Da Power Play

[Grant McCagg]

Here are the five key figures up front on the Habs' pp. Lets look at usage and production.

Plek 140:00 PP mins
3g 8a 11 pts

Chuck 139:00 PP mins
2g 8a 10 pts

Patch
175 PP mins
6g 3a 9 pts

DD 156:00 PP mins
2g 7a 9pts

Gallagher 160:00 PP mins
2g 5a 7pts

If you look at Eller....

Eller 31:00 PP mins
30 secs per game
1g 1a 2 pts
Multiply his PP mins by 5 to equal DD's ice time...
5g 5a 10 pts


The most telling thing is that Patch has 9 PP points despite playing 175 minutes on the PP so far this season. That's 140th overall in the league production wise.
Give Plekanec another 15 minutes of PP time to equal DD this season he at worst picks up another point, perhaps two.

The number one offensive center..DD..has two goals in 159 PP mins... 60 NHL centers have more PPGs than Desharnais, who is given the most PP mins of any Hab center. The Habs "top" offensive center is 182nd in the league in PP goals. He is 149th overall in PP points. Do any of the true playoff contenders have a number one center in his "stratosphere"? No.

Patch..the Habs top forward who plays with DD almost exclusively, is 104th overall in NHL PP points.
Gallagher has the worst point per PP TOI on the team..160 minutes on the PP 3g and 7 points. Obviously..clearly...Patch, DD and Gallagher as the top PP unit is not working!

Clearly...based on statistics and based on trying to fix something that is badly broken...Chuck and Pleks should be on the top PP unit with Pacioretty. Pleky and Patch create many scoring chances when they play together on the pk..would it not stand to reason that given another winger and taking one forward from the other team would make them especially dangerous?

So why does Therrien not try them together on the power play with the second highest scoring fwd on the PP in Chuck? Chuck has shown he can set up more goals than DD on the PP despite playing less minutes at the age of 21, and given the chance to play with Plek and Patch would increase his PP goal total given some time to mesh with them.

If they're looking for actual PP goals on the second unit as well..it should be centered by Eller...as he's more than 50 per cent likely to score a PPG as Desharnais is when he's given the same ice time. He's also more likely to score as many or more points as Desharnais while bringing a lot more puck possession in the offensive zone on the cycle. I'd put Desharnais on the wing on the second unit with DSP and Eller for a spell...if that doesn't work try Gallagher in DD's place..if that doesn't work PAP I suppose, or even DLR.

Gallagher and Desharnais should be the most replaceable parts on the top two pp units..not staples on the first unit. Too much of a lack of size..who effectively screens the goalie? Whenever Gallagher does effectively he gets called for interference, and goals get called off. When DD screens the goalie teams ignore him (incl. the goalie) and concentrate on the other four.

Why not give Eller more of a power play opportunity? Yes he turns over the puck and holds on too it too long at times..but how often is it going to cost the team on the PP with a goal against any moreso than with DD? At least when Eller turns it over he has the speed to cover someone on the backcheck unlike Desharnais.

It's beyond me how 69 games into the season Therrien keeps trotting out the regular lines..which are also broken. Plekanec and Chuck aren't clicking...despite what Therrien thinks Gallagher, DD and Patch don't click..particularly on the PP.

Patch, Dd and Gallagher have a combined 25 PP points. There are 7 fwds with more PP points than the Habs' entire first PP line combined...including 6 centers. On a Cup contender you'd like to have a top six center in PP points..well Montreal's PP "cog" up front is failing miserably.

The talent is there to have a decent top six I think...but Therrien has to come to the realization that the line combinations he stubbornly goes back to time and time again are not the right ones. If he doesn't this team will be out of the playoffs very quickly.

Click to read more...

 

[Hope Of Glory]

How can you criticize Therrien, he's a professional in hockey management. Da record automatically proves you wrong !!111!1 It's not like you're a Pro yourself or something... oh wait... you are

Seriously though Grant, always like your post. What is the worst with the PP is that it's been horrible for at least one year and half. Yet, no new strategies are tried and we constantly see the same ****** tactics over and over again.

