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Ongoing Powerplay Discussion

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When everybody stays in one spot the whole time, nothing will come of it. Unfortunately Gully never has had a strong powerplay that I've seen. Our PP when he was coaching Texas was absolutely atrocious.
 
Has it been mentioned that it was absolutely madness to play Larsen-Petersen duo in that 3rd period PP against Colorado?? It was about the biggest ****-up Gulutzan co. has done all season..

I'm hoping a rested Morrow will bring something new into it and also give Ribs a fresh start..
 
Something that annoyed me in the Ottawa game was the ordering that each unit came out on the ice. I don't know if this is a strategy of Gulutzan's or what, but waiting until the final 50 seconds to get your "good" unit out there seems counter-intuitive to me. Maybe his idea is to match up Benn/Loui/Ryder/Souray/Larsen against more tired PKers. It's awfully demoralizing to start out with the Robidas/Petersen group though. Sometimes it seems like bad starts to PPs can snowball into momentum-sapping killers that cause the next unit to press more than they would normally.
 
Ya as much as Gully says there's 2 top lines, he treats Benn-Eriksson like the 2nd line. Riberio unit gets most PP starts unless they draw the call and are tired.
 
Hasn't he been doing that for a while now? He's been rolling out the lesser of the two units first everytime without fail it seems like. If he's really trying to get a favorabel matchup for his better unit then that is beyond Pejorative Slured to me. You have to trust your best players to get the job done, not baby them. I just chalked it up to him being stubborn about which unit is his "1st PP" unit.

I echo the sentiment that sending #17 over the boards to start (let alone play) the PP has to be demoralizing; I know it sends me into spasms whenever I see it.
 
glovesave_35 said:
Hasn't he been doing that for a while now? He's been rolling out the lesser of the two units first everytime without fail it seems like. If he's really trying to get a favorabel matchup for his better unit then that is beyond Pejorative Slured to me. You have to trust your best players to get the job done, not baby them. I just chalked it up to him being stubborn about which unit is his "1st PP" unit.

I echo the sentiment that sending #17 over the boards to start (let alone play) the PP has to be demoralizing; I know it sends me into spasms whenever I see it.
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Sturm seems to agree with pretty much the entire boards sentiment and was essentially saying wtf are benn and loui doing at #'s 5,6 in PP TOI among forwards
 
I don't understand how Goligoski doesn't play most or all of these PP sets. He is literally our only decent option (not counting Larsen since Gulutzan evidently seems to think he's a defensive defenseman).

This is Gulutzan's responsibility. He remains steadfastly committed to configurations that simply do not and will not work. He clearly understands that there's a need to improve the play at the points, as evidenced by his bizarre Petersen experiment. So what gives?
 
As low as this team's offensive skill level is, I'm amazed at Gully's PP choices. This team can't afford to let skilled players watch the power play from the bench.
 
it's looked good the last few games... liking the play with the repeated give and go and switch positions on the left boards with ribs & whoever... move the defenders around until there's space to find an open morrow on the opposite side... created a few chances this way.
 
Daley and Goose both both played the full 2 minute PP, in the first period at least. Later he switched back to Larsen/Goose and Peterson/Daley. Then for the final PP he used Goose/Daley and Larsen/Peterson.

I found it interesting on the last PP that he loaded up Ribs, Loui, and Benn. Obviously some of that was because Morrow was out, but I'd like to see more of that. It's obvious Gulutzan knows what his best combos are, but chooses to spread it out intentionally. It looks like he's at least trying to make some changes (trying Goose out full 2 minutes, loading up the first unit, etc).
 
This team is simply not skilled enough to spread around the PP time like Gulutzan wants to do.

The annoying thing is that now we've finally got enough depth at even strength to roll at least 3 lines and sometimes 4 with confidence, which should theoretically keep the skill players fresher for the PP, yet they aren't being used that way.

Crawford was doing it wrong by playing them too much, Gulutzan is now erring in the opposite direction.
 
They really should make a super line to play 1:30 of the PP, then bring out the 3rd line for the last :30.

Benn-Ribs-Eriksson
Goligoski-Larsen

That should be the super PP unit. If Morrow isn't injured, maybe he or Ryder could go in instead of Larsen, then put Benn or Ribs at the point with Goose.
 
piqued said:
The annoying thing is that now we've finally got enough depth at even strength to roll at least 3 lines and sometimes 4 with confidence, which should theoretically keep the skill players fresher for the PP, yet they aren't being used that way.
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This is what kills me. They went out and made this team stronger at the bottom and middle which can funnel its way up to the top if they allow it, but they're not allowing that to happen. How Benn isn't the top forward in PP time/gm is absolutely Pejorative Slured. He's not going to have 22 year old legs under him forever, let's get the mileage out of them while he has them.

