Fixing the PowerPlay - 2024 edition

[DeepFrickinValue]

Weak Power play seems to be the biggest issue for Jets. How do they go about fixing it?

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[gojetsgo]

Weak Power play seems to be the biggest issue for Jets. How do they go about fixing it?

put the puck into the net

 

[10Ducky10]

Volare screening the goalie on one powerplay and someone like Nino/Lowry on the other one for starters.

 

[SUX2BU]

Get someone in front of the net

 

[leer2006]

Need a better puck distributor on PP1. It’s all about putting the correct talent on the ice together. Not necessarily about putting all your best players on 1 unit.

 

[Inanna]

Instead of the endless passing and looking for the perfect shot, which usually ends when we fumbled a pass and have to clear the zone, how about putting someone large and heavy in front of the net and just throwing it at the goalie? Three things can happen: it goes in, the goalie stops it, or it hits the goalie or someone and bounces around loose in front of the net. Two of those three would be an improvement over what we're achieving now.

I'll leave it to the experts and/or statistical trackers here to quantify how many times we have been scored on by teams that bounced a juicy rebound off Helle.

 

[RustyCat]

It is a good question. When the PP has been clicking in the past I have noticed that the passes are being snapped around much quicker and more movement. I don't see that as much here and giving the other team a lot of time to adapt.

From my view the problem doesnt appear to be set up and it certainly isn't skill. If I had to take a guess it would be the mindset transition from the 5v5 system that is being used, which is defensively minded and structured to read, react, and execute on transitions, to a mindset that is by all accounts the opposite of that. The team has adopted and now flourished under a relatively new system - you have heard Bowness talk about 'old habits' and breaking away from them and not reverting back to them when under duress. Mentally this takes an adjustment from everyone but the more games you put in under that system the more it becomes embedded.

A PP is an attack mentality where the emphasis is on possession and pushing the opponent on their heals. A very big difference from 5v5 - The transition from their current system to a PP system is significant, especially when the structure is dominating 5v5. You don't want that to get lost. So I think they need to determine what the acceptable threshold of risk would be on the power play, meaning you quite literally change your mindset and habits to be more aggressive and have to be okay with, and prepared for, PK chances against. You would think the transition is a light switch, and it can eventually be that, but it is a real predicament that other professions (ie. Military and police) need to transition from covert to overt on a moments notice. I have personally had to adjust to this and know it to be a real phenomenon. The trick it to label it as distinctly different mindsets and understand that the more aggressive or assertive style inherently carries risk and you push forward anyway and trust in your team and structure if you are under duress.

I dunno. Just some spitballing thoughts.

 

[Aphid]

One of the problems in general with their scoring is they have a bad habit of holding on to the puck way too long most times. That let's the goalie get set and then they're forced to make a near perfect shot as opposed to having some leeway.

You watch other teams and that puck is flying off their sticks whether it be to pass or shoot it. There's less chance for the defenders and the goalie to get in to their proper positioning.

 

[Howard Chuck]

Instead of the endless passing and looking for the perfect shot, which usually ends when we fumbled a pass and have to clear the zone, how about putting someone large and heavy in front of the net and just throwing it at the goalie? Three things can happen: it goes in, the goalie stops it, or it hits the goalie or someone and bounces around loose in front of the net. Two of those three would be an improvement over what we're achieving now.

I'll leave it to the experts and/or statistical trackers here to quantify how many times we have been scored on by teams that bounced a juicy rebound off Helle.

Sounds like an expert opinion to me, because I would have said the same thing!

It is a good question. When the PP has been clicking in the past I have noticed that the passes are being snapped around much quicker and more movement. I don't see that as much here and giving the other team a lot of time to adapt.

From my view the problem doesnt appear to be set up and it certainly isn't skill. If I had to take a guess it would be the mindset transition from the 5v5 system that is being used, which is defensively minded and structured to read, react, and execute on transitions, to a mindset that is by all accounts the opposite of that. The team has adopted and now flourished under a relatively new system - you have heard Bowness talk about 'old habits' and breaking away from them and not reverting back to them when under duress. Mentally this takes an adjustment from everyone but the more games you put in under that system the more it becomes embedded.

A PP is an attack mentality where the emphasis is on possession and pushing the opponent on their heals. A very big difference from 5v5 - The transition from their current system to a PP system is significant, especially when the structure is dominating 5v5. You don't want that to get lost. So I think they need to determine what the acceptable threshold of risk would be on the power play, meaning you quite literally change your mindset and habits to be more aggressive and have to be okay with, and prepared for, PK chances against. You would think the transition is a light switch, and it can eventually be that, but it is a real predicament that other professions (ie. Military and police) need to transition from covert to overt on a moments notice. I have personally had to adjust to this and know it to be a real phenomenon. The trick it to label it as distinctly different mindsets and understand that the more aggressive or assertive style inherently carries risk and you push forward anyway and trust in your team and structure if you are under duress.

I dunno. Just some spitballing thoughts.

Interesting analysis, I haven’t thought about that way before.

 

[10Ducky10]

JMo
Lindholm (see what I did there?) Scheif Volare KFC

Schmidt or Pionk
Ehlers Nino or Lowry Names Perfetti

 

[jetsv2]

The end goal of PP1's cycle seems to almost always be to get the puck on the stick of 1 or 2 players for a shot.

When you watch other team's powerplays they involve all 5 players which makes knowing where the shot is going to come from much more unpredictable.

A big part of PP1's struggles is that they are to predictable, an issue that goes all the way back to when the strategy was to feed the puck to Laine.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

We need a buff lol.

Not Dustin but a guy who could actually hit the net from the point on a hard or weak shot. We are lacking that and a 1 shot scorer.

 

[Gm0ney]

The powerplay is getting a bit better at generating chances, but the SH% is in a slump:

Games	PP%	Rank	TOI/GP	Rank	CF/60	Rank	FF/60	Rank	SF/60	Rank	GF/60	Rank	xGF/60	Rank	SCF/60	Rank	HDCF/60	Rank	SH%	Rank
Season so far	16.3%	23	5.347	10	93.75	30	66.32	31	47.13	28	5.24	23	6.10	30	49.37	27	18.95	27	11.11	22
Last 25 Games	13.5%	30	5.188	8	97.61	25	71.24	26	50.89	21	4.63	29	6.70	27	50.89	27	21.74	23	9.09	28
Last 10 Games	12.9%	24	5.513	6	105.56	17	75.09	17	52.24	19	4.35	25	7.11	18	53.33	21	18.50	24	8.33	25

It's still a bottom 10 powerplay. Kinda clawed its way up from bottom-of-the-barrel to solidly-below-average over the last 10 games (in terms of chance generation). Yay!

The Jets should really try to bring in a specialist (because they're not firing Lauer mid-season when they've got a .700 record). Mike Kelly got some really good results out of the Golden Knights 2017-2020 and Rangers 2021-23 when he was there under Gallant.

 

[WolfHouse]

The Jets continue to pass it from the slot to the perimeter... it's a habit they can't seem to break

Get two guys crowding