Timing is critical, of course.
Positioning matters a lot, too.
So does being cognizant of what's going on around you and knowing the tendencies of the guy who has the puck in front of you.
But the most important quality an effective NHL shot-blocker can have is not on-ice awareness or a feel for knowing what to do and when to do it.
No, it's far more basic than any of that.
The fundamental trait shared by everyone who routinely puts himself in front of hunks of frozen, vulcanized rubber moving at nearly 100 miles per hour is the ability to put fear -- and, perhaps, common sense -- aside and risk sacrificing his well-being for the benefit of his team.
"It's guts," said Brian Dumoulin, who finished second on the Penguins last season with 129 blocks. "It's willingness."
PAYING THE PRICE
The Penguins were reminded of the damage pucks can do when Bryan Rust was struck in the left hand by a shot late in their preseason finale at Detroit Sept. 29.
A few days later, Rust went on Long-Term Injured Reserve, which means he must miss at least 10 games and 24 days.
He's hardly the first player to get hurt when hit by a shot, intentionally or otherwise, and surely will not be the last.
If Jack Johnson didn't realize that before reaching the NHL, he learned it shortly after arriving.
"My first year, I broke my foot," he said. "Sheldon Souray hit me in the ankle. I was boxing my guy out in front, and I never saw the shot. He missed the net and hit me in the foot. He broke my foot."
While Dumoulin said his injuries caused by pucks have involved "maybe just fingers ... nothing too major," not all of his teammates have been so fortunate.
Zach Aston-Reese, for example, noted that shot-blockers are told to keep the back sides of their gloves, which are padded, facing the shooter. He added that not long after turning pro, acting on that nugget of knowledge didn't save him from an injury that sidelined him for an extended period.
"(A shot) can still hurt you on the padding," he said. "That happened to me my first year in Wilkes-Barre. It hit me on the padding, but that didn't stop the bone from breaking."
Feet are the body parts most vulnerable to being injured while blocking shots, so some players wear plastic shields that cover the front of their skates and are designed to diffuse the impact of a puck arriving at high speed. They like the protection those caps provide; others reject them because they feel their skating is impeded.
"That's the last thing I need, something slowing my feet down," Aston-Reese said.
While the fortitude required to block shots is timeless, the tactics for executing a shot-block have evolved. Players used to routinely leave their feet with the intent of smothering the puck in their midsection, but that's virtually unheard of in today's game.
Being just a little off in timing the slide could lead to some unscheduled dental work or facial reconstruction -- "If you don't slide the right way, you're in a lot of danger," Johnson said -- and odds are that the defending player will simply take himself out of the play.
"Forwards can pump-fake and go around you," Johnson said. "I feel like once you're down, you're kind of out of the play if you don't block it."
A LEARNING PROCESS
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