Ongoing Powerplay Discussion

[piqued]

Got to find a way to get Duchene on the top unit. The whole seniority thing needs to go out the window. Get your best players together and figure it out before the playoffs. Between Duchene and Hintz they can manage winning a faceoff.

 

[Troy McClure]

Got to find a way to get Duchene on the top unit. The whole seniority thing needs to go out the window. Get your best players together and figure it out before the playoffs. Between Duchene and Hintz they can manage winning a faceoff.

Swap Duchene for Benn and Harley for Miro.

 

[piqued]

Ah, it's my favorite thread.

Still waiting on putting Duchene on the top unit. And Harley to top unit. Any day now.

It won't show as a PP goal, but the lone goal yesterday was from.... you guessed it... Harley getting the point shot through the first layer of PKer.

Also we could talk about how we have possibly the deepest forward group in our salary cap era yet somehow have arguably 3 forwards taking shifts on the powerplay who shouldn't be there at all (Dadonov, Marchment, Benn)

The problem goes beyond Xs and Os -- it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how to build units in the first place, coupled with a slavish dedication to giving veterans and players with seniority all of the looks.

 

[Kcb12345]

Ah, it's my favorite thread.

Still waiting on putting Duchene on the top unit. And Harley to top unit. Any day now.

It won't show as a PP goal, but the lone goal yesterday was from.... you guessed it... Harley getting the point shot through the first layer of PKer.

Also we could talk about how we have possibly the deepest forward group in our salary cap era yet somehow have arguably 3 forwards taking shifts on the powerplay who shouldn't be there at all (Dadonov, Marchment, Benn)

The problem goes beyond Xs and Os -- it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how to build units in the first place, coupled with a slavish dedication to giving veterans and players with seniority all of the looks.

It's especially frustrating considering zone entries really haven't been the main issue this year. We have guys who can enter the zone now, but once they're inside they look like they have no plan or strategy whatsoever

 

[piqued]

The kids are basically free zone entries because they can actually control the puck.

The reason I call out the group of Dadonov/Marchment/Benn is because they bleed possession when they're already set up in the zone and the PKers know it and who to target with pressure. Benn at least counteracts that by winning faceoffs.

 

[piqued]

Now down to 16% and 25th in the league.

I think my bigger problem beyond personnel and tactics is the level of importance the Stars seem place on the powerplay. It's treated as a "nice to have" component of their overall game rather than an absolute essential, which it should be. Oh golly gee we'll get it figured out with a few more practices.

The org seems to think they can 5-on-5 their way to a Cup when the cold hard reality of the modern game is that results are decided on special teams and even strength becomes a glorified time-kill during the playoffs in between powerplays.

The most important things your team can do:

1) score on the PP
2) draw penalties
3) kill penalties

........

4) roll 4 lines at even strength <---- we are here

 

[Troy McClure]

Now down to 16% and 25th in the league.

I think my bigger problem beyond personnel and tactics is the level of importance the Stars seem place on the powerplay. It's treated as a "nice to have" component of their overall game rather than an absolute essential, which it should be. Oh golly gee we'll get it figured out with a few more practices.

The org seems to think they can 5-on-5 their way to a Cup when the cold hard reality of the modern game is that results are decided on special teams and even strength becomes a glorified time-kill during the playoffs in between powerplays.

The most important things your team can do:

1) score on the PP
2) draw penalties
3) kill penalties

........

4) roll 4 lines at even strength <---- we are here

It's not like the PP has been bad or anything. During the entire time DeBoer has been coach, the Stars have the 6th best regular season PP and 5th best playoff PP. The PP has been good in every playoff series but the one against the Oilers in the conference finals where they shockingly scored zero PP goals. The other five series saw PP percentages ranging from 23.5% to 37.%.

But there is something about the way the PP tries to generate scoring chances when in a slump. My view is Pavelski's deflection magic has created a problem for the team because they so often default to lobbing wristers from the point as their primary means of PP attack all because they have had a lot of great goals come from Pavelski, Benn, Hintz, and Johnston deflecting pucks. The top guys not scoring seems to have sapped a lot of their confidence to generate the types of down low scoring chances that are most effective and are defaulting to a perimeter game with lame shots form distance.

 

[piqued]

They're definitely still running the Pavelski Power Play just without the person who made it work (and one of the best to ever do it).

Harley and Heiskanen should be primarily distributors and pressure release valves.

Benn and Marchment's presence are also a reaction to trying to recreate what Pavelski brought. Put big body in front to tip pucks. But unlike Pavelski they're turnover machines/possession blackholes the rest of the time.

They need to deploy players who can operate down low and on the wall like Bourque and yes, the horror, Lundkvist.

 

[Azzuri]

It's not like the PP has been bad or anything. During the entire time DeBoer has been coach, the Stars have the 6th best regular season PP and 5th best playoff PP. The PP has been good in every playoff series but the one against the Oilers in the conference finals where they shockingly scored zero PP goals. The other five series saw PP percentages ranging from 23.5% to 37.%.

But there is something about the way the PP tries to generate scoring chances when in a slump. My view is Pavelski's deflection magic has created a problem for the team because they so often default to lobbing wristers from the point as their primary means of PP attack all because they have had a lot of great goals come from Pavelski, Benn, Hintz, and Johnston deflecting pucks. The top guys not scoring seems to have sapped a lot of their confidence to generate the types of down low scoring chances that are most effective and are defaulting to a perimeter game with lame shots form distance.

I remember watching Pete D's Sharks years ago and thinking the same thing about their PP then. If the point shot doesn't work then they were very ineffective. He's always been a one trick pony relying on point/deflections in this regard.