
Welcome to the 5th and final installment of the Snipe Lights exclusive interview series with top NHL shooting and scoring coach Tim Turk. Tim has coached for five NHL teams, several international programs, and individual NHL players like Connor Bedard, Nick Foligno, Victor Hedman, Mitch Marner, and Brendan Gallagher.
In this interview, Tim talks about the recent trends in outside-the-box NHL shooting from the best snipers in the league.
Incorporating Snipe Lights into your hockey training is the ideal way for players to perfect new shots they’ve learned from coaches like Tim with an interactive, light-up hockey shooting target system that’s both fun and portable. Snipe Lights uses gamification to ensure that repetition stays fun. Trackable results provide players instant feedback on their progress, giving them the confidence they need to unveil their new shooting skills in real-game situations.
Snipe Lights: What are some recent trends you’ve noticed when it comes to how NHL players are changing the way they shoot?
Tim Turk: There are so many ways that hockey players are continuing to develop different techniques when it comes to shooting. For example, a couple of years ago in the Stanley Cup Final, when Colorado won in Game 6, Nathan MacKinnon did something remarkable.
In that game, he made two key plays that stood out to me. First, he went down into the offensive zone, low into the corner, and then started skating up the right boards toward the hash marks. As he moved off the boards, he pivoted into an open hip position—like a figure skater—with his toes pointing outward and facing the net. He crossed the face-off dot with the puck behind him and took a shot through a crowd in that position.
He didn’t score, but the way he released the puck while moving laterally in that body position was incredible. I remember watching it and thinking, “Holy moly! That’s a new way to release the puck!” It’s such an unexpected move because your body positioning doesn’t telegraph the shot. No one’s going to think you’re gonna shoot while your body looks like that. The goalie will probably still be relaxed.
So, I took note of that and started teaching kids to replicate it—to open their hips, release the puck, and get comfortable doing it through repetition.
The second amazing play he made in that game was during a transition into Colorado’s defensive zone. Typically, MacKinnon supports the puck, skating toward it no matter where it is, but this time, he did something different. The puck was on the left side near Colorado’s blue line, and instead of supporting it, for some reason, he swung wide to the far-right boards, heading toward the red line.
He ended up catching a cross-ice pass through the neutral zone at full speed and unleashing a slap shot from just inside the offensive zone. And he scored. He scored a slap shot goal 5-on-5 from way outside the circles with no screen. That never happens in the NHL today.
The next day I’m doing a bunch of private sessions with players, and the parents are coming up to me and asking if I can teach their kids to shoot a slap shot like that Nathan McKinnon shot from last night! That inspired me to investigate the numbers about what percentage of NHL goals are scored on slap shots like that since 2003. Take a guess at what percentage this is.
Snipe Lights: Maybe 5%, max?
Tim Turk: It’s less than 1%. This wasn’t a one-timer or off a touch. This was just an “I’m skating with the puck and I’m gonna unleash a surprise slapper at full strength” shot.
Then I took my research a little further. I looked up how many goals McKinnon had scored on 5-on-5 slap shots like that in his career. That was the only one. And that’s probably why it worked. No one on the ice expected it. And that’s why he did it. Pure deception.
But the thing about it is that not everyone can do it like this, specifically. And it’s still a very low percentage shot. Nathan McKinnon was comfortable doing this under pressure in that moment. So, unlike the open-hip shot from earlier in the game through traffic, it didn’t make sense to teach kids to take that low-percentage slap shot with no zone support because it could hinder their development and encourage them to get away from their team’s systematic play.
Snipe Lights would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Tim Turk for granting us this interview. He is one of the true treasures in the world of hockey coaching, and we encourage players of any level to take advantage of his expertise. It’s rare to find a coach this sought after who still goes out of his way to make himself available to players and parents.
We are proud to be partnering with Tim to provide one free video coaching session with Tim Turk for everyone who purchases Snipe Lights for a limited time only! Simply use the code “Turk” at checkout here on our website.
Related links:
Snipe Lights Exclusive Interview Series with NHL Shooting and Scoring Coach Tim Turk
Snipe Lights Interview with NHL Shooting and Scoring Coach Tim Turk Part 2
Snipe Lights Interview with Tim Turk Part 4: The Science and Analytics of How to Score Goals