Rod Brind'Amour and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Power Play

[Nikishin al Gaib]

We all know about the trials and tribulations of the Carolina Hurricanes power play. At times it can be scorching hot. At other times, it can be some of the worst hockey you've ever watched. Unfortunately, we are at a cycle now where when we get to March and April, the Canes Power Play has fallen into horror movie levels of horrible, and this season seems to setting a new bar on just how bad it can be.



Since January 1st, our PP has as many goals scored as our Penalty Kill, in more opportunities.

Let that sink in for a second. Not only is it the worst PP in the league, its has a lower conversion % than when we are SH.

We can't keep running this back, right? Eventually the front office has to step in and get Brindy to admit something has to change, right?

 

[Borsig]

We all know about the trials and tribulations of the Carolina Hurricanes power play. At times it can be scorching hot. At other times, it can be some of the worst hockey you've ever watched. Unfortunately, we are at a cycle now where when we get to March and April, the Canes Power Play has fallen into horror movie levels of horrible, and this season seems to setting a new bar on just how bad it can be.



Since January 1st, our PP has as many goals scored as our Penalty Kill, in more opportunities.

Let that sink in for a second. Not only is it the worst PP in the league, its has a lower conversion % than when we are SH.

We can't keep running this back, right? Eventually the front office has to step in and get Brindy to admit something has to change, right?

We've been saying this for 5 years. Nothing will happen.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Also, you're asking Brindamour to throw Daniels under the bus. Does that seem like something he'd do?

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

Also, you're asking Brindamour to throw Daniels under the bus. Does that seem like something he'd do?

If he wants to keep to the country club which he does bring in J Willy to coach the power play

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Also, you're asking Brindamour to throw Daniels under the bus. Does that seem like something he'd do?

At a certain point, if his personal loyalties are making him blind to blatant deficiencies within the organization, you need the front office to step in and highly encourage a move.

And if Brindy isn't willing to do that, you have to have a very, very tough conversation on if he's got what it takes to lead a team to a championship.

 

[AD Skinner]

I completely agree that the canes should look into a coach that specializes in running power plays. I’m sure such a person is out there. Dundon or Tulsky or whoever could go out and hire that person and tell the coaching staff they have to listen to him. But until that happens I’m not really sure what else there is to be done. They tried running the pp1 through ghost which worked great until it didn’t. They tried running it through burns which never really worked (this year at least) and now they’re back to ghost. No one is coaching aho to lose draws, or burns to take too long to make a decision, or ghost to miss the net or any of the forwards to whiff on giving or receiving a pass

 

[the halleJOKEL]

one of the PPs in the 3rd last night was especially funny because there were 4 or 5 consecutive passes with minimal pressure by the pking team where we passed it so that the only way the player could receive the pass was either with their skate or awkwardly on their backhand. very difficult to move the puck around quickly when so few passes are tape to tape

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

They were second in the league last year. Second. How do you go from a PP rocking over 20% to this, with the same coaching staff and mostly the same players

 

[Derailed75]

The power play suck no doubt, starting a post about making coaching changes riding a 5 games win streak that includes curb stomping one if the hottest teams in the league and the best team in the league is a ill timed flex.

Also the PP jasmt been bad for 5 years it's been one of the best in the league until this year.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

one of the PPs in the 3rd last night was especially funny because there were 4 or 5 consecutive passes with minimal pressure by the pking team where we passed it so that the only way the player could receive the pass was either with their skate or awkwardly on their backhand. very difficult to move the puck around quickly when so few passes are tape to tape

Ah, but very easy to corral an off-the-mark pass when you’re at the top of the point and no one is pressuring you.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Nikishin may very well be the answer on the PP. He's got incredible vision and an absolute rocket of a shot that is accurate and PKs and goalies will have to focus on which will open up the ice for other guys. I think Jarvis will benefit a ton from Nikishin on the PP. Only question is how long will we have to wait until Rod gives him that spot.

 

[dogbazinho]

When our PP was effective, Hamilton and DeAngelo, its my opinion it was due to their movement and pinching more so than their shot or threat of their shot. Our current guys seem content with walking the line and firing ineffective shots that either miss the net entirely, get blocked or rebound gets shot off into space. We also force the puck way too often to them when a shot or another option would have been better.

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

Their power play numbers are dogshit in the playoffs and that’s when it matters.

