Hockey IQ separates good players from great players. Let’s take a look at how to develop it.
First, let’s take a look at what Hockey IQ means.
What is Hockey IQ?
There is no set definition, but my take on it is this:
Hockey IQ measures your ability to read the game game, anticipate what’s coming, and make smart decisions under pressure.
Hockey IQ has three parts:
Read the play
Can the player recognize pressure, space, passing lanes, defensive gaps, and what might happen next?
Choose the Best Option
Can the player choose whether to pass, shoot, skate, support, delay, pressure, or cover?
Execute Instinctively
Can the player pull from practiced skills and game situations quickly enough to make the play before the moment disappears?
How to Measure Hockey IQ
Hockey IQ is impossible to measure, as decisions are made every second on the ice. But it’s usually easy to find players with high hockey sense.
Players with high Hockey IQ are those who:
- Position themselves perfectly to get open in the offensive zone at just the right moment.
- Make the “right” pass at critical moments.
- Understand when to attack and when to slow the play down
- Know where to be defensively
- Anticipate plays and create turnovers by predicting where the puck will go.
They can intuitively read and react to the game with intelligence and ease, leading to consistently optimal decisions.
A skilled player might be able to skate, shoot, and stickhandle really well.
But a high-IQ player knows how to use those skills in the right moments.
Examples of Hockey IQ
Here’s an example sequence for a right winger off an opening faceoff to give you a further idea of when Hockey IQ is used.
The opposing team wins the faceoff back to their D-man. The player recognizes this and stays with his winger off the draw but gives some space, baiting the D-man into trying to move the puck there. When he notices the D-man look at his winger, he anticipates a pass and skates into the passing lane to intercept the pass. He scans the ice as he attacks the opposition’s blue line and reads that his centerman is driving the middle hard, pushing both d-man into retreat mode. Realizing that will open ice (space) up in the middle, he cuts into prime shooting space. Using the two defenders and his centerman as a screen, he notices the goalie standing tall, attempting to see around the players. He rips a shot five hole past the screened goalie for a goal.
This player made several great decisions that led to the goal. However, a player with lower game sense might have chased the puck off the draw (leaving his man), failed to recognize his teammate driving the center of the ice to anticipate the ice opening up in the high slot, and failed to realize what the goalie was doing on the play.
The reality is this:
Even the best players don’t always make the perfect choice, but our goal is to consistently make smart decisions more often than not.
How Do You Improve Hockey IQ?
#1 – Improve Your Stickhandling
When players think about improving their stickhandling, they often picture pulling off a flashy move to beat an opponent one-on-one. But the real benefit is how much it improves their overall Hockey IQ.
Almost every player, except for rare talents like Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane, has room to improve their puck-handling skills. But how does better stickhandling actually help your Hockey Sense?
It comes down to two key benefits:
Better Awareness
Confidence with the puck lets players keep their heads up, scan the ice, and read where teammates and opponents are moving, leading to smarter, faster decisions.
Less Panic, Smarter Decisions
Improved stickhandling reduces anxiety with the puck. Players are less likely to panic and force a pass or shot, giving them time to wait for the best play to develop.
*Check out my 2-Week Stickhandling Challenge if you’re looking to improve your stickhandling
#2 – Improve Your Skating
Skating is obviously extremely important in hockey, but not many people connect it to Hockey IQ. The truth is, when a player is completely confident on their edges, balance, and movement, they have more mental space to read the game, react faster, and make better decisions.
Here’s how skating ties into decision-making:
Quinn Hughes: His exceptional skating allows him to keep his head up and scan for outlet passes, even with defenders closing in. His agility ensures he can escape forecheckers with ease.
Sidney Crosby: By using the open-hip technique, Crosby keeps the ice in front of him, giving him a full view to analyze the play and make smarter decisions.
Connor McDavid, William Nylander, and Nathan MacKinnon: All regularly use quick punch turns to create extra time and space, which leads to better decision-making under pressure.
Most skating improvements happen on the ice. However, improvements in skating are limited without building strength, power, and stability in key lower-body muscles like the ankles, quads, hips, and groin. For players 12 and older, we strongly recommend following our hockey-specific dryland training programs to unlock their full skating potential.
#3 – Off-Ice Learning
Hockey players can enhance their on-ice decision-making even when they’re away from the rink.
Here’s how:
Film Study
As players get older, analyzing game footage (both their own and of higher-level players) can be transformative. Watching the game from a bird’s-eye view provides a fresh perspective and reveals strategies and patterns that can be applied during play.
Understanding Team Systems
While learning your team’s system falls under Hockey IQ, it also influences Hockey Sense. A player’s optimal decisions on the ice are always tied to their teammates’ roles. For instance, in one system, a defenseman pinching down might be the right choice, but in another, it could be a costly mistake. A player who fully understands their team’s systems can make faster, smarter decisions on the ice.
Playing Other Invasion Sports
Stepping outside of hockey and participating in sports like soccer, basketball, handball, or lacrosse can improve overall game sense. These sports develop spatial awareness, timing, and strategy, which translate directly to hockey. Many NHL stars credit their multi-sport upbringing not just for physical benefits, but for the broader understanding of game flow and decision-making it fosters.
#4 – Guided On-Ice Learning
This is different from simply doing more drills.