Except in the first period last night when DD was out getting his skate fixed or something. Then we showed some interesting things out there. But of course, as soon as the next PP he was back centering the awful 1st PP unit we have, like he always does.

Trying the same thing over and over again for over a year and still expecting different results, it doesn't get any dumber than that.

 

[Grant McCagg]

How can you criticize Therrien, he's a professional in hockey management. Da record automatically proves you wrong !!111!1 It's not like you're a Pro yourself or something... oh wait... you are

Seriously though Grant, always like your post. What is the worst with the PP is that it's been horrible for at least one year and half. Yet, no new strategies are tried and we constantly see the same ****** tactics over and over again.

Except in the first period last night when DD was out getting his skate fixed or something. Then we showed some interesting things out there. But of course, as soon as the next PP he was back centering the awful 1st PP unit we have, like he always does.

Trying the same thing over and over again for over a year and still expecting different results, it doesn't get any dumber than that.

Ha ha.

Had some time on my hands as I'm recuperating from strep throat..needed to get this out of my system..just like the virus.

 

[Smokey Thompson]

The 4 minute PP last night in the first period look decent. Good puck movement, shots from the slot, size in front of the net. Their zone entry plan on the PP is still extremely flawed, but it is easier to execute with bigger players.

Ironically enough Davie and Plek missed the whole 4 minutes.

 

[madhi19]

The 4 minute PP last night in the first period look decent. Good puck movement, shots from the slot, size in front of the net. Their zone entry plan on the PP is still extremely flawed, but it is easier to execute with bigger players.

Ironically enough Davie and Plek missed the whole 4 minutes.

That no irony, that just correlation of what we been seeing for a while. Both players can't win the zone, both players are easy to bury in the board. Plekanec would not go to the net if you put a gun to his head, and David can stay on his skates or properly screen the net anyway.

 

[Smokey Thompson]

That no irony, that just correlation of what we been seeing for a while. Both players can't win the zone, both players are easy to bury in the board. Plekanec would not go to the net if you put a gun to his head, and David can stay on his skates or properly screen the net anyway.

Irony from Therrien's point of view. Both guys were used heavily on the 4 minutes PP in the 3rd, which was an embarrassing 4 minutes.

Heck, Eller-DLR-Pap got a PP shift in the first and they looked great.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

You know which french coach would be a tremendous fit for our team? Guy Boucher. Great special units, great with young players, great & innovative hockey mind. Imagine the damage he could do with not only a good group of defenseman but not only a good goalie but arguably the best one on the planet.

 

[S Bah]

Here are the five key figures up front on the Habs' pp. Lets look at usage and production.

Plek 140:00 PP mins
3g 8a 11 pts

Chuck 139:00 PP mins
2g 8a 10 pts

Patch
175 PP mins
6g 3a 9 pts

DD 156:00 PP mins
2g 7a 9pts

Gallagher 160:00 PP mins
2g 5a 7pts

If you look at Eller....

Eller 31:00 PP mins
30 secs per game
1g 1a 2 pts
Multiply his PP mins by 5 to equal DD's ice time...
5g 5a 10 pts


The most telling thing is that Patch has 9 PP points despite playing 175 minutes on the PP so far this season. That's 140th overall in the league production wise.
Give Plekanec another 15 minutes of PP time to equal DD this season he at worst picks up another point, perhaps two.

The number one offensive center..DD..has two goals in 159 PP mins... 60 NHL centers have more PPGs than Desharnais, who is given the most PP mins of any Hab center. The Habs "top" offensive center is 182nd in the league in PP goals. He is 149th overall in PP points. Do any of the true playoff contenders have a number one center in his "stratosphere"? No.

Patch..the Habs top forward who plays with DD almost exclusively, is 104th overall in NHL PP points.
Gallagher has the worst point per PP TOI on the team..160 minutes on the PP 3g and 7 points. Obviously..clearly...Patch, DD and Gallagher as the top PP unit is not working!

Clearly...based on statistics and based on trying to fix something that is badly broken...Chuck and Pleks should be on the top PP unit with Pacioretty. Pleky and Patch create many scoring chances when they play together on the pk..would it not stand to reason that given another winger and taking one forward from the other team would make them especially dangerous?