Edit: And have been since the new era

 

[chaz4hockey]

I mentioned this last night but I attribute the failure rate this year to:

1. Shouldn’t be Burns leading the unit (he was effective year 1 and even LY until the playoffs but this year his shot accuracy and maneuverability has declined)
2. We have no one with an outstanding one-timer on the roster (Necas was our best shooter but he is gone). Our 2 best system shooters are in Chicago and Russia right now.
3. Aho needs to improve his face off percent in the PP. every time he loses it’s 30-45 second before we get it back in the zone.

I'd add:
4. We don't have a player on the roster that can back defenses off with entry speed
5. We don't have a Kreider/Tkachuk like player that is big and very adapt up front
6. Similar to when Ghost was traded mid-season a few years ago, teams have figured out his movement and he doesn't have a rocket shot that teams need to adjust for.
7. Team this year is too stagnant in the zone and don't have the quick passes in scoring areas.
8. X's and O's.....Winnipeg hired a PP coach this year and the results have been outstanding. They were 18.8% LY, 19.3% in '22-'23 and now lead the League this year at 31.5%. Of course, they have a better PP QB and that matters but it's the same personnel so it has to be attributed to coaching, right?

It's a damn shame because even with some defensive and goalie warts, with an effective PP this team could be a high level SC contender.

 

[SvechneJerk]

They were second in the league last year. Second. How do you go from a PP rocking over 20% to this, with the same coaching staff and mostly the same players

Because we no longer have Guentzel, who made Aho & Jarvis more dangerous, nor Necas, who was our defacto zone entry.

I lost count of how many times last night that we couldn't even bring it into the offensive end on the PP.

 

[Unsustainable]

Wonder if Bruce Cassidy would be willing to come in as a PP coach

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

Necas was our best shooter but he is gone

THE BORG SHOULD BE LUCKY STANKY & JANKY SEEM TO BE GREAT SALVAGE THUS FAR.

I WAS CONSIDERING BUYING… PLANE TICKETS.

Our 2 best system shooters are in Chicago and Russia right now.

BOTH FROZEN HELLHOLES.

…

@Lempo

I HAVEN’T HATED A WOOD ELF THIS MUCH SINCE Jarkko Ruutu.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Their power play numbers are dogshit in the playoffs and that’s when it matters.

Edit: And have been since the new era

Yep

From what I could find, our PP, in every playoff we have been in under Rod, has executed in the bottom half of the playoff teams, and in most cases in the bottom third or bottom quartile.

We are 38 for 255 on the PP under Brind'Amour. Good for 15%, on average, and that is thrown off a bit by going 19.4% last year. That average percentage would place us 4th or 5th worst in any postseason field.

There is no metric that shows us having a good PP in the playoffs under Rod. Every year at this point it bottoms out, consistently having its worst form of the entire year, and its been this way during each of the last 6 years, and will be 7 should we make the playoffs this year.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

I'm with you. Going into January 2025 I thought our biggest issue in the playoffs would be goaltending and weak links on defense.

That's still possible, but my biggest concern now for the playoffs is the powerplay. If it doesn't get going, there's just no way we advance far.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Yep

From what I could find, our PP, in every playoff we have been in under Rod, has executed in the bottom half of the playoff teams, and in most cases in the bottom third or bottom quartile.

We are 38 for 255 on the PP under Brind'Amour. Good for 15%, on average, and that is thrown off a bit by going 19.4% last year. That average percentage would place us 4th or 5th worst in any postseason field.

There is no metric that shows us having a good PP in the playoffs under Rod. Every year at this point it bottoms out, consistently having its worst form of the entire year, and its been this way during each of the last 6 years, and will be 7 should we make the playoffs this year.

PP playoff stats last 3 years:

 

[chaz4hockey]

PK %...positive outlier was the Conference Final year...other 2 years were well below regular season PK performance:

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

PP playoff stats last 3 years:

View attachment 992169

I mean if you're going there....

I split it all out into quartiles. Bolded number is where the Canes finished in that playoff run. The blue number on the bottom is what the league average (by pp%, would still need to run opportunities vs goals) is.

In only one year, last year, was were the Canes better than league average on the PP in the playoffs, and they were the closest to average in the league. In every other year, their percentage was below average, and in most years they are in the bottom third.

Its just not a good PP.

And in case anyone is wondering, in the 2006 playoffs, the Canes were 24% on the PP, 2nd best in the league during the playoffs, and significantly better than the league average of 16.1%.