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Solutions to the PP

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The problem is we play the same teams 10 times a year and they all figured it out; from our zone entry to our setup in the offfensive zone. They know that all you have to do is take away the cross ice pass, staple someone to Tavares for the bumper and basically force Marner and Rielly to shoot the puck.
 
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Here’s where Marner has shot from the last 3 years:

20-21
marnemi97


19-20:
marnemi97


18-19:
marnemi97
 
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Marner and Reilly should not be on the same PP ...they are both too irresponsible with lazy blind and behind the back passes.
I'd move Spezza up to PP1 he seems to have the best zone entry and make sure Hyman is nowhere near the ice when the PP is on.
PP1 Simmonds - Matthews - Spezza - Nylander - Dermott/Muzzin
Simmonds in front, Nylander/Matthews 1 timers from the off wings, Spezza for entry and high slot, and pick your poison on D, Dermott for mobility, and Muzzin for a shot, as i doubt it looks like Sandin makes the starting lineup, else he's the man
PP2 Thornton - Tavares - Marner - Kerfoot - Reilly (gally likely doesnt make the starting lineup ion the playoffs)
enough passers to get the puck to Tavares, and he's the main trigger, all passers may get clean shot attempts that JT can clean up after.
 
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mrbagina said:
Watching last night it seemed so obvious that marner or anyone really should be in gretzkys office at least some of the time. It would turn the defenders around and create different looks. We need a shooter at the point and Marner and Rielly are not it. One thing I did notice about Sandin who is quickly becoming a fave of mine is he was getting the shot through pretty much every time.
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And Sandin is a far better puck handler and skater not to mention better vision.
44 is a stiff.
 
mydnyte said:
Marner and Reilly should not be on the same PP ...they are both too irresponsible with lazy blind and behind the back passes.
I'd move Spezza up to PP1 he seems to have the best zone entry and make sure Hyman is nowhere near the ice when the PP is on.
PP1 Simmonds - Matthews - Spezza - Nylander - Dermott/Muzzin
Simmonds in front, Nylander/Matthews 1 timers from the off wings, Spezza for entry and high slot, and pick your poison on D, Dermott for mobility, and Muzzin for a shot, as i doubt it looks like Sandin makes the starting lineup, else he's the man
PP2 Thornton - Tavares - Marner - Kerfoot - Reilly (gally likely doesnt make the starting lineup ion the playoffs)
enough passers to get the puck to Tavares, and he's the main trigger, all passers may get clean shot attempts that JT can clean up after.
Click to expand...

:huh:
 
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I'm wondering if they're overdrilled on the idea of "puck possession" and it's causing them some issues re: pulling the trigger while on the PP.

They almost have a soccer team approach where they want to complete as many passes as possible without any hurry in the world as to what to do with the puck. When you dump the puck in for an entry or shoot the puck (which they hesitate to do to a man) you lose possession and have to initiate a retrieval. When you rush the puck you might get stripped of it. I get the game plan but I think they're treating the puck a little too preciously on the special teams and don't end up doing anything with it.
 
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The PP is all that worries me...
I think we need it ,to give us the X factor in these playoffs.

Having teams worried about infractions..is what would make us a very hard team beat .

I don't think it'll happen. But it's more than doable.
I'd take the structure they've been forcing and throw it in the trash.

Dump and chase early.... less cycle, more direct lines. Catch the Habs off guard...open up the cycle style later on.
 
Sypher04 said:
I absolutely love Sandin, and am excited about what he brings both now and going forward to this team, but to be perfectly clear. Anyone who suggests he's made the powerplay look better since they put him on the unit, is seeing what they want to see. He's looked very much like Rielly imo, which is a credit to the youngster, but doesn't really change our powerplay dynamic at all
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The issue with the PP has nothing to do with who is at the point, but rather what is done at the point. Rielly, Sandin, or whoever else has absolutely no freedom to do anything. It pretty much just wastes everything those guys bring to a PP. I think I can count on one hand the amount of times Rielly has wheeled with the puck on his stick on the PP since our slump. Same with the amount of times it looks like he actually meant to take a shot by design in hopes of getting a tip or for the puck to go through a screen. His strength is not a booming shot but his shot was good for tips and screens. Instead it mostly looks like he is just shooting because everything else has wasted a minute of ice time and he is just hoping for something to get through (usually it hits traffic).

That takes away all of the strengths of our point guys in favour of effectively doing nothing. Anyone can do what they are tasked with doing right now.

It's also putting a lot of pressure on Marner and he is 100% our weakest link on the PP right now. He struggles on break-ins, he struggles to make passes, he struggles to move the puck, he has never been a good shooter so nobody respects him... And unlike our point guys, he is in a shooter position. Guys need to respect our point guys because they know they can get tips if the point guys get a good lane; they don't need to worry about that with Marner from his position. I mean when everything that makes a PP goes through Marner and he has been effectively useless for 2 months.

I doubt they take Marner off of the PP, but they at least need to get him in positions which make him successful. Right now he is not figuring things out on his own, and if you want to say he needs to be sheltered, then he needs to be sheltered. A lot of the responsibility and pressure needs to come off of him and the responsibility needs to be spread out a lot more.
 