So why does Therrien not try them together on the power play with the second highest scoring fwd on the PP in Chuck? Chuck has shown he can set up more goals than DD on the PP despite playing less minutes at the age of 21, and given the chance to play with Plek and Patch would increase his PP goal total given some time to mesh with them.

If they're looking for actual PP goals on the second unit as well..it should be centered by Eller...as he's more than 50 per cent likely to score a PPG as Desharnais is when he's given the same ice time. He's also more likely to score as many or more points as Desharnais while bringing a lot more puck possession in the offensive zone on the cycle. I'd put Desharnais on the wing on the second unit with DSP and Eller for a spell...if that doesn't work try Gallagher in DD's place..if that doesn't work PAP I suppose, or even DLR.

Gallagher and Desharnais should be the most replaceable parts on the top two pp units..not staples on the first unit. Too much of a lack of size..who effectively screens the goalie? Whenever Gallagher does effectively he gets called for interference, and goals get called off. When DD screens the goalie teams ignore him (incl. the goalie) and concentrate on the other four.

Why not give Eller more of a power play opportunity? Yes he turns over the puck and holds on too it too long at times..but how often is it going to cost the team on the PP with a goal against any moreso than with DD? At least when Eller turns it over he has the speed to cover someone on the backcheck unlike Desharnais.

It's beyond me how 69 games into the season Therrien keeps trotting out the regular lines..which are also broken. Plekanec and Chuck aren't clicking...despite what Therrien thinks Gallagher, DD and Patch don't click..particularly on the PP.

Patch, Dd and Gallagher have a combined 25 PP points. There are 7 fwds with more PP points than the Habs' entire first PP line combined...including 6 centers. On a Cup contender you'd like to have a top six center in PP points..well Montreal's PP "cog" up front is failing miserably.

The talent is there to have a decent top six I think...but Therrien has to come to the realization that the line combinations he stubbornly goes back to time and time again are not the right ones. If he doesn't this team will be out of the playoffs very quickly.

As hockey has almost always been played by NHL teams, the PP usually brings together each teams most prolific talents offensively on their units 1st & 2nd. Pittsburgh having some deadly players for their abilities, as does almost all the top teams. Opponents playing against such PP's, often find weaknesses that can nullify their PP's, special teams often like the Gainey/Jarvis PK team can. Counting on special teams to win games is deceiving, quite often getting the bounces is what wins a series. The players that you suggest are favorite players of mine and like you, I would like to see these players used on the PP more often. It leaves lots of fans in wonderment at the purposes of using the same players futilely, but when the team is tied for Tops in the NHL, somebody's doing something right is the logical thought process.

The age old axiom of don't fix what isn't broke doesn't seem to apply, but maybe there is something I'm missing, I'm not privy to all the info the Habs GM & coaches are so I leave that in their Ballpark so to speak!

 

[Mathletic]

Although I wouldn't be against trying these lines. I'm much more of the Quennville school of thought to mix lines up more often than not. We shouldn't go too crazy about the PP not working. Luck alone can easily account for the Habs low ranking on the PP.

The average NHL team this year scores on 18.6% of its PPs. Given the number of PPOs the Habs got they "should" have scored 36.2 goals when they're at 32 on the season. Given the 18.6% average, simply a 1 standard deviation from average gives a range of 24 to 34.9 goals scored. Meaning luck alone easily can put teams within 24 to 34.9 goals (given the number of Habs PPs). Habs aren't that far off the norm and luck or bad luck can explain the low PP%.

 

[Video Coach]

Something has to give. The way this team plays, it needs a dangerous PP to be successful. Completely changes the complexion of the team if the PP can capitalize. Personnel decisions have been suspect, but clearly there's something in their setup. Zone entries have been an issue since Gomez left. There clearly needs to be an adjustment here.

Back when the PP was up at the top of the league there were always 2 dangerous options - usually the shot off the half wall from Ryder or Kovalev, plus the point shot from Souray/Streit/Schneider/Bergeron. Now there's only 1 option - shot from the point - and it's way too easy for teams to eliminate this option.