There are some things I like about Gulutzan and some things that I don't. I couldn't be more split at the moment about how I feel about him leading this team over the next few years (if that long). I'm also not a fan of his rhetoric about the PP when he preaches body/net/loose pucks/dirty goals as if that is the only way to have an effective PP. Not only that, the team has presumably been hearing this since day one and they're still not doing those things properly; most of our defensemen can't get a shot from the point through to the goalie to save their life, there isn't enough movement of bodies, simple passing plays aren't being executed with enough consistency.

The list of why the PP sucks is a long one but most of the issues could be fixed by having the most skilled players on the ice at the same time and for roughly 1:20 of every PP. It's situations like these where we can all see from the outside what would almost surely solve a problem (at least to an extent) that reminds me how misguided the criticism is of fans by saying that because they disagree with people who are employed in the sport the fan is just flat out wrong.


xAlex916 said:
If Morrow isn't injured, maybe he or Ryder could go in instead of Larsen, then put Benn or Ribs at the point with Goose.
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The idea of putting Benn at the point hit me as what should have been an obvious option a couple weeks ago and it's something that should be explored IMO. I'd prefer him back there over Ribs because lately Benn is the more sure-handed of the two but he also has the better wheels of the two in order to recover in the event of a turnover.
 
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glovesave_35 said:
This is what kills me. They went out and made this team stronger at the bottom and middle which can funnel its way up to the top if they allow it, but they're not allowing that to happen. How Benn isn't the top forward in PP time/gm is absolutely Pejorative Slured. He's not going to have 22 year old legs under him forever, let's get the mileage out of them while he has them.

There are some things I like about Gulutzan and some things that I don't. I couldn't be more split at the moment about how I feel about him leading this team over the next few years (if that long). I'm also not a fan of his rhetoric about the PP when he preaches body/net/loose pucks/dirty goals as if that is the only way to have an effective PP. Not only that, the team has presumably been hearing this since day one and they're still not doing those things properly; most of our defensemen can't get a shot from the point through to the goalie to save their life, there isn't enough movement of bodies, simple passing plays aren't being executed with enough consistency.

The list of why the PP sucks is a long one but most of the issues could be fixed by having the most skilled players on the ice at the same time and for roughly 1:20 of every PP. It's situations like these where we can all see from the outside what would almost surely solve a problem (at least to an extent) that reminds me how misguided the criticism is of fans by saying that because they disagree with people who are employed in the sport the fan is just flat out wrong.
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I wrote Heika about it for his newsletter Monday, maybe he can prod Gulutzan and get him thinking about changing his strategy.
 
So what'd we see today. Benn and Goose at the point on the normal 5-4 PP? then on the 5-3 we saw Daley and Goose on the points with forward combinations of Morrow, Riberio, and Loui. Then Benn, Ryder, Ott on another unit.

Intersting to see Gulutzan shuffle the combos and put a Loui on the Riberio line and Ott on the Benn line. You'd think if he wanted a RW shooter on each line he'd go back with Ryder on Ribs line. Personally I'm OK with it as Loui is much better playing the right wing, even if its only the PP. Better to have Ryder and Loui separated.

Edit: Though watching later in the game he went back to the same combinations from before, with Goose and Daley on the points. Guess with a 3-1 lead he didn't want to risk giving up a shortie with 4 forwards on the point. Also nice to see Loui-Benn-Ryder being given the first PP start.
 
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Posted this in the GDT, but bears repeating here.

At some point Niewy has to do something about the PP. Whether its bringing in a PP specialist, removing Gulutzan from managing it in favor of another coach, or doing like LA did and having Modano be a special assistant. We'd easily be in the playoffs with even an average PP.
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Somebody mentioned it but it's something I'd imagine isn't far from many people's minds - if ever there were a job tailor made for Zubov this is it. Modano could help but Zubov could be a godsend.
 
glovesave_35 said:
Somebody mentioned it but it's something I'd imagine isn't far from many people's minds - if ever there were a job tailor made for Zubov this is it. Modano could help but Zubov could be a godsend.
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maybe, maybe not. often the best of players can't understand how to shape other player's lesser abilities into success. i don't think there's anyone on this current team that could come close to replicating zubov's play on the point. maybe ribs, but who else has that style/ skill set?
 
It doesn't necessarily have to be someone telling people how to play like they did, its understanding how to open up lanes and make crafty plays on the PP. The Kings brought in Bernie Nichols and their PP has been a lot better since. Maybe some fresh ideas from a guy who used to QB the PP and understands how to make it successful would be a good idea for us too. Not like Gulutzan's coaching is working.
 
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