One of the main things you will need to know before trying a dekes is how to use the skill stick to hold the puck on your forehand and backhand. Much like shooting, it uses the right analog stick, but instead of moving it back and forth to take a snapshot or breaking it forward to perform a wrist shot, you move it by a side to side to go from forehand to backhand, with how it goes depending entirely on which hand your player is playing.
Having said that, let's get right to the point.
The toe trail
This deke is one of my personal favorites in any hockey game and one of my favorite dekes in all hockey. It's a great way to quickly create lateral movement, especially if you're going from backhand to forehand, allowing you to extend your reach far and secure it to the net while creating openings. You also protect the puck as you move it, making it more of a puck motion and allowing you to move through traffic much more reliably. It's just a great all-around deke and it's a great place to start because it's also pretty easy to do. This deke also has three additional variations for passing and shooting.
You will perform this deke by moving the puck to your forehand or backhand by moving the right analog stick and then rolling the right stick back. How the puck moves depends on whether or not you start with the forehand or backhand, but trying to go to the backhand before performing the deke is ideal as it gives you the most movement and range. However, starting on the forehand is faster and may be more ideal in situations where you are close to the goalkeeper. The shooting variant is performed by rotating the right analog stick up after moving it backwards at some point in the deke animation to determine when the shot fires. The pass variant is performed by pressing the pass button (R2 on PS4 and RT on Xbox One) through the deke animation after rolling the right analog stick back. The third variation, called Toe Drag Flip or "The Datsyuk Flip," is a different way of shooting through a crowbar, slowly spinning the puck in the air to trick a goalie, mainly used on breakaways and shootings; this is done by pressing R1 on PS4 or RB on Xbox One at some point by the deke animation, although this is much more effective on the forehand.
Between the legs
A relatively new deke to this franchise and popularized over the past two seasons in the NHL, the crotch deke is one of the more flashy dekes and is primarily used to go quickly in one direction with a shot or pass that the direction in which you are facing and in which you are moving. This deke should not be confused with a deke which is often referred to as a between the legs deke which we will call the “Through the Legs” deke to differentiate the two. It's a quick move popularized by Matthew Tkachuk that puts the puck on the stick and the stick between your legs. There are also variations of shooting and passing on this deke which are almost necessary for this deke to be effective, but which are not necessary.
To start a cross-legged deke, press and hold L1 on the PS4 or LB on the Xbox One, then press and hold the right analog stick for as long as you want to keep the puck between your legs. There is no real advantage in terms of timing to holding this throughout the animation, as the more you hold the puck between your legs, the more vulnerable it will be. To pass the puck you use the pass button while maintaining the deke animation, the same goes for the shot and saucer passes. This is intended to quickly trick the defense and a goalie into believing you are going one way when you turn your body in another direction. This is another deke that is more for breakaways or shootouts, but can be used, especially for passing, on odd rushes.
Slip Deke
It's a fairly straightforward deke that will likely be used often in higher difficulty and as such is fairly easy to play but is also very contextual and needs to be used correctly or else it could result in a rollover. Unlock should be used when you are quickly transporting the puck along the boards and being pressed by a defending player to close that space, which usually results in a failure or puck fight. This deke allows you to quickly jump through that closing gap, push the puck forward, and use that speed boost to catch up with the puck and continue play.
You can perform this deke by simply pressing L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One when you're on the boards and a defending player is approaching you. Using it correctly, while straightforward, is a beautiful art as not being close enough to the boards results in a Loose Puck Deke attempt and in this situation would almost certainly result in a roll. If you're up against too many defenders, the unprotected puck will likely be grabbed whether or not you hit the deke.
One-handed deke
This one is also pretty straightforward and relies heavily on observation and timing as well. This is a great way to create lateral movement and is primarily used to move the puck between the legs and sticks of defenders who are not keeping their eyes on the puck. This deke extends your stick to the backhand, then, in a sort of auto pass, pushes the puck in front of you and you bring the stick to receive the puck on the other side of you.
