Sharks run a 5 forward powerplay, use all forwards setup with an extra attacker.

[SoundAndFury]

I'm not a Sharks fan so they might have done it before already and more often than I noticed but during the game against the Panthers (December 7) I noticed the Sharks running a 5 forward PP unit with Granlund and Celebrini rotating at the point. Today, they played with 6 forwards on the ice for more than 3 minutes while trying to get a goal with an extra attacker against the Avs.

I thought this was interesting enough to be tread-worthy, especially considering how 4 forward setup transformed the league not so long ago. Have any teams tried this before? Do you see such setups being successful going forward? Does it at the very least remove the stigmata of trying such a thing for the teams whose powerplay is struggling?

Just my 2 cents but I don't think those setups looked particularly good and somewhat ironically, the Sharks scored the only goal in that game against Florida when they did put Walman out there with an extra attacker, he got an assist on the goal.

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[Luigi Lemieux]

Penguins used to use a 5 forward pp back around 2000-01 during the Lemieux comeback. Lemieux, Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, Lang. Can make sense if there's a lot of forward talent and almost no defense talent on the team.

 

[Jack Spider]

Penguins used to use a 5 forward pp back around 2000-01 during the Lemieux comeback. Lemieux, Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, Lang. Can make sense if there's a lot of forward talent and almost no defense talent on the team.

I've seen videos of those guys communicating in the locker room. I can't say I'm surprised, they are intense. I know Jagr, Kovalev and Lemieux will call you out if you play like crap, or they will insert themselves on the PP1 and start calling strats.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Have you seen our defense?

 

[Shocker]

I'm not a Sharks fan so they might have done it before already and more often than I noticed but during the game against the Panthers (December 7) I noticed the Sharks running a 5 forward PP unit with Granlund and Celebrini rotating at the point. Today, they played with 6 forwards on the ice for more than 3 minutes while trying to get a goal with an extra attacker against the Avs.

I thought this was interesting enough to be tread-worthy, especially considering how 4 forward setup transformed the league not so long ago. Have any teams tried this before? Do you see such setups being successful going forward? Does it at the very least remove the stigmata of trying such a thing for the teams whose powerplay is struggling?

Just my 2 cents but I don't think those setups looked particularly good and somewhat ironically, the Sharks scored the only goal in that game against Florida when they did put Walman out there with an extra attacker, he got an assist on the goal.

I'm fairly sure Philly ran 5 forwards earlier this season at least in one game, haven't watched enough to say if it lasted longer than that.

 

[Breakers]

If they were real rockstars they’d deploy the ultra rare 5 defenceman PP.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Have you seen our defense?

Walman has 24 points in 29 games, certainly, the reasons run deeper than the available personnel.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Oilers in the 80's --Messier (face off) Gretz, Kurri, Anderson, Simpson and Krushlnyski or Mactavish was one they used a few times

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Walman has 24 points in 29 games, certainly, the reasons run deeper than the available personnel.

Walman’s been excellent, but running a PP isn’t his speciality. And once you get past him, it gets real ugly real fast.

 

[Shark Finn]

It's the Sharks, thus it's not thread-worthy.

 

[TheBeard]

Probably better off pulling Georgiev and going 6 on 5 for the game. I have more faith in an empty net.

 

[93LEAFS]

Leafs have run a 5 forward PP at points this year and have tested it in previous years.

 

[coooldude]

It's not working for the Sharks - the forwards on the point (Granlund, Celebrini, at one point Smith) are too aggressive and risk taking with making moves on the blue line and lose the puck to pressure. It could work with the right Fs running QB, but tonight we were back to Walman on PP1 and Mukh on PP2, each with 4F's. And it looked a lot better, even if we didn't score.

 

[ijuka]

I guess it could work. But generally speaking, defensemen are infinitely more experienced with handling the point than forwards are. There's this level of routine that a forward could never have.

I'd say that, in order for 5 forwards to be better than 4 forwards and a defenseman as a power play unit, the forwards need to be infinitely better than the defensemen. Like, top 5% forward vs bottom 5% defenseman.

 

[Hint1k]

Team Russia scored a tournament winning power play goal 4 vs 3 in 2008.
There were only forwards on ice for Russia - Ovechkin, Semin, Fedorov, Kovalchuk.

And it is not like there were no good D-men available. For example Markov could have been on the ice. At the time he had 138 PP points in Montreal.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kings have been running this on and off too and it's terrible

I could see it working with 5 high-end/elite forwards buuuuut that's not this team

 

[OrrNumber4]

The Sharks's defense has decent puck-moving ability and a couple of guys who are triggerman, but there's a lack of offensive creativity and playmaking. In contrast, the forwards are filled with creative-types.

I had hopes for Liljegren, Thrun, and Thompson, but it wasn't meant to be...

 

[ijuka]

Team Russia scored a tournament winning power play goal 4 vs 3 in 2008.
There were only forwards on ice for Russia - Ovechkin, Semin, Fedorov, Kovalchuk.

And it is not like there were no good D-men available. For example Markov could have been on the ice. At the time he had 138 PP points in Montreal.

4 v 3 isn't the same thing as 5 v 4.

It's not nearly as realistic for a 3-manned unit to cause problems in comparison to a 4-manned unit.

 

[weastern bias]

This has more to do with the Sharks' lack of talent on D than any real strategy

It also isn't working, the Sharks powerplay is awful, 11th worst in the league at 17.9%

 

[Theodore450]

Panthers have run that many times throughout the years.
Right now Nashville is also doing it due to Josi being out

 

[Barrie22]

We don't even have 5 forwards that should be on a powerplay unit, and we also don't even have 2 defensemen that should be either.

 

[nturn06]

I'm not a Sharks fan so they might have done it before already and more often than I noticed but during the game against the Panthers (December 7) I noticed the Sharks running a 5 forward PP unit with Granlund and Celebrini rotating at the point. Today, they played with 6 forwards on the ice for more than 3 minutes while trying to get a goal with an extra attacker against the Avs.

I thought this was interesting enough to be tread-worthy, especially considering how 4 forward setup transformed the league not so long ago. Have any teams tried this before? Do you see such setups being successful going forward? Does it at the very least remove the stigmata of trying such a thing for the teams whose powerplay is struggling?

Just my 2 cents but I don't think those setups looked particularly good and somewhat ironically, the Sharks scored the only goal in that game against Florida when they did put Walman out there with an extra attacker, he got an assist on the goal.

What's the difference between this an having EK as the D-man?

 

[olli]

Probably better off pulling Georgiev and going 6 on 5 for the game. I have more faith in an empty net.

Georgiev trade was a masterful way to get the tank back up