Pre-Game Talk: SENS in Buffalo (Snowstorm Edition), Tuesday night 7:00 pm on TSN

[Cosmix]

But it is a coaching issue. Show me a team top 10 in PP and PK and I'll show you a good coach.

I think the key to having a very good team including PP and PK
is to have very good players. It is the GM who is responsible for getting those players.

This team does not have enough “very good players”.

The coach cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I think the key to having a very good team including PP and PK
is to have very good players. It is the GM who is responsible for getting those players.

This team does not have enough “very good players”.

The coach cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

We have enough talent to have a decent PP at the very least. Our PP is historically bad. Cameron had a better one.

Going 30 something straight PPs without a goal in the playoffs last year may have costed us a Cup.

 

[Langdon Alger]

comeon, this is the same recycled theory everytime the team sucks. Ottawa fans always look to blame the coach; how many coached to Bryan Murray go through and still get a free pass. How many coaches will we blow through and Dorion will get a free pass. Has any team in pro sports gone through more coaches in the past decade then the Sens

It starts with the owner. He loved Bryan Murray. Felt he could do no wrong. Got to hire coach after coach after coach. Dorion and Lee have been part of this management group for a long time. Too long in my opinion. They should have cleaned house a long time ago.

 

[DanyHeatley]

a coach can only coach up to his players’ talents and potentials

 

[Karl Prime]

a coach can only coach up to his players’ talents and potentials

The team has enough talent with Karl, Hoffman, Duchene, Stone, and Brassard to have at least an average PP. The lack of offense at 5v5 is on the players but also on Guy and the way he sets up the team to play. It's not like the team was good offensively last season either (22nd in GF) and that team didn't have it's star player in a career-worst slump.

 

[ToastrStutzle]

Unpopular opinion: Karlsson is the reason the pp is bad

He's very slow in his build up and doesn't do a good job quarterbacking the pp to facilitate fast puck movement. He holds on to it too long and that let's defenders get set and think about what his next decision will be, which they can then anticipate easily.

 

[sbhatt]

Habs fan here, looking at Sens ills objectively. Here are the 'big' problems from my point of view:

1. Bobby Ryan is a 7.5mil hole in the lineup...he's useless.

2. Erik Karlsson is not himself; he was not able to do any training whatsoever in the offseason due to the ankle surgery, and only began skating when season had already started. He never got to do the weights and plyometric training required to get the strength and explosiveness back in his legs after the layoff, and it shows...he's not the same weapon that he normally is. This, of course, affects the rest of the team; opposing defenders not keying on Karlsson as much means guys like Stone and Hoffman are not getting as much room to operate, and they are not getting those golden chances off of highlight-worthy Karlsson rushes.

3. Boucher's 1-3-1 system and coaching style is not well liked by offensive players, and his message has limited shelf life. There's a good chance he has lost part of that room.

4. Turris for Duchene was a terrible trade, as Turris fit into Boucher's system MUCH better than Duchene does.

We're bad this year, but the Sens are every bit as bad if not worse. Better luck next season.

 

[Langdon Alger]

The team has enough talent with Karl, Hoffman, Duchene, Stone, and Brassard to have at least an average PP. The lack of offense at 5v5 is on the players but also on Guy and the way he sets up the team to play. It's not like the team was good offensively last season either (22nd in GF) and that team didn't have it's star player in a career-worst slump.

They have talent, but a lot of that talent hasn’t always lived up to its potential. Bobby Ryan being the best example. He’s had good stretches here, but he is not the player I thought we were getting. This is his 5th year here, he’s played for 3 different coaches. 23 goals is his best so far. Not good enough for what he’s being paid. 25 points in 62 games last year. Yes, he’s had injuries to his hand, I know, but we still need more from him. He was acquired at age 27 with four 30 goal seasons under his belt in Anaheim. This isn’t like getting an aging Peter Bondra, he’s in his prime when he gets here. He needs to be better. Period.

 

[Tundraman]

You know what's funny? Almost every time someone points to something and says that's what's wrong with this team even though it's a different reason they are right.

 

[Korpse]

Unpopular opinion: Karlsson is the reason the pp is bad

He's very slow in his build up and doesn't do a good job quarterbacking the pp to facilitate fast puck movement. He holds on to it too long and that let's defenders get set and think about what his next decision will be, which they can then anticipate easily.

I’m kind of on board with what your saying but I think it’s becuase he doesn’t look at himself as the trigger man anymore. He used to make defenders bite so hard, when he had more help. The PP has been Karlsson and Hoffman play pass for too long. It’s a little ridiculous at this point I don’t know how many times Hoffman looked down to duchene with no intent, his plan everytime was to turn back and get the puck to Erik. Throw one down low and work it to the net or slot every now and then. Stop passing at the top of the umbrella for a full minute.

 

[Karl Prime]

Unpopular opinion: Karlsson is the reason the pp is bad

He's very slow in his build up and doesn't do a good job quarterbacking the pp to facilitate fast puck movement. He holds on to it too long and that let's defenders get set and think about what his next decision will be, which they can then anticipate easily.

I've long thought that the PP is the weakest state of his out of the three (ES, PK). However, in my view a good PP can't have the guy at the blueline expected to be the #1 option. The only times Ottawa's had a PP above league average since Karlsson's first Norris season was 11-12 and 13-14 when Spezza was the #1 guy. Too often you see Hoffman or Stone or Brassard (or even Turris before) have time to make a dangerous pass or step in take a shot but instead just dump it back to Karl who's not in a good position to take a shot, either because it's not a one-time option or a defender is right in front of him.

