It’s both to be fair. They don’t have the right mix of players for it at all, but the coaching staff has to adjust as well.
You’re right though, there is no such thing as a special teams coach in hockey.
I don’t know exactly what the actual NHL analytics guys work on, but I’ve been led to believe that 5 on 5 is the main focus. If that holds true at the NHL level that could be part of the problem with special teams.
Evidently, Johnny said it on the radio. We don't have guys who fit traditional power-play roles. We don't have a "bumper" in the middle. We don't have a power play QB. We don't have a sniper. What is Roddy supposed to do? He can't play guys we don't have. The power play is for skill guys to have space to create. We don't have any. We have grit and grind.
I would *love* to focus on acquiring one or more of those specific skills this summer, but to me, the biggest is the sniper. We need somebody who's shot causes teams to back off our passers. Right now, PKs don't have to be honest with us. They can cheat to the passers (TT, Aho) because we don't have anybody who will make them pay for overplaying one side. We need a trigger-man, and Faulk just ain't it. He *used* to be. He used to be downright dangerous on the left dot. He used to score back-door goals. He doesn't anymore. Maybe Necas can be that guy, but now we're counting on two 20-year-old rookies.
The bottom line is that we don't have nearly enough skill to have an effective power play. A defense playing as aggressively as Boston's whould get abused by a skillful power play.
But none of this is shocking. We've gritted and grinded ourselves to this point. It's as far as we can go with the guys we have now. We need to add skill. This should shock nobody. But I expected more out of Aho and Teravainen at this point in the season.