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Stephen said:
Honestly don't understand what Manny Malhotra does.
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Regarding that screenshot, I always thought JVR did a great job of giving Marner that passing option with his stick on the outside pointed towards the corner of the trapezoid, and then turning an outside play into an inside play in an instance (you know, that spin play, sometimes through the legs). Obviously Willy can't do that at all as a right shot, but it's been my impression (anecdotal, I could be wrong) that even with Tavares down low they haven't really done that. So for the past 3 years it's just Marner trying to make moonshot passes and no simple ones.

Which brings up another thought, which I actually can back up: Each of the 3 years with Tavares the power play has started* hot and then inevitably bent towards mediocre. Using January 1st as the split point in 2018-19 and 2019-20, they go from 7th to 14th, and 5th to 14th over those partial seasons respectively, and we all know what happened this year (2nd and 30th if you use March 1st). In the two seasons with both JVR and the kids, they go from 11th to 4th, and then 5th to 4th with a Jan 1 cutoff.
I don't blame this on Tavares himself, but I do see a team that succeeds when they throw expensive talent on the ice during the sloppy opening days of the season and then has no plan once their opponents get their shit together.

*Yes, they were terrible under Babcock. If you break it down further, their power play is 19th when they were playing Babcock out of a job, 1st in the league from late November to New Years, and then the long slide to mediocrity arrived on schedule.
 
sxvnert said:
Too simple to defend against. Two out of the five leafs (rielly, marner) never shoot the puck. PK just needs to cover the remaining three.

Muzzins decent point shot is the only option at this point.
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This is basically it. Pretty obvious where and who the problems are.
 
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PP1
................Hymen
Marner Thornton Matthews
................Muzzin

PP2
................Simmonds
Nylander Tavares Spezza
................Sandin
 
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I fully believe in stacking the top PP unit, I just don't think we have our players optimized at all. As many have mentioned, Rielly and Marner are not shooting threats and it makes the PP extremely easy to defend against. I would be trying Nylander in a shooting position, and getting both of him and Matthews on their one time side. Have Marner work down low below the goal line, Tavares in front. Sandin on the point.

Marner-Tavares
Nylander-Matthews
Sandin

I think this opens up a lot more for Nylander and Matthews, and Marner is in a position to pass down low cross crease to either Matthews far side or Tavares in front.

It couldn't be any worse, so why not try it.
 
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81Leafs50 said:
one thing no one talks about is how Magic Mitch is NOT a good PP QB. Hes not a threat to shoot and he cant make a play to either of Nylander, Tavares, or Matthews to save his life.
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Pretty evident this past game when Rielly looked dangerous as a PP QB and the rest of the PP was actually running quite well. If Rielly is a problem, then he is clearly not the only one.

As I said in post #236, the problem is not who is at the point but rather how it is used. Rielly was able to do more than just pass the puck to Marner for once and he had a fair number of opportunities which were tipped in the front of the net. He showed he is by far our best PP QB right now.

Marner just is not doing anything productive for our PP right now, and has not for a long time. Take him off or use him differently like we did with Rielly against Winnipeg.
 
SeaOfBlue said:
Pretty evident this past game when Rielly looked dangerous as a PP QB and the rest of the PP was actually running quite well. If Rielly is a problem, then he is clearly not the only one.

As I said in post #236, the problem is not who is at the point but rather how it is used. Rielly was able to do more than just pass the puck to Marner for once and he had a fair number of opportunities which were tipped in the front of the net. He showed he is by far our best PP QB right now.

Marner just is not doing anything productive for our PP right now, and has not for a long time. Take him off or use him differently like we did with Rielly against Winnipeg.
Click to expand...

Reilly is not the playmaker on the PP. That is PURELY Marner's job. Hes the playmaker. They pay him as an elite playmaker. He does nothing the PP.
 
TheDoldrums said:


Really do not like these units.

Matthews is literally the only player with a good shot with that grouping. I hate it, too easy to focus on him.
Click to expand...

Sandin has a bomb too and Hyman is good in front of the net. Worth a shot. MArner just needs to stop passing and getting shots on the net. I am glad they changed the sides though. These off sides are not working. I get what he was trying to do but these guys need to be able to shoot the moment the puck hits their strick....
 
TheDoldrums said:


Really do not like these units.

Matthews is literally the only player with a good shot with that grouping. I hate it, too easy to focus on him.
Click to expand...

Neither do I.
Hyman will block more of our shots than the Canadians defense will.
PP2 has 3 shooters, and PP1 only has Matthews as a threat, unless the goal is someone else will be available because they will focus 100% on Matthews.
 
Exhibit A Tampa Bay
Get really good players and put them on PP1 and watch them score

Exhibit B Edmonton
Get really good players and put them on PP1 and watch them score

Exhibit C Colorado
Get really good players and put them on PP1 and watch them score

Exhibit Z Toronto
Get a couple really good players and play them on PP2
Sub in a couple fumblies on PP1 and watch the play end every time the puck ends up on their stick

in an unrelated note
Why is a mediocre Kerfoot slated for PP2 and PK2?
Is there something I am missing on a STACKED roster???
 
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