Having said all that, the PP being this bad since the start of last season isn't just on Erik or the premier forwards. Last season Boucher said they didn't work on the PP because he was implementing the system, but this season it's the exact same. You'd think an NHL coach would immediately look to improve a struggling PP, but we don't really do much of anything that the good PPs in this league do. Very few one-timers, not a lot of possession below the goal line, not a lot of second chances in the slot....

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Karlsson sucks on the PP cause #1 he's constantly funneled to the right side as a right shooting D. He needs to get out to the left more to find the shooting lanes. #2 Multiple coaches let him go out there for the full 2 minutes. Maybe #2 is because we've had so little talent behind him at that position for so long. He's not a bad PP player. Guys like Subban are teed up for big blasts on their offside. How often does that happen for Karl?

 

[SAK11]

We have enough talent to have a decent PP at the very least. Our PP is historically bad. Cameron had a better one.

Going 30 something straight PPs without a goal in the playoffs last year may have costed us a Cup.

Cameron's one full year here saw our PP finish at 15.83%.
Boucher's time here has seen our PP at 16.71%, although it's worse this year it's at 16.03%, and including the playoffs it's at 15.95%. So, pretty well the same as Cameron, although slightly better than his during the regular season.
Now part of the appeal to Boucher coming here was that he was supposed to help with the PP, so he's not exempt from responsibility for the failings of it by any means. But, the players are clearly a big issue when it's been two different head coaches over 3 straight seasons of an absolute joke of a power play. Heck, even in 2014/15 the PP was at just 16.78%.
The last decent power play we had was in 2013/14. It is no coincidence that Spezza was still on the team back then. He knew how to make things happen on a power play.
Karlsson is not very good on the PP. He was better when he wasn't asked to be the go-to guy. Now that teams key in on him, he's only scored 5 PP goals in the last 3 years. He moves the puck down the ice rather slowly, and often holds onto the puck too long in the offensive zone [I always think quick movement is the key]. And he'll too often resort to a floater type shot which isn't a staple of any good PP that I see around the league.
The problem is, he doesn't have the help necessary to take the oppositions attention away from him. Hoffman is their next best weapon- he has a great shot but is extremely predictable.
Stone, Ryan, Turris, and Duchene have all been much better even strength players in their careers than on the PP. Brassard was supposed to be a good PP player but he hasn't shown that with Ottawa.

 

[TheNewEra]

I had a dream that one day we play our best players... Until it actually happens its a dream

 

[Deku]

I said this last season when it happened but here we are again. Derek Ryan has more points on the year than Bobby Ryan.

 

[Karl Prime]

Karlsson sucks on the PP cause #1 he's constantly funneled to the right side as a right shooting D. He needs to get out to the left more to find the shooting lanes. #2 Multiple coaches let him go out there for the full 2 minutes. Maybe #2 is because we've had so little talent behind him at that position for so long. He's not a bad PP player. Guys like Subban are teed up for big blasts on their offside. How often does that happen for Karl?

Karlsson playing on the right and Hoffman on the left is all coaching. Yes, they occasionally switch but Hoff prefers to stop and shoot rather than 1T and there isn't really a solid right-shot 1T option (Turris was good at them). Teams can too easily hone in on Erik. in the umbrella because the wings really aren't a threat at all, shooting or passing.

 

[DrEasy]

The PP is symptomatic of what's the wrong with the team: Karlsson not being his usual self (that's on the player/injury), not being used right (that's on the coach), not having good enough partners to take the focus off of him (that's on the GM), or some of the key personnel is hurt or playing hurt (Ryan, Wideman; that's on injuries), traded (Ziba; that's on the GM), or not played (Chabot; that's on the coach).

Imagine this PP:

Duchene - Stone - Hoffman
Chabot - Wideman (snif)

I guarantee you this PP works better than anything we've tried so far.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I said this last season when it happened but here we are again. Derek Ryan has more points on the year than Bobby Ryan.

I don’t even know who Derek Ryan is.

 

[albator71]

To have a decent PP shouldn't be this complected righ?
Study what Tampa, Nashville, Pittsburgh do on their PP, and do the same thing.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel here keep it simple, the problem with the Sens PP is that they make it to complicated, they always go for the perfect goal, instead of keeping it simple.

 

[Langdon Alger]

To have a decent PP shouldn't be this complected righ?
Study what Tampa, Nashville, Pittsburgh do on their PP, and do the same thing.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel here keep it simple, the problem with the Sens PP is that they try to make to complicated, to always go for the perfect goal, instead of keeping it simple.

I mean, those teams also have better players than we do.

 

[Deku]

I don’t even know who Derek Ryan is.

Exactly.

 

[albator71]

I mean, those teams also have better players than we do.

Yes i would agree but Minnesota is 5th, Vancouver is 8th, NY Rangers is 9th, Detroit is 10th, I think we have better players then those teams would you agree?

 

[Langdon Alger]

Yes i would agree but Minnesota is 5th, Vancouver is 8th, NY Rangers is 9th, Detroit is 10th, I think we have better players then those teams would you agree?

Detroit and Vancouver yes, not sure with Minnesota and the Rangers. I don’t watch them enough, the Wild in particular.

No question our PP should be better. Just not sure if copying what other teams do is going to be the solution to our struggling ways.

 

[albator71]

Detroit and Vancouver yes, not sure with Minnesota and the Rangers. I don’t watch them enough, the Wild in particular.

No question our PP should be better. Just not sure if copying what other teams do is going to be the solution to our struggling ways.

It would't hurt thats for sure

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Anyone with a 3rd grade education knows he was talking about 82 games and not 92

his "numbers" added up to 64 games left in the season, not 54.......... so he did not know what he was talking about.