Pacioretty has a great shot but this team would be much more dangerous if he had the skills to walk off the wall and rip it. He doesn't quite have the puck handling skills to do this though (as you need to also have the ability to flip a backhand back to the point or a tuck pass down low if there's pressure).

Galchenyuk has the skills but for whatever reason has not been able to capitalize on this play like his did at the junior level.

Need to get DD off there and get DSP and Eller more regularly involved. Mostly, just need to be willing to drastically make changes - ie put a different coach in charge of it. Who's running it now, anyone know?

 

[habs03]

Its pretty simply real, we don't have anyone on the halfway to keep teams honest and not over play Subban and Markov on the point.

Only 2 people we have that can do the job are, Pacioretty who sucks on the halfway, and Galchenyuk whose shot gets tipped out of play by the dmen most of the time.

I don't see Patches ever being good at that, but I hope Gally can gain more experience and be as good as Cammy and Kovy were on that halfwall.

 

[Scintillating10]

Here are the five key figures up front on the Habs' pp. Lets look at usage and production.

Plek 140:00 PP mins
3g 8a 11 pts

Chuck 139:00 PP mins
2g 8a 10 pts

Patch
175 PP mins
6g 3a 9 pts

DD 156:00 PP mins
2g 7a 9pts

Gallagher 160:00 PP mins
2g 5a 7pts

If you look at Eller....

Eller 31:00 PP mins
30 secs per game
1g 1a 2 pts
Multiply his PP mins by 5 to equal DD's ice time...
5g 5a 10 pts


The most telling thing is that Patch has 9 PP points despite playing 175 minutes on the PP so far this season. That's 140th overall in the league production wise.
Give Plekanec another 15 minutes of PP time to equal DD this season he at worst picks up another point, perhaps two.

The number one offensive center..DD..has two goals in 159 PP mins... 60 NHL centers have more PPGs than Desharnais, who is given the most PP mins of any Hab center. The Habs "top" offensive center is 182nd in the league in PP goals. He is 149th overall in PP points. Do any of the true playoff contenders have a number one center in his "stratosphere"? No.

Patch..the Habs top forward who plays with DD almost exclusively, is 104th overall in NHL PP points.
Gallagher has the worst point per PP TOI on the team..160 minutes on the PP 3g and 7 points. Obviously..clearly...Patch, DD and Gallagher as the top PP unit is not working!

Clearly...based on statistics and based on trying to fix something that is badly broken...Chuck and Pleks should be on the top PP unit with Pacioretty. Pleky and Patch create many scoring chances when they play together on the pk..would it not stand to reason that given another winger and taking one forward from the other team would make them especially dangerous?

So why does Therrien not try them together on the power play with the second highest scoring fwd on the PP in Chuck? Chuck has shown he can set up more goals than DD on the PP despite playing less minutes at the age of 21, and given the chance to play with Plek and Patch would increase his PP goal total given some time to mesh with them.

If they're looking for actual PP goals on the second unit as well..it should be centered by Eller...as he's more than 50 per cent likely to score a PPG as Desharnais is when he's given the same ice time. He's also more likely to score as many or more points as Desharnais while bringing a lot more puck possession in the offensive zone on the cycle. I'd put Desharnais on the wing on the second unit with DSP and Eller for a spell...if that doesn't work try Gallagher in DD's place..if that doesn't work PAP I suppose, or even DLR.

Gallagher and Desharnais should be the most replaceable parts on the top two pp units..not staples on the first unit. Too much of a lack of size..who effectively screens the goalie? Whenever Gallagher does effectively he gets called for interference, and goals get called off. When DD screens the goalie teams ignore him (incl. the goalie) and concentrate on the other four.

Why not give Eller more of a power play opportunity? Yes he turns over the puck and holds on too it too long at times..but how often is it going to cost the team on the PP with a goal against any moreso than with DD? At least when Eller turns it over he has the speed to cover someone on the backcheck unlike Desharnais.

It's beyond me how 69 games into the season Therrien keeps trotting out the regular lines..which are also broken. Plekanec and Chuck aren't clicking...despite what Therrien thinks Gallagher, DD and Patch don't click..particularly on the PP.