To perform this deke, you'll want to push the analog stick so that you're holding the puck on the backhand - again, that depends on the hand of the player you're controlling - and while you're holding the puck on it. the reverse, press and hold L1 on the PS4 or LB on the Xbox One, then roll the right analog stick up. This deke does not have variations in shooting or passing as it is mainly used to shake up defenders. As this deke leaves the puck unprotected, you must be careful when using this deke.
Touch Deke
Another simpler deke, this one uses the body to try and trick defenders and goalkeepers as the idea is to keep the puck on the same path it was traveling on and shake the body in a way that betrays the current movement of the puck. This is used for much the same purposes as the one-handed deke, but this one gives you a little less control over the movement of the puck but, therefore, is easier to remove and is mainly used to trick puck. players who are not watching. the washer.
To remove this one, you just need to walk over and press L1 on the PS4 or LB on the Xbox One. There is no real context for this one and you just need to be more vigilant on the game to be successful in this one. I have found that it doesn't work very well on higher difficulties or even lower difficulties if you have the playstyle slider all the way to the right as the puck is completely vulnerable through the deke and defenders often crush the washer holder. . It's a great way to understand how your movement affects deke and play and to get around defenders.
Deke Windmill
The windmill deke is similar to the one-handed deke in that you move the puck over you to create lateral movement, but you do it without extending the puck over the backhand and you can perform this deke either. on the backhand or forehand. It's less risky than the one-handed deke as a result and allows for easier decisions, on the fly. You won't want to use this deke to move through defenders or break a defensive line, but rather move yourself and the puck to one side to take advantage or create an opening.
You'll be able to remove this deke by pressing and holding L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One, then moving the right analog stick left or right, depending on which direction you want to move the puck. Goalkeepers, depending on their skill, often have no difficulty following this deke because the puck does not move exactly faster than you, so only use this deke to take a shot if you know you are can move the puck faster or if you know the goalie has a weak spot that you can quickly take advantage of.
Drop Pass
It's pretty self-explanatory and it works as you might expect. Briefly pressing the pass button - R2 on PS4 and RT on Xbox One - and pressing nothing else, you either leave the puck stationary behind you or pat it back, to leave it to a teammate who comes along. behind you. These are perfect for rushes of odd men or for keeping the game going when you have a teammate building momentum behind you looking to play.
Like a blind pass in basketball, a drop pass is very flashy and can create scoring opportunities where it didn't seem possible.
Auto Pass
Yet another self-explanatory deke that works exactly as expected, with three variations. To achieve this, you start by pressing and holding L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One and then pressing the pass button. The way you act is contextual to your position on the ice. If you're on free ice, you flip the puck in a lob to get it through traffic and over the defender's sticks, moving towards the puck to retrieve it. If you're behind the net, you put the puck out of the net and turn to chase after the puck. If you are near the planks, you eject the puck from the planks and chase the puck.
All of these moves are risky and should only be performed if you are going around a single defender until you feel more comfortable with the deke. Even then, the deke should only be used against multiple defenders if they converge on a single point. While you won't always be able to effectively chase the puck down, you can try aiming it for a teammate to pick up the loose puck, but that's an even bigger bet than passing it to you.
Michigan
Known warmly by a variety of names as the move has a somewhat rich history, it was popularized in the NHL by Andrei Svechnikov as the first league player to achieve the move in a regular season game. Basically you are behind the net and on one side of the net take the puck in the blade of your stick like you would a lacrosse ball in the lacrosse and using the momentum to move your stick keep it there and bring the stick. on the other side of the goal and slam the stick against the bar, throwing the puck into the net in a manner almost unfair to the goaltender.
Removing that deke is a bit more difficult and luckily so: when you're behind the net you move the puck to your forehand, press and hold L1 on the PS4 or LB on the Xbox One, press the right analog stick, then, while the analog stick is pressed, rotate the right analog stick down and then to the right. It's a pretty complicated move and honestly until you get really good you can telegraph the move a lot, so it's pretty much useless in online matches and in more difficult difficulties until you were getting really good at it so if you want to use it. this in real action, you had better practice first.
