Proposal: How would you fix the Powerplay?

[Maple Leaf]

My thoughts here:

Post-Game Talk: - Leafs embarrass Berube again

Looks like we have washed Matthews this year The powerplay is so comically bad I don't even know what to do anymore Start by having them line up at the boards with half the team on one side the other half on the other and practice quick, hard passes, like we did in Mites and Atom. When they...

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Short version: A big part of the problem is that they're playing the perimeter and won't get to the dirty areas.

They need some dirty players

 

[Maple Leaf]

Shake it up much more radically,.even if it's just for a couple weeks .Marner and Matthews on different units. Force the guys to start thinking differently

take mattews nad marner off the Pp

 

[notDatsyuk]

Without a net front presence blasting clappers from the point is ineffective. If you want to make a point shot effective you’ll have to somehow convince the softies to leave the safety of the perimeter.
Good luck with that.

The "net front presence" is JT, who doesn't screen the goalie.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Three things better today. They put Nylander back on the top unit, they let him carry the puck for an easy zone entry, and they put a shooter on the left side.

 

[sunstersun]

It's actually very very very simple.

Put Knies on PP1. Let Nylander be the QB. Tavares takes the draw. Everyone shoots.

 

[Shooter14]

Actually what might improve the power play and I don't think it can get any worse. Just pulled the goalie for an extra attacker.

 

[ULF_55]

Shoot more, pass less.

 

[mjd1001]

I'm not sure you can do much to fix the PP except wait for it to come around.

I started doing something a week or two ago, I started looking at highlights of PP goals scored from around the league, and Most (50%-75% in some nights) of PP goals were scored the following ways:

-Tips and deflections, some of them 'accidental'

-Loose pucks banged into the net from 'scrums' in front of the goalie.

-Screens where there is a LOT of traffic in front of the net

-a good open shot that was only there because SOMEONE on the other team totally lost discipline and started to chase the puck.

So basically, there is not a lot of coaching you can do other than wait for 'puck luck' and just ram basic fundamentals into the heads of your players and hope they listen.

The NHL has figured out how to penalty kill. You set up the 4 man box in your zone, maintain that, and do not chase. You let the team on the PP pass it around the perimeter, wasting time and basically killing off their own penalty before getting frustrated and taking a shot that is easy for your goalie to handle.

So what can you do other than rely 100% on luck? Well you have to be good enough to get into the D-zone and set up. The Leafs are good enough to do that. Beyond that? To try to get more of those deflections and goals from scrums, you NEED to have someone to stand in front of the net and just take punishment. A Dave Andreychuk, Tim Kerr, Rick Vaive type of guy.

Put a guy like that in front of the net and do not have him move. tell him its not his job to skate around with the puck. He's not to just skate by the front of the net, he stands there.

-Eventually the PK might have to 'collapse' that box down lower toward him and that will give your skilled guys on the perimeter more room to use their skill

-It will also provide a non-stop screen and possibly have some shots go in due to the goalie missing them, or be deflected in off of him (or the defender trying to move him out of the way)

-And when a screened goalie gives up a rebound he will be there to bang away at it and hopefully knock it in the net.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

For one thing they could try getting the puck in the zone faster.

The Leafs entry starts with someone like Marner, for example, taking the puck behind the net. Rielly skates back as fast as possible and retrieves it while circling the net before booking it up ice again. Once he hits the blue line Rielly slows down, turns around, and drops the puck to... get this... Mitch Marner.

But it doesn't end there.

Because the Leafs will often double up and drop the puck a second time. Oh boy I bet opponents never saw that one coming. What an innovative concept.

Why waste five seconds off the clock when you can waste ten.

Once in the opponents zone they aren't setting up in a proper 1-3-1 for any length of time. Instead they are circling the zone right away. I'm a little confused what they're doing sometimes and I think the players are too.

They need to get this fixed very soon or fire Savard.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Get an elite special teams coach and fire Savard.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Get an elite special teams coach and fire Savard.

matthews+marner+nylander+tavares+rielly
No coach can fix that
Its cooked

 

[PanniniClaus]

matthews+marner+nylander+tavares+rielly
No coach can fix that
Its cooked

You could build a 1-3-1 around 4 of those players but without a left or right shot hammer up top... it's over.

Marner could play the Brayden Point role in the bumper. JT can play net front, goal line or back door and although Knies would be better at that role, Tavares allows them to have a faceoff guy there, not named Matthews.

Not being able to go back up top for a guy with a gun just allows everyone to play a little bit closer to goal, a little bit tighter to the bumper and in the flank lanes.

If we insist on Rielly, may as well go to what helped win the Tampa series.. double stack and some wristers where the goaltender is just unsighted.

Right now you could put 5 random NHLers on the ice ... any of them randomly and be as effective as the Leafs.

 

[BertCorbeau]

I didn’t think Savard could make our PP worse yet here we are

 

[Fogelhund]

Teach Knies net front, Tavares in the slot, Matthews on one side, Nylander on the other... Marner up top. Move the puck more, faster. Knies needs to learn the full art of puck deflections, and net front disruption. He's got the size, and he's getting the mentality. With legitimate shot threats on either side of the rink, the D can't cheat. It has to be quicker, and more meaningful.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Shoot more, pass less.

Leafs are always looking for that perfect play but it rarely happens. 32nd in the league. It defies words. Play it again Sam.

 

[Evilhomer]

I suspect at some point relatively soon the power play will get hot and this discussion will fall away until the playoffs.

 

[Kazparov]

Run the two units with the same forward lines , adding OEL or Reilly and extra skilled forward.

Knies Matty Marner Reilly Mcmann
Patches JT Willy OEL Domi

 

[arso40]

Run the two units with the same forward lines , adding OEL or Reilly and extra skilled forward.

Knies Matty Marner Reilly Mcmann
Patches JT Willy OEL Domi

Willy and matty should always be on the same power play it punishes goals and players who try to cheat on our only two duel threats from the circles