Patch, Dd and Gallagher have a combined 25 PP points. There are 7 fwds with more PP points than the Habs' entire first PP line combined...including 6 centers. On a Cup contender you'd like to have a top six center in PP points..well Montreal's PP "cog" up front is failing miserably.

The talent is there to have a decent top six I think...but Therrien has to come to the realization that the line combinations he stubbornly goes back to time and time again are not the right ones. If he doesn't this team will be out of the playoffs very quickly.

Got to be careful doing math like that. Pleks and Chucky most of time going 2nd PK units though. Going to throw those numbers off

 

[DAChampion]

Although I wouldn't be against trying these lines. I'm much more of the Quennville school of thought to mix lines up more often than not. We shouldn't go too crazy about the PP not working. Luck alone can easily account for the Habs low ranking on the PP.

The average NHL team this year scores on 18.6% of its PPs. Given the number of PPOs the Habs got they "should" have scored 36.2 goals when they're at 32 on the season. Given the 18.6% average, simply a 1 standard deviation from average gives a range of 24 to 34.9 goals scored. Meaning luck alone easily can put teams within 24 to 34.9 goals (given the number of Habs PPs). Habs aren't that far off the norm and luck or bad luck can explain the low PP%.

But the Habs should not be at 18.6%, they should be near the top since they Subban and Markov as QBs.

 

[Mathletic]

But the Habs should not be at 18.6%, they should be near the top since they Subban and Markov as QBs.

Nashville is even lower and they have Weber and Ellis on the point. Stuff happens. Besides, Markov is in the top 10 and Subban in the top 15th among d-men in PP scoring.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Why fix whats broken?

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

DD should never be attempting to screen the goalie, he should be the QB and move the puck to people other than his bff to keep it unpredictable - and shoot occasionally
Gally shouldn't be on the PP
Eller should be parked in front of the goalie, I'd try DSP or DLR there on the 2nd wave
Subban shouldn't play the full 2, he gets sloppy and careless after about 1:20
Any player that goes offside is kicked off the PP for that game
Memo to d-men, when the forward sets up for a bad angle shot head to the boards for when he misses the net
Memo to forwards, take less bad angle shots
Need more of a down-low threat to free up the points
Worry less about the speed of the shot and more about getting it through to the net, difference between an 80 km/hr point shot and 100 km/hr point shot is only about 0.1 of a second so less John Daly backswings that miss the net or drill the shot blocker (or teammate) and more Ray Bourque needle threading

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

I think we just don't have the proper players up front to have a good powerplay. We miss that Kovalev/Cammalleri type of guy on the half boards who can help take the penalty killers' pressure off PK and Markov.

Guys like Pacioretty and Gallagher score most of their points at even strength when they're skating, not a knock on them as players but they don't have the patience to be great players on the PP... whenever the puck hits their stick they either just shoot it or throw it back to the D.

With what we have right now I'd try something like this:

Pacioretty - Galchenyuk - DSP
Markov - Subban

Keep Galchenyuk on the half boards, he has the most patience out of our forwards and has a great shot as well. Put DSP in front of the net to help screen the goals and get some garbage goals.

Throw Eller/Plek/Gallagher or whatever out on the second unit.

Biggest offseason need is a top 6 forward who is good on the powerplay, we've improved a lot at even strength but if we can get someone up front to help our PP it would help us a ton.

 

[JLP]

We live or die with DD on PP, MT will not change that. Fortunately there are fewer PP in the playoffs.

Yes we scored vs Ott when DD was in the dressing room. But as soon as he came back MT stubbornly reverted -- that is his nature.

Astounding that over the last 2 yrs Plekanec has scored more goals on the PK than DD has on the PP. And with less TOI!

 

[Mathletic]

We live or die with DD on PP, MT will not change that. Fortunately there are fewer PP in the playoffs.

As in more of them?

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Although I wouldn't be against trying these lines. I'm much more of the Quennville school of thought to mix lines up more often than not. We shouldn't go too crazy about the PP not working. Luck alone can easily account for the Habs low ranking on the PP.

