Miro Heiskanen and aggressive/passive forechecks
Tampa Bay limits Miro Heiskanen's transition abilities by giving him more time to make a play, not less
Was going through some Miro Heiskanen video and noticed Tampa Bay was very successful in slowing him down in transition. Pretty much every team defaults to a passive NZ forecheck in most situations. The elite defencemen can pick these apart by beating F1 and taking advantage of all the open space behind that forechecker as the rest of the defence is sitting back. Rather than countering this by dialing up the aggressiveness, Tampa becomes even more passive with F1 and ensures that Heiskanen cannot beat this forechecker; rather than taking advantage of this extra time to make a play as you might expect, he simply runs out of room and Dallas’ transition loses all their speed as they are held at the blueline.
Contrast that to the approach of teams like Carolina, Chicago, and Nashville, who are more generous with their pressure. Heiskanen has less time to make a play, sure, but he also has more room up ice to work with.
Intelligent playmakers like Heiskanen cannot be rushed— they will find their open teammates, even in the face of imminent pressure. Rather than taking away time, Tampa chooses to take away passing options and forces Heiskanen to pass for the sake of getting rid of the puck, rather than passing because he’s looking at an open teammate. It’s akin to how NFL defences have responded to Patrick Mahomes brilliance by making him one of the least-blitzed quarterbacks in the league.