How to Win Board Battles, With Matthew Knies
How to be better along the wall and win more board battles
During last year’s postseason, former NHL head coach Dallas Eakins made headlines when he said that in a given NHL game, “80% of the puck time is within three feet of the wall”.
Clearly, board play is important and valuable. I’ve even heard about off-season practices where NHL superstars will spend a full hour with a highly paid consultant working on picking up difficult pucks off the wall.
Related - The puck rim is the lazy play
Acquiring the puck and then getting it toward the middle of the ice and toward the net is a key to great offensive hockey. Players who make this happen are highly valued.
The first step is gaining and retaining possession. The next step is to keep the puck moving and move it to the middle of the ice. Our example in this week’s piece, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies, has seemingly mastered the art of body positioning and board work. As we go through the video examples below, pay attention to those two key details:
Body Positioning (Position before possession)
Continuing movement (Whether by passing or skating)
No league values body positioning like the NHL, and Matthew Knies is elite even at that level. Control the puck area first, and grab the puck second.
The Skinny on Knies
Matthew Knies was a 20-year-old rookie from Arizona who debuted for the Maple Leafs at the end of 2022-23 season and into the playoffs. Knies immediately won his coach’s favor and endeared himself to a fanbase desperate for any semblance of playoff success. How did he succeed so quickly?
His dominance along the boards and the details that go into it. While officially listed at 6’2” and 210 pounds, there is more to Knies’ aptitude along the wall than just brawn. He has a great understanding of how to play with sound leverage to assume advantageous body positions all over the ice. Knies’ habit of establishing body positioning all over the rink drives his value in every dimension of the game. He takes control early and has defenders reacting to him.
After watching Knies play, you’ll be awed at how many board battles he wins. He consistently values body positioning first to create exclusive space to gather control of the puck. He gets his body in front of his opponent and then comes across their body to seal off the opponent(s) to create space only available to him.
Once he gains possession, he keeps the puck moving and ensures it never gets stuck.
Wall Work #1
In Game 6 of Toronto’s first-round series over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Knies (#23 white) earned himself an assist on John Tavares’ OT winner that clinched the Leafs their first playoff series win since before the 2004-05 lockout. It was a subtle play, but it illustrates his effectiveness along the wall.
Tavares (#91 white) rims the puck below the goal line. It’s a safe play for Tavares, but there’s no guarantee the Leafs will come up with the puck. Knies starts at the net front and moves to provide puck support for Tavares.
Rather than heading directly for the puck, he initiates contact and leans into the Tampa Bay defenseman. Knies establishes body positioning along the wall to seal off any chance the defenseman had of getting the puck. Knies then pins the defender to the boards and gathers the puck on his own blade.
Identifying Tavares’ movement is behind the net, Knies backhands behind his back to launch Tavares into vacant space. From there, Tavares has the opportunity to wrap back around the net, turn, and shoot the puck in the net to clinch the series. And make no mistake: Knies’ success along the boards was far from an isolated incident.
Wall Work #2
In this clip, Knies again leans heavily into his opponent first to establish body positioning by getting his body between the opponent and the puck.
Noting that defense is about stopping movement, he continues to move his feet through contact and gets the defender chasing him. With two quick cutbacks, he gains space to turn a bad puck into a decent puck and push the advantage toward his team.
Wall Work #3
Toward the end of his shift, Knies continues to showcase his puck protection against the wall to maintain puck possession for his team.
His first touch bumps the puck to space that he currently owns and controls. He can pass the puck to a teammate and go for a controlled line change. This is what playing hockey at the highest level looks like.
Matthew Knies values body positioning all over the ice. This has led to him being a net-positive player very early in his professional hockey career.
Statistical Profile
Wall play that stays on the wall is useless. Knies turns his aptitude for winning battles along the boards into creating high-quality offense for his team.
In the 2023 postseason, Knies played 91 minutes at five-on-five, and achieved a staggering 71.4% share of on-ice expected goals in those minutes, per MoneyPuck.com.
He was first among Maple Leaf skaters with Superstar Auston Matthews a distant second at 64.8%.
By Corsi (shots for vs against while on the ice), Knies was sixth on the team at a 53% share of shot attempts going the Leafs’ way with him on the ice. The discrepancy between the two data points above illuminates the fact that Knies didn’t just drive offense through volume for Toronto; he created quality offense.
From Micah Blake McCurdy’s “Isolated Impact” chart on HockeyViz.com, we can see Knies’ positive results. Look at the area around the net in the offensive zone (top left rink). With Knies on the ice, the Leafs are unsurprisingly generating a surplus of chances from the highest-danger area on the rink.
Board play is a vitally important means to an end. By winning battles along the wall, a player can expedite the process of exiting their own zone or turn up the temperature on an opponent in the offensive third.
Knies NCAA Clips (#89 White or Maroon)
Knies grabs touch, keeps his movement, and changes his body orientation to protect the puck against incoming pressure. He miraculously emerges from a 1v3. Wow.
Knies initiates contact early to separate man from puck (not head from body) then spots an area pass to open space once in control of the puck.
Knies drives through the opponent’s stick and hands to create a seal to gain possession of the puck then play a pass to the slot.
Within the plays of gaining body positioning, Knies also considers the detail of the opponent’s stick. He stick lifts the opponent while establishing body positioning. Then he lays a backhand saucer pass to his teammate on the breakout.
What will that look like with a bit more experience? That’s a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.
Further Reading