The average NHL team this year scores on 18.6% of its PPs. Given the number of PPOs the Habs got they "should" have scored 36.2 goals when they're at 32 on the season. Given the 18.6% average, simply a 1 standard deviation from average gives a range of 24 to 34.9 goals scored. Meaning luck alone easily can put teams within 24 to 34.9 goals (given the number of Habs PPs). Habs aren't that far off the norm and luck or bad luck can explain the low PP%.

Love the luck explanation. Classic, cant find reasoning, call it luck

Lets forget that the problen was there last year as well.

 

[Mathletic]

Love the luck explanation. Classic, cant find reasoning, call it luck

Lets forget that the problen was there last year as well.

Not saying it can't be improved. But people love to think that we live in a deterministic universe where everything happens because someone gave an effort or made the right line combinations and so on.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Not saying it can't be improved. But people love to think that we live in a deterministic universe where everything happens because someone gave an effort or made the right line combinations and so on.

Everything? No. Most things? Yes.

As the wise golfer Gary Player once said, the harder I practice the luckier I get

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Not saying it can't be improved. But people love to think that we live in a deterministic universe where everything happens because someone gave an effort or made the right line combinations and so on.

No. No ones thinking that.

People see the same strategy that has been a proven failure without any changes. Frankly you could count on one hand how many times they even attempted a different strategy.

i might be more inclined to throw out luck excuses if they were exhausting there options. They arent even trying to do something different. So its pathetic to hang it on luck

 

[Mathletic]

For fun, since Therrien took over the team.

Rank|Team|PP OPP|PPG|PP%|For 677 PP OPP

1 | WSH | 659 | 163 | 24,7% | 167
2 | PIT | 660 | 150 | 22,7% | 154
3 | PHI | 683 | 143 | 20,9% | 142
4 | STL | 641 | 132 | 20,6% | 139
5 | DET | 705 | 144 | 20,4% | 138
6 | SJS | 670 | 130 | 19,4% | 131
7 | BOS | 522 | 99 | 19,0% | 128
8 | ARI | 647 | 122 | 18,9% | 128
9 | CBJ | 645 | 121 | 18,8% | 127
10 | TOR | 652 | 122 | 18,7% | 127
11 | NYI | 664 | 123 | 18,5% | 125
12 | TBL | 672 | 124 | 18,5% | 125
13 | NJD | 603 | 111 | 18,4% | 125
14 | CHI | 636 | 116 | 18,2% | 123
15 | MTL | 677 | 122 | 18,0% | 122 16 | CGY | 622 | 111 | 17,8% | 121
17 | EDM | 635 | 113 | 17,8% | 120
18 | NSH | 598 | 105 | 17,6% | 119
19 | ANA | 616 | 108 | 17,5% | 119
20 | NYR | 606 | 106 | 17,5% | 118
21 | LAK | 667 | 116 | 17,4% | 118
22 | OTT | 653 | 113 | 17,3% | 117
23 | MIN | 611 | 103 | 16,9% | 114
24 | DAL | 697 | 117 | 16,8% | 114
25 | COL | 608 | 100 | 16,4% | 111
26 | CAR | 647 | 105 | 16,2% | 110
27 | VAN | 621 | 100 | 16,1% | 109
28 | WPG | 628 | 100 | 15,9% | 108
29 | FLA | 614 | 88 | 14,3% | 97
30 | BUF | 600 | 79 | 13,2% | 89

Average number of PP: 639
Average number of PPG: 116
Average PP%: 18.2%
Standard deviation: 2.26%
Range: 13,7% - 15,9% - 18,2% - 20,5% - 22,7%
Range given 677 PPs: 93 - 108 - 123 - 138 - 154

So yeah, luck's part of it

Only line in the sand I could draw is that Washington and Pittsburgh have excellent PPs and that Buffalo's not good.

 

[missthenet]

No. No ones thinking that.

People see the same strategy that has been a proven failure without any changes. Frankly you could count on one hand how many times they even attempted a different strategy.

i might be more inclined to throw out luck excuses if they were exhausting there options. They arent even trying to do something different. So its pathetic to hang it on luck

were they not practicing with four forwards awhile ago and said they were going to try that in a game setting? did they ever try this?