hockey which makes them much less feasible is the lack of controlled buildup. There are very few instances where a controlled build up occurs in hockey, mainly on behind the net rush starts on the powerplay, but maybe a few other minor setups you could use, such as your powerplay system in the opponents zone, etc. The NFL on the other hand literally runs every minute of the game from a controlled start, where trick plays are much more feasible.

That being said, the best way I could think of to insert more trick style plays into hockey than maybe currently visible is to further elaborate on zone entries in the powerplay (which is being done more and more each season), as well as dedicate more time into elaborating on zone setups in offensive/defensive situations, mainly powerplay and penalty kills (which are also becoming more and more elaborate). I think with the rise in data analytics and a thoughts-based approach to the game, trick-style plays are inevitable, and really many teams in the NHL are probably already using a small amount of them at the tactical level, but really it enters the trick area once a team has something so established and known that they can do something unexpected 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 times that will provide a clear and distinct advantage over what the usual counter-tactic would be, that is really the limit of what trick plays could be in hockey. The game probably moves too quickly, and with such randomness than some kind of dedicated large-scale noticeable play akin to the flying V is probably not ever going to succeed just because of the sheer amount of variables in the game.