Dylan Guenther: Dynamic Handling
Dylan Guenther is a player Utah needed back badly, one of their top scorers and top goal scoring wingers who has brought a breakout season with him this season. Although some of it has been mitigated by injuries, Guenther still showed that consistency in return from injury and his return against Philly last night. With Guenther, I’ve mentioned the purpose and intention behind overhandling the puck with elit eplayers in the game today.
For players like Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, and other elite players in the game who play with tons of speed, overhandling is a weapon and a tool that is hard for defenders to track. The puck moves faster in travel when passing the puck, but weaponizing overhandle gives the illusion that defenders need to catch up to the player as quick as possible, since overhandling the puck can be really hard to read.
With Guenther, he’s turned into one of the NHL’s best players at weaponizing overhandle and incorporate dynamic puck-handling. Guenther has a superb ability to keep the puck like it’s on a string, handling the puck in front of him, handling it to the side of his body, and also being able to quickly maneuver in tight with the puck as well. He is really skilled handling the puck close to his body and also far away.
A lot of players cannot handle the puck as good close to their body compared to further away, and Guenther really weaponizes that as well in his offensive playmaking, making him a very dynamic player to try and stop.
Guenther Goal
Here the sequence starts with a neutral zone reload, with Guenther scanning with his head up. Right away, Guenther sees an open lane to maneuver with the puck, and Guenther attacks the space right away. Guenther maneuvers through this using a combination of handling in front of his body and to the side of his body, with a lot of overhandle being used. It’s easy to tell that Guenther is naturally wired to excessively handle the puck, some players do it more than others, so Guenther naturally stickhandles the puck excessively and uses that to his advantage.
Guenther quickly shifts the puck to his hip pocket alongside Travis Sanheim trying to pivot and defend him, where Guenther quickly shoots the puck from his hip pocket and rips the puck on the far side of the net.
Spencer’s Content:
Meditation - Benefits For Hockey Players: 2025 Edition Free Guide
10 Tricks For Stickhandling Success: 2025 Edition Free Guide
Hockey Analytics: 2024 Edition eBook