Killing Plays Early and Breakout Options with Seamus Casey

How a future NHL player is improving his defensive game and becoming an automatic breakout machine

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Dec 24, 2023

If you’re a long-time Hockey IQ Newsletter reader, you already know that we’re big fans of New Jersey Devils defense prospect Seamus Casey. We are excited to see him play at the WJC starting on December 26th and show off his awesome game.

First, you read about his point play from his days with the U.S. NTDP,
Then you read about some of the habits he showed in his NCAA debut last fall.

Now a sophomore at the University of Michigan, Casey’s game keeps growing and providing further reason to write about him.

Defensive Development

Casey has an electric offensive game built on being able to stickhandle with his head up and never looking down at the puck. He is always reading the pressure and play. The area that has always been the question mark is around his ability to defend as a more undersized defenseman.

Brandon Naurato, his head coach at Michigan, described “killing plays earlier and trusting his skating” as two points of emphasis for Casey. Naurato had this to say:

“Sea has always been elite at what he does. I think [he’s] taking more pride in the defensive side, not that it was a weakness before, but really proving to people. Because that’ll be whether he plays 20 years in the NHL or not will be how he defends, [and] how he checks. I think he does things that guys in the NHL can’t do; there’s maybe a handful of guys in the NHL that can. [Just] when you think he’s gonna get laid out by some 6’4” forechecker from Providence, he just spins off him… Similar to Luke Hughes his first year, he’s an elite talent and very reactionary. Their reaction skills are just that good. I think Sea has a lot bit more of a plan now… He’s trying to bait you to do one thing, and if he can take it, he’ll take it. And if not, he has a second, third option. Similar to a quarterback, you don’t just always go to option A…he knows his check-offs if option A’s not there, what’s B, what’s C?”

Matt Deschamps, the assistant coach who oversees the penalty kill and defense corps, had this to say about Casey’s obvious attacking gifts and his defensive growth:

“Because of the skating, he can close off plays on the rush against or he can close down corner contain, or deny the back of the net, or whatever we need him to do, he’s able to do it just because (1) he’s an elite skater and (2) he’s really, really smart. So he’s able to know when he doesn’t need to over-extend, when he should jump over the top, all the little details, he’s got great reads.”

Luca Fantilli, younger brother to Adam and another Wolverine blue liner, said of Casey:

“Seamus also isn’t a bigger guy, but he rarely makes mistakes in the D zone…He’s always in the right place. He can control his skating well, he can attack a guy and then come back and re-attack ‘em… He’s just always in the right spot, and his skating puts him in those positions and same with his vision. He can just see where the play’s gonna go and where it’s gonna be, and he just always ends up getting the puck somehow.” Fantilli added, “That’s [one] way I’m trying to grow my game, just copy Seamus.”

More Aggressive/Active Defending

Casey himself spoke of a desire to be “a little more aggressive” with some of his defending. For an example of what being “a little more aggressive” looks like, let’s turn to a play from an October 20th game between Michigan and Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are in the late stages of a power play and attempt an aggressive breakout pass into the neutral zone. Casey (#26 in white) doesn’t sit back at his blue line, which would allow OSU the kind of time they might expect in the neutral zone. Instead, he disrupts #10 in red’s ability to receive the pass, forcing a loose puck.

As he moves to recover that puck, Casey quickly checks over his shoulder to see the play developing and sends a cross-ice pass to Mark Estapa (#94 in white), who is easily able to gain the zone with control, allowing Casey to go off for a change after his PK work.

The sequence ends (with Casey on the bench) and his teammate Dylan Duke scoring off the entry Casey created.

Going Through the Progression

What about the ability to work through different options that Naurato alluded to?

One area where you can see that in Casey’s game is in controlled breakouts. Casey excels at breaking the puck out with possession, and to make this work, he shows an obvious comfort in all manner of different types of breakout passes.

The following is a compilation of breakout passes from Casey’s most recent performance (November 18th at home against Penn State).

Throughout the compilation, you see Casey utilize numerous different options to get the puck out of the zone with possession.
- Creating space for his partner Duke
- Banked pass to a winger waiting on the boards
- Short pass for a Center circling deep into the defensive zone
- Or it’s Casey lugging the puck out of harm’s way himself.
My personal favorite is the final one, beginning around the 2:47 mark which encapsulates Casey’s awareness and confidence. He absorbs contact and sends a neat spinning backhand pass to his winger for an easy breakout and zone exit.

As Deschamps put it, “he’s so calm, cool, and collected, it’s inspiring.”

And, of course, sometimes, when you’re as talented as Seamus Casey, the best option isn’t A, B, or C, it’s just carrying the puck all the way by yourself, as he did on this dazzling solo goal from the first weekend of the season.

Messing Around With Equipment

Greg here… I was at a local hockey shop that purchased Michigan’s unused sticks and noticed that Casey had two different changes made.

Change in blade profile. It’s the same curve but has a higher heel that doesn’t taper from toe to heel.
Change in flex from 77 to 70.

Regarding the change in flex:

“In something like that, little is big. It’s just something so small, but it helps in a couple of areas. It doesn’t change every aspect of the game for me, but it helps have a little more pop and not have to put as much weight into my shot.” - Seamus

With constant tinkering and improvement, we are confident you’ll love watching Casey evolve into a long-time NHL player just like we do.

Further Reading