Stride Deke
Going back to the simpler repertoire, stride deke is just a way to create movement to one side or the other. It's kind of a good way to lead to other dekes, almost like a fake pump or a juke. You do this by pressing and holding L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One, then moving the left analog stick right or left. It doesn't really have a particular purpose, in my opinion, other than to chain yourself into other dekes or start exercising muscle memory for other dekes.
Spin-o-Rama
It's really an impractical move in today's NHL, but it's fun and when it works it looks and feels amazing, so it still has its place in a game like this. . This deke causes you to spin the puck around you on your stick, rotating. You can remove it by just pressing L2 on PS4 or LT on Xbox One and you can steer the deke by holding the left analog stick left or right, but there's no need to remove the movement.
The Kucherov
A move not only popularized but apparently created by Tampa Bay Lightning player Nikita Kucherov, this deke essentially makes you feel like you're going to be handling the puck as you approach the net, but your stick doesn't actually hit the puck, forcing the goalkeeper must follow the player out of position as the puck passes through the five holes and enters the net. It hasn't won much in the NHL, because it's one of those “cheat on me once, shame on you; cheat on me twice, shame on me 'times that make people look for it if it came too often.
This one is pretty straightforward to do because part of the movement requires you to use a deke stride. What you'll want to do is deke forward to your player's forehand, then quickly move the right analog stick to the right. What you end up doing is moving the puck in one direction using the deke stride, then moving your stick in the opposite direction using the right analog joystick. This move takes a bit of practice, as directing the puck the right way depends on the angle you are heading towards the net and when you move the right analog joystick.
Press Deke
This deke is very similar to one-handed or touch dekes in that it creates movement of the puck around the body in order to deceive defenders, but this particular deke uses the starting point behind the body to protect the puck. at the start of the deke. This creates a self-pass that is difficult to intercept without tripping the player.
There are a number of ways you can pull off this deke, although you'll really only want to use one most of the time, at the end of the day, however, let's get right to the point: to perform this move on the backhand move the stick. analog to the right, then press and hold L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One, then rotate the right analog stick to the left, then bring the left and right analog sticks to the right. The forehand version is the same but you start by rolling the analog stick down and then to the right and all of the following directions are opposite. This deke, while not as flashy as some of the others, is a great way to force sticks in a certain way, whether defenders are attempting to hit the puck by pushing it or while taking a raise, which often results in a penalty.
Jump Deke
This deke is another one that you won't be using all the time, but once you get it right, you'll be glad you did. The leap deke literally makes you pop the puck and you jump over an obstruction on the ice, whether it's a stick, another player, or maybe a goalie who has left the crease to challenge you, which has not yet happened to me in player single action.
You can perform this deke by pressing and holding L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One and pressing the right analog stick up. Sure, that makes the puck vulnerable, but you don't really use this deke very often anyway, so if you can manage to maintain possession with this deke after using it properly, you might want to consider dodging. '' get a lottery ticket.
Skate Kick Deke
A move that was made popular by Pavel Bure, at the time, this deke made you release the puck as if you were about to pass, using your skate to return the puck to your stick and continue the pass. You can use it to get a goalie out of position or chain him with other dekes to shake up defenders.
You can remove this deke by pressing and holding L1 on PS4 and LB on Xbox One, then pressing the right analog stick. As simple as that. Again, you leave the puck vulnerable, but it doesn't take a long time to execute, so it doesn't hang around for long.
Through the legs
This deke is almost exactly like the tap deke in that you start this deke with the puck behind you, but instead of wrapping the puck behind or around you in order to create lateral movement, you literally push it out. through you and through your legs. You can perform this move either on the forehand or on the backhand and is quite versatile as it is great for breaking down defense, stopping goalies and taking penalties.
You can remove this deke by holding the puck on your forehand or backhand using the skill stick and behind you, holding the analog stick straight in either of the back corners, pressing and now L1 on PS4 or LB on Xbox One, then pressing right. analog stick left or right, opposite to your original direction.
This covers pretty much everything you need to know about dekes and how to perform them; As you improve, you'll discover fun and inventive ways to chain them with other dekes and other moves to leave everyone in your dust.
Be sure to check out our NHL 21 review as well as our guide to winning face-offs!
