How Jaccob Slavin Smothered the Devils
Carolina's shutdown artist delivered a masterpiece in the second round
No, Jaccob Slavin wasn’t asked to shadow Jack Hughes in Round 2. He was nevertheless critical to Carolina’s 4-1 series victory due to whom he plays with rather than against.
In the absence of wingers Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen and Max Pacioretty, Brent Burns’ offense was under the spotlight. But could he afford to press the issue in the face of New Jersey’s rush-centric, fifth-ranked attack? When your partner is the league’s preeminent shutdown defenseman, yes.
Here’s how Slavin allowed the Hurricanes to walk that tightrope to the Eastern Conference Final.
Gap Control
As we saw in the first round, slowing the Devils down is far easier said than done. Beyond positional discipline and forward support, you need horses that can keep up with their torrid pace.
Fortunately for head coach Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina boasts a thoroughbred on the back end.
Armed with powerful skating, sweeping reach and confidence that few—if any—forwards can maneuver past him, Slavin is a speed demon’s nightmare. His 6’3”, 207-pound frame and effortless stride enable him to stand his ground until the very last second, either repelling you outright or forcing you into dump-in after dump-in.
This blockade was particularly damaging to a New Jersey club that thrives on clean zone entries. Watch the Devils continually run into a brick wall:
Slavin eats puck-carriers for breakfast. If they’re near the boards, he shepherds them into a dead end. If they’re in the middle of the ice, he leverages his mobility and range to cordon off the defensive zone. As long as the puck is on your stick, he’s resting in his backskate, daring you to test him. He refuses to concede a single inch of the territory you want.
There are times when he doesn’t even wait for opponents to gain possession. He pushes the point of attack as high in the neutral zone as he can, driving pass recipients off the track before they can build up any steam. Their wheels are simply removed from the equation.
Slavin’s assertiveness ensured that he and Burns didn’t spend much time defending at all. The Devils were at their quietest vs. his duo. In fact, no pairing surrendered fewer shot attempts (CA/60) in the entire second round:
Since New Jersey fully commits to its rushes, nipping them in the bud also generated ample counterattacking opportunities for the Hurricanes.
In essence, Slavin took the sting out of the Devils’ offense and then served them a taste of their own medicine.
In-Zone Defense
The blue line is merely the first piece of this puzzle.
See, Slavin is more than a TJ Brodie-style transition defender. He’s a stalwart in the trenches as well. Puck battles and net-front scrambles pose no problem thanks to his complete skill set. He’s rangy, strong and savvy. Dependable in every defensive phase.
He can corral you in space or put the clamps on you in tight. So even when New Jersey did manage to sneak into the offensive zone, its outlook didn’t really improve:
The Devils wear you down and cut you open with their fluidity. Slavin’s stick work threw a wrench in those designs. He routinely dispossessed their forwards with a blade that’s equal parts swift and heavy, alternating between direct strikes and looping swings around their body. There was no concealing the puck from him, and when he made contact, it was gone.
Within Carolina’s man-to-man scheme, his skating and reach are…inescapable. He locks on to his target and maintains a vice grip. Stop, start, dangle, spin, reset. It doesn’t matter. He’s squarely in your hip pocket.
As a result of his one-on-one brilliance, he leads all defensemen in takeaways:
Yet Slavin is able to look beyond his responsibilities too. The 29-year-old is an expert at reading the puck-carrier’s eyes. When it appears as though you’re intent on passing or shooting through him, he shifts from a containment stance to a fire drill, throwing his body in the puck’s path.
This threat recognition lends his teammates a steady and consistent helping hand. Consider this example:
In theory, his duty on this rush is to snuff out the center lane, but he can tell Ondrej Palat (NJ 18) has the weak-side option in his sights. So he stays just shallow enough to give the illusion that he’s impeding Jesper Bratt (NJ 63) while remaining in range to disrupt the cross-ice pass. Palat obliges, and Slavin pulls off a blind spinning poke check.
Ridiculous.
Because Slavin can suffocate his assignment and peel off to cover those of his teammates in a pinch, it often felt like New Jersey had nowhere to go in Round 2. There was no relief. No breathing room.
There certainly wasn’t much offense. Try as they might, the Devils mustered one goal across five games when he was on the ice.
On the whole, Carolina’s defense wasn’t great in the second round. However, its top pairing’s performance was beyond reproach. Burns tilted the ice, Slavin sealed the door behind him and Carolina outscored the Devils 9-1 during their shifts.
That dominance ultimately proved the difference.