Left to their own devices: a dearth of right-shooting defensemen has forced left shooters to cross over��but there's more to it than just switching sides - NHL

If your 5-year-old defenseman is teetering around on his skates and you're dreaming of a big-league career for him, put his left hand on the top of the stick. You've just improved his odds of making it to The Show.

Nothing will replace being able to skate well and handle the puck, but if a player measures up, being a right-shooting defenseman--or a left-shooting right defenseman--might give him an edge.

The fact is, right-shooting defensemen are as hard to come by as pictures of Pat Burns smiling. (OK, maybe not that hard.)

"Growing up, there were always way more left shots than right shots," says Blues coach Joel Quenneville, a former left-shooting NHL defenseman. "Somebody's got to play the right side. You might only have one right shot on your blue line; very seldom do you have an equal number.

"Everybody is looking for a righthanded shot that can play defense."

Canadian players traditionally have been taught to use their dominant hand at the top of the stick, which provides more control when stick handling. That goes a long way toward explaining why left-shooting defensemen outnumber right-shooting defensemen about 5 to 2 on NHL rosters--meaning at least one lefthanded shooter on every team is playing the right side.

"Guys have to play on what we call the `off side,'" says Maple Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn, another former left-shooting NHL defenseman. "It's got its advantages, but it's got its disadvantages, too."

Two of the game's best defensemen, Bobby Orr and Raymond Bourque, were left shooters who excelled on the right side. Both were supremely gifted and made the angles work for them. Today's topside switchers also are some of the game's most talented defensemen: Ed Jovanovski, Eric Brewer, Zdeno Chara, Sandis Ozolinsh and Dmitri Bykov--the first four are recent All-Stars and the last is touted as a future star.

It's not as easy for an average NHLer to make the transition and be effective, much less dominate or, in the case of Orr, revolutionize the game.

"Orr had quick feet and a quick stick. He was a guy who made it look easy playing the off side because of his mobility," says Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock. "Bourque had the quickest stick in the league. He was one of those guys who could really snap it from there. The other thing is, Bourque was almost fearless. Playing on that side, you have to open up your body and you are going to get whacked."

Like in politics, lefties wandering over to the right can take a beating. Quenneville says moving to the opposite side creates "blind spots" for a defenseman.

"It's tough in the hitting areas, getting hit or controlling the puck. I think containment is even challenging," Quenneville says. "I think that's a whole different position, and it's a big adjustment."

Moving from the left to right side requires adjustments at both ends.

"It's a lot harder to play defense in the defensive zone on your off hand--you're always on your back hand," says Tom Poti, a left-shooting defenseman for the Rangers. "Obviously, coming out on the rush, you don't have your strong side on the stick. But on the offensive side, it's a lot easier when you're in the zone because you're always on your forehand, and it's a lot easier to create offense."

Bourque could get the puck off the boards on his backhand and get into shooting position as quickly as a righthanded shooter would. Once he had possession on his forehand, the puck was closer to the middle of the ice, and he had a better shooting angle.

"The difficulty of playing that position is in the offensive zone," adds Coyotes assistant coach Rick Bowness, who coached Bourque in Boston. "When you're trying to keep the puck in after it's been shot around the boards, everything is on your backhand. Ray was better on his backhand than a lot of guys on their forehand. He had phenomenal eye-hand coordination. He had very soft hands.

"Not only could he keep the puck in, but he turned it from a defensive situation to an offensive chance. He was an offensive threat because he could get it to his forehand quickly and get a heavy shot to the net."

Speaking of which, the Blues' Al MacInnis, who is righthanded on and off the ice, is one player who doesn't have his dominant hand on the top of the stick.

"I think you have an advantage if you are a righthanded person that shoots righthanded because a lot of the power comes from your right side, and (your right hand is) down the shaft where you get a lot of that shooting power," says MacInnis, the reigning All-Star Game hardest-shot champ. "If your strong hand is at the top, your weaker side is your left and that's on the shaft, so you don't shoot as well."

As with MacInnis, the appeal of playing the off side doesn't always go both ways, so to speak. The Avalanche's Rob Blake, a heavy-hitting righty, is an example.

"Personally, I don't like to play the offside," Blake says. "A lot of guys like to play it; they say it opens up the ice. When you're coming out (of the defensive zone), you can see the ice a little better passingwise. But for me, angling and taking guys out is easier to do on my right side."

Hitchcock cites his former team, the Stars, as an example of what can happen when defensemen don't have to play their off side. It's no coincidence Derian Hatcher is having a Norris Trophy-caliber season since being moved to his left (shooting) side after the offseason arrival of righties Stephane Robidas and Philippe Boucher. And it's no coincidence the Stars are flying high.

Devils left shooting defenseman Scott Niedermayer didn't make the full-time transition to the right side until he was paired with Scott Stevens early in his career.

"It involves a lot of subtle things, especially playing along the boards," Niedermayer says. "It's a little tougher getting the puck off the boards, and there's so much trapping in the game now, teams try and force you into that position.

"The bottom line is you have to be comfortable on your backhand. When you are new to it, it does feel awkward, but as you do it more and more, you think about it less and less."

Against teams that employ the trap, a lefthanded shooter on the right side has an advantage because he can put his body between the forechecker and puck.

"(In the trap), you've got one guy to beat, and that's with a cross-ice pass," Quinn says. "It's easier to make that pass on your forehand. You give yourself a little more room."

Forecheckers try to force the left-shooting defenseman to his backhand because he can't move the puck with the same force as with his forehand. Defensemen who are playing their off side have to be wary of getting trapped.

"If they have to jam it up the wall, it's a hard play," Hitchcock says.

MacInnis says playing the shooting side means having extra time to make that safer pass.

"Guys are forechecking hard on you, and so any time you get an extra half a second to make a play, that's huge," he says. "It means a tape-to-tape pass, or a guy gets his stick on it or he's in the passing lane. The hardest thing would be if you get a pass on your backhand on the off side; you've got to pull it around and then make it a forehand pass, if it's a long pass."

Quinn says a lefty on the right side also can make the angles work when skating backward.

"Defensively, we always talk about the defenseman taking an inside position" he says, referring to keeping the attacker close to the boards. "A lefthanded shot on the right side, when he sticks his stick out, gains another 3 or 4 feet to push the attacker to the outside. The attacker has to take even more of an outside route."

A good right side can be advantageous through out any lineup. The game's dominant wingers play the right side, and a right-catching goaltender can be a tough puzzle for shooters to solve. Having a deep right side on defense is equally important. The Blues are a good example, when Chris Pronger is healthy.

"One time we had Al and Prongs on the right side, so no matter who you had on the ice, that area was solid," Quenneville says. "Prongs is a guy who can play both sides equally well. Not too many guys can do that. We're fortunate we've got a key guy on the team playing a very important spot that's probably where a lot of teams get by with just whatever they can get by with. So it's nice knowing you've got two guys you can go with."

When it comes to the lefty, success comes down to making the right decisions.

Chris Stevenson covers the NHL for the Ottawa Sun. NHL Insider Kara Yorio and managing editor Paul Grant contributed to this story.

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