Agreed. The lack of movement by forwards is baffling - especially when you watch other, more successful PP units in the league.
But forward movement or not, this team lacks talent on D. Changing the staff and system should and can improve the unit overall, but I think the max for this unit is to be in that 14-19 ranking. I don't see this as a top 10 pp unit without a couple of things happening including Debrincat moving into that Panarin role of PP magic with Kane, Schmaltz being more aggressive in not only his movement but his desire to shoot and improving the talent on D, not to mention a willingness to get to the front of the net (one thing 15 does well).
Many PP goals are scored in today's NHL by D getting shots through and the goalie being screened. That just isn't happening with this D roster as it exists.
How many short handed opptys have we seen against this team? We see at least one or two a game. I can watch 3 NHL games a nite and perhaps see one in total. Sure, that's spacing, but a lot of it has to do with D not being able to get a shot through - gets blocked, breakout the other way. This has happened to Keith about 20 bajillion times this season.
And let's look at that 'overrated stat' - face offs. How many PP do we see where the Hawks lose the draw, puck gets sent down and the inevitable struggle to enter the zone after a botched drop back pass. Sure, a better PP system and coaching should make that lost face off less costly, but for this team, a lost draw on a PP often results in 30 seconds of that PP killed. 30 seconds with the top unit out. That hurts.
Toews is at 58% - 4th in the league - good. But, we see Toews get tossed what seems like 50% of all offensive zone draws. Substitute a winger who isn't as adept at winning the FO. I can't find stats on the number or percentage he's been tossed (particularly in the offensive zone), but it has to be a very high number and he's got to be leading the league there. The eye test suggests he gets tossed on 50% of his o zone draws. That hurts as the drop off to the substitute winger is so drastic.
Then we go to AA at 45% (ranked 85th in the NHL) and Schmaltz at a paltry 40% ( good for 99th in the NHL). More specifically, on the PP, Toews is 63% - excellent. AA, however is 46% and Schmaltz is 45%. That needs to improve. Coupling a lost face off with the horrible zone entries of the PP is a recipe for failure and helps get you the 29th ranked PP in a league of 31 teams.
Oh and since I had time to kill, did some stat searching. When analyzing the numbers for the Hawks PP, it's actually more depressing than it looks.
The Hawks average 4 PP per game - good for second in the league behind Colorado. But let's look at the teams that get the most PP and where they rank:
Col - 236PP - ranked 16. 47 goals scored
Chi - 226 PP - ranked 29. 35G
Cgy - 225 PP - ranked 23. 35G
TB - 223 PP - ranked 3. 54G
WPG - 219 PP - ranked 2. 54G
NSH - 211. ranked 4. 49G
Phi - 209. ranked 10. 44G
STL - 209. ranked 28. 33G
Van - 206. ranked 7. 44G
SJ - 205. ranked 6. 44G
Pitt - 204. ranked 1. 55G
Of those teams only the Hawks and Vancouver are out of the playoffs. STL and COL are both a point out (with STL on a bad run).
So, not only are the Hawks terrible on the PP, it's exacerbated by the fact that they get more PP opptys than almost every other team in the league. Edmonton is ranked dead last in PP %, but they've had 66 - yes 66 - fewer PP opptys than the Hawks.
If the Hawks were able to improve to be dead center - ranked 15th (currently LAK @ 20.2%). 20.2% of the Hawks 226 PP chances would be 46 goals - versus the 35 they have scored. Imagine how many more wins/points this team would have with 11 more PP goals sprinkled throughout 63 games.
And if we look at the player stats - eek. The one that jumped off the page was Kane. He has 3 PP goals. That's it. That puts him at about 150th in the league. By comparison, Laine is leading with 16, then Stamkos with 14 and Malkin with 13. All top 10 PP units.
Then assists. Kane at 14 - tied for 27th. Wheeler leads with 27, Voracek at 26 and Kessel and Sid at 25. All on top 10 units.
Back to the Hawks:
AA has 9 PP goals - very good considering he missed a lot of time and had that 0 for 10 or so when he came back.
Cat with 5, Schmaltz with 4, Kane with 3, Ruuta with 2 and then a bunch with 1, including Toews and Saad.
$17M in cap hit and they have 2 goals between them in 226 PP opptys. Toews adds a whopping 6 assists and Saad zero. In 63 games, Brandon Saad has 1 pp point. That's beyond pathetic.
Then the D - in total, 6 goals and 20A from the D on the PP. When you subtract guys no longer on the roster, that number is 5/15 and two of those goals are from Ruuta.
The verdict? When analyzing the numbers, the team performance of the PP is pathetic. The individual performance is even worse.
These stats alone should mandate a coaching change. The Hawks are literally leaving goals, points and in this instance, a playoff appearance, on the ice with their failure to address this glaring issue.
