Video: Natálie Mlýnková is a star in the making

Analyzing Natálie Mlýnková's elite skill blending patterns

In our latest post, last week, we looked at the 5 skills that could most easily be blended in women’s hockey. In the following order, we had identified (shooting) coordination, deception with the puck, slip passes, shouldering speed and getting off the boards as part of this list.

This week, as a case study, we will analyze some of Natálie Mlýnková’s clips that illustrate the concepts of skill blending. Mlýnková is an up-and-coming Czech player who has the potential to become an elite play driver in women’s hockey.

Background Information

Having spent the last 2 seasons with the University of Vermont in the NCAA, Mlýnková also represented her country at the latest World Championship and Olympic Games. Prior to joining UVM, she averaged over 2 points per game with the HTI Stars, finishing the 2019-2020 season with 76 points in 36 games.

As part of our SARAH models, she had the highest overall score among all Group B skaters. This is an impressive feat for a soon-to-be 21-year-old forward who topped the list among some of hockey’s finest international players, including Kateřina Mrázová, Hannah Miller (Le Mi) and Josefin Bouveng.

Mlýnková’s excellent overall SARAH score can be attributed to her strong on-ice habits. Among the 30 habits of focus in the SARAH project, 83% of her skills are above the 0.5 success rate threshold.

Among the 25 strong habits she possesses, she already leverages (high frequency, high success rate) 56% of them in her game, while the remaining 44% are habits that she does well but could learn to expand on (use more often).

As an undersized and offensively minded forward at 5’3”, the main weaknesses in her game stem from her physical and defensive abilities. As we will later show in the clips, initiating contact is one of the skills that Mlýnková will have to improve in order to become more effective in puck battles. As for defensive play, her execution on the NZ FC could be better timed in order to support the backtrack more efficiently and readily close the gap through the NZ when angling opponents.

Skill Blending Patterns

As for the 5 habits which we will be focusing on today, Mlýnková puts up pretty good numbers in these categories except for slip passes. For that reason, she was a pretty good player to analyze as part of this case study.

The following sections illustrate, with some UVM clips, the main ways Natálie Mlýnková incorporates these habits in her game while blending them with other skills.

(Shooting) Coordination

Shooting coordination is a habit that Mlýnková is able to use often and well both in-zone and off the rush. By blending weight transfers with optimal feet placement through her shooting motion, she maximizes both accuracy and power on her shot. Keeping her feet in motion to get into good shooting positions also drives part of her high success and frequency rates for this habit.

Deception with Puck

Deception with the puck is rooted in Mlýnková’s way of handling the puck. By blending her playmaking skills with her deceptiveness, she is able to effectively pull in players in order to escape pressure. Her deceptiveness also allows her to add value to transition sequences by forcing the opposition to fall into traps which, in turn, open valuable ice for her teammates to leverage.

Slip Passes

Slip passes are one of the habits Mlýnková’s could learn to improve. With high frequency and low success rate on slip passes, Mlýnková could better recognize opportunities to use this type of pass to improve the condition of the puck.

She has the vision, the handedness versatility and is able to create and leverage valuable seams. Once she improves her slip pass opportunity recognition, she will be able to stack these skills together and become an even more productive player at the NCAA level.

Shouldering Speed

Mlýnková leverages her shouldering speed through smooth movement patterns that allow her to escape difficult situations along the boards. Her ability to quickly stack her technical habits also make her a dual threat on the transition, being able to move the puck from the DZ to the OZ both by passing or by holding on to it. Given her strong habits, the fluidity of her movements will continue to improve as her game matures.

Getting off the Boards

As for her ability to get off the boards, Mlýnková does a good job creating separation between her opponents and the puck. Whether it is by using her body to limit the access to the puck or by keeping her feet in motion, she stacks technical elements to efficiently bring the puck towards good ice. However, in terms of 50/50 battles, initiating contact could be an interesting aspect for her to work on. Contact initiation could allow her to dictate the terms of battle and help her become even more efficient when pinned along the wall.