PowerPlay Magazine

There are two secondary attributes for each position.  The question that has been asked many times is are they really both secondary or is one a tertiary attribute and therefore to be trained less than the other.  Keep reading as we explore this issue.

There are a large amount of people thus far that have assumed that the 3rd attribute listed in the guide is a tertiary attribute even though the guide lists them as both secondaries.  A good example of this is for goalies where some people tend to train technique higher than passing.  Others have tried to follow the guide more closely training both secondary attributes to the same level. At this stage though I’m doubtful whether anyone has any evidence of which method produces better players.

However, I have another theory based around the tactic being used influencing which secondary attribute should be trained higher.  Let me explain using centres as an example.
 
The secondary attributes as listed in the guide for centres are reproduced below:
Position      Primary attribute    Secondary attribute    Secondary attribute
Center       Offence                 Passing                      Technique

If you use a tactic such as breaking up play then "your players are trying to cause as many interruptions in the game as possible" and therefore there will be more face-offs in the game than if you played a different tactic.  Therefore since "Technique also helps you to win face-offs" I would propose that you should train your technique higher than your passing to take advantage of the extra face-offs.

However, if your playing an offensive type of hockey then your going to want to create as many scoring chances as you can and therefore since passing helps "create chances with good puck movement and playmaking" then you would want to train this higher than technique.

These types of differences also hold true for defensemen and wingers, though I haven’t figured out how they would apply to goalies (maybe additional passing (poke checking) to help against breakaways if you’re playing offensive hockey).

Do you have a theory on secondary attributes?  Have you found something that you think does/not work? What are you currently trying?  Let us know.