Guided on-ice learning is when a player works in a small coach-to-player ratio on real game situations, with a coach helping them understand what they’re seeing, what they missed, and what options were available.
This could include things like:
- creating better passing angles
- supporting the puck
- finding soft areas in coverage
- reading pressure on breakouts
- defending odd-man rushes
- using deception
- knowing when to attack, delay, pass, or protect the puck
The key is that the coach isn’t just telling the player what to do.
They’re helping the player understand why one decision works better than another.
That can speed up learning because a player may play a lot of hockey but still miss the same reads over and over. A good coach can bring those moments to the surface, ask better questions, and help the player connect their decisions to the result of the play.
But even with great coaching, the player still needs enough time in game-like environments to figure things out for themselves.
Which brings us to the most important point:
#5 – More Play
The most significant factor for improving Hockey IQ is the environment in which the hockey player practices and develops.
Detroit Red Wings Director of Hockey Development, Adam Nicholas, had a good quote in a podcast that I wrote down:
“Imagine if we taught humans how to drive on an open airplane runway, and all we did was have them go around cones. That’s essentially what skill development has done over the past 20 years. They (coaches) put a bunch of things on the ice, made players go around it, and then, hey, your season’s starting. Good luck to you.”
Adam Nicholas, Detroit Red Wings via The Hockey IQ Podcast
A player can become an excellent skater and great at handling the puck going around cones on the ice. However, that won’t help them learn how to read other players, communicate with teammates, determine spacing, or learn deception.
The more a hockey player is in an environment that represents game situations, the more they will naturally develop all of the qualities that lead them to have the ability to make optimal decisions on the ice (aka high Hockey IQ or Game Sense).
Brian Slugocki, who works out of Arizona and has trained players like Auston Matthews, had a great quote:
“To transfer skills and hockey sense from practices to games, you have to train in environments that are contextually similar to the game.”
Brian Slugocki, NHL Skills Trainer
In simple terms:
If you want to get better at hockey, play more hockey.
Your hockey sense isn’t learned skating around cones or dangling through training aids. Hockey Game Sense is developed through playing games—regular team games, small-area practice games, pickup hockey, or 3-on-3 on the pond or outdoor rink.
Don’t get me wrong, I think unopposed skating and stickhandling drills (in which you don’t have an opposing player forcing you to make decisions) have their place in hockey training. I just think there’s too much emphasis on them right now. Here’s why:
Skating, stickhandling, shooting, and passing can all be developed by playing the game (or game-like drills) while simultaneously developing your Hockey IQ and game sense.
Take a typical minor hockey player’s ice sessions over a year—they likely spend about 50% of the time playing games and the other 50% doing unopposed drills. This means half of their time on the ice isn’t contributing to developing their reading of the play and decision-making.
In my opinion, a better balance would be 80/20, favoring games or game-like drills. With this approach, players would spend 80% of their time sharpening their Hockey IQ while simultaneously improving technical skills (albeit to a slightly lesser degree). The remaining 20% could still focus on dedicated technique training, striking a more effective balance for overall development.
Plus, the reality is this:
Most of your stickhandling and shooting training can be done at home. Personally, I have made massive improvements in my puck handling through my at-home follow along sessions, with almost no additional on-ice training outside of games.
How I’d recommend structuring on-ice sessions for youth hockey players (taking games into consideration):
80% Games or Game-Like Drills: Build Hockey Sense and develop technical skills.
15% Skating/Edge Work/Coordination: Push your limits on edges and coordination, as these can’t be easily practiced at home.
5% Stickhandling and Shooting: Minimal focus on these since they can be worked on off-ice and during games.
What this could look like as a week:
2 Games
2 Practices (50 minutes each) working on the following:
- 15 minutes of edge work and coordination
- 5 minutes of shooting/stickhandling
- 30 minutes of game-like drills
The bottom line:
Hockey IQ isn’t built through endless isolated drills; it’s developed by playing the game itself. The more they play, the more they learn. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is step back and let the game teach.
Here’s how I can help:
- Start doing your stickhandling work at home using my Hockey Training TV follow-along video sessions to free up your valuable time on the ice.
- Improve your lower body strength, power, and stability using our hockey-specific workouts so you can spend less time and money on skating lessons
- Find more ways to play hockey games (pickup, outdoor rinks, stress-free environment for a change!)
- If you’re in the London, Ontario area and want to help your player improve their hockey sense and in-game decision-making, I’m planning to run a series of on-ice Hockey Sense sessions. If you’re interested, just fill out this short form to stay in the loop.
- This one is for you to help me. If you found this helpful, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with another hockey player, parent, or coach. Thank you so much!
Frequently Asked Hockey IQ Questions
Does Skill Play a Role in Hockey IQ?
If you have a higher skill level, you give yourself a better opportunity to improve your Hockey IQ. For example, being able to stickhandle with your head up will allow you to scan the ice more easily and find opponents or defenders. And skating effortlessly will enable you to open to the ice more often and think less about what your legs are doing.
Are Players Born with Hockey IQ?
Some people say that Hockey IQ is something you are born with and can’t be taught. But that’s absolute B.S. if you ask me. Genetics and overall IQ may play a small role in Hockey IQ. However, every hockey player can improve their game sense at any age.