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Ongoing Powerplay Discussion

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1. They have to stay in the opposing zone, the Stars had many problems against aggressive penalty killing.

2. Too many turnovers. It was very frustrating for the players and the viewers, how easily they have lost the puck and the pk unit could clear.

3. With Brad Richards our Quarterback left the franchise, there is no real QB on the ice anymore. Goose is a nice PMD, maybe he can take this part.

4. Passing. Keep the puck and the PK unit moving. They are not allowed to take a break, only after our PP goal.
 
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What do we mean exactly when we say QB? Does a QB have to be both the guy mainly responsible for bringing the puck up the ice and controlling the play from the blueline once they get setup in the zone? Because Goose to me looks perfectly fine and just as good as Richards once they've established possession in the zone. He struggles though with that other component of carrying the puck through neutral and taking the blueline safely, whether that's through solo skating or a pass. You could feel the rest of the team looking to him and waiting for him to take over but it didn't happen.

Then you've got other problems like Robidas basically playing the worst offensive game of his life. I mean, in seasons past he's been pretty good in the first half of the year at least before he gets worn down and tired. Good enough to at least play on the 2nd unit. But that was just atrocious.

Daley and Souray weren't exempt from putting forwards in impossible positions either with their breakout passes. They were feeding the puck to wingers along the wall right before they were going to hit the stack of Coyotes players at the line. That's not going to work.

Then the alternative, dumping and chasing, breaks down also when the forwards can't win any 1-on-1 puck battles. It's not like that has anything to do with Richards' absence.

Frustration begets more frustration and you end up with Benn trying to dangle the entire PK...
 
I didn't get to watch much of the first two games without getting distracted (OU/TX-ing with friends while watching) but in the third game, the powerplay was terrible because of mainly two things. They were getting stacked up at the blue line entering the zone while physically carrying it in, and we weren't dumping it away from Mike Smith and when we did we weren't quick enough on the puck. So once we take care of the neutral zone play, we can figure out if we have any more problems besides these.
 
People may think I'm crazy for this but what about Wandell as the guy bringing the puck into the zone? He's got speed and can stick handle pretty well. He's obviously not the offensive force you want out on the PP but it's time to experiment if things continue to be this horrible.
 
I think they will try to fix the problem fundamentally before trying something like Wandell on the PP. If things stay this bad though I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Brand New Stars said:
People may think I'm crazy for this but what about Wandell as the guy bringing the puck into the zone? He's got speed and can stick handle pretty well. He's obviously not the offensive force you want out on the PP but it's time to experiment if things continue to be this horrible.
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That crossed my mind also. I'd like to see it. He's pretty much the only guy you can trust to get through the neutral zone unscathed. He doesn't have to make a perfect pass either, he can just be instructed to take the red line with speed and make a good dump-in. 99% of goalies can't play the puck as well as Smith so that was a temporary problem. You could even have Wandell change after dumping it in and have a defenseman come out instead. Or you could have him be the guy that goes to the front of the net and retrieves pucks after point shots.
 
This may be a problem that is extra exploited against Phoenix all season. Smiths puckhandling ability is pretty rare so at least we wont have to deal with teams who can just defend the blueline every time.
 
big-time nhl power play producers brent severyn and craig ludwig with astute power play analysis!

some main points i got from them, which i basically agree with...

* poor dump-ins (especially against a puck-handling goalie like smith)

* not enough determination (need to work as hard as pk-ers)

* work together as a group
 
Do you guys expect Ott to remain in the top 6, playing with Eriksson both at even strength and on the PP?
 
kurt said:
Do you guys expect Ott to remain in the top 6, playing with Eriksson both at even strength and on the PP?
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i do. the vincour experiment didn't translate from pre-season to the regular season. no one else in my mind fits.

ott is a multi-stat fantasy stud.
 
ginblossoms said:
* poor dump-ins (especially against a puck-handling goalie like smith)

* not enough determination (need to work as hard as pk-ers)

* work together as a group
Click to expand...

All of these were evident tonight. The PP scored but it still looked bad most of the night.

The one that kills me is that nobody seems to be doing anything with real purpose out there. The hustle and aggressiveness just isn't there.
 
Need Robidas shot into the sun on a Barchrocket and Souray put on the first powerplay pair.
 
although not satisfactory, i thought the team's pp improved tonight. a couple of clean offensive zone entries and puck possession... just enough to score the morrow pp goal.

but i did notice several instances when st louis had more guys battling for a puck along the boards. to me, that's a result of lacking compete level.

also give a little credit to the blues for forcing some of the ineffectiveness.
 
The entry was a lot better tonight. I noticed Goose was staying out there for 3/4 of the PP, maybe that helps. But ya the boards battles need work. The Morrow goal was pure luck.

It's getting better at least.
 
Glovesave talked about it in the General thread, but Gulutzan really seems to have an aversion to loading up the 1st unit like most teams do. I guess he wants two equal units to create competition with each other, but that's not working. You can argue ALL of our PP success this year has come from teams not knowing what to expect from Souray. Now that the scouting report is out, it doesn't work anymore.

Benn-Riberio-Loui
Souray-Larsen

Let Larsen or Riberio enter the zone, Benn and Loui battle behind the net, set Benn up in front.

Morrow-Ott-Ryder
Robidas-Daley

Who cares they'll see 30 seconds. Dump it in and let Morrow/Ott battle it out. Put both Morrow/Ott in front of the net and have Ryder fling wrist shots.
 
So, the powerplay is now in a 0 for about 20 slide? Either way it's time to make some more changes to the pp unites.

I know Goligoski's loss has hurt things, but there's still ways they can make it work.
 
I still say Wandell should be used as the guy to bring the puck into the zone. It's worth a try.
 
The thing about the PP that is inexcusable is that it's giving up a ton of chances against while our boys can't get anything positive going at all, not even sustained pressure. It happens where teams go into offensive lulls (including the PP) but at the very least the PP should be a chance to really make the other team work their ***** off at trying to not let you score. The Stars aren't even doing that.

P.S. can a mod please merge this and the other PP thread?
 
Losing puck battles, standing still when they do have the puck, putting guys like Robidas and Peterson on the point, not earning all that many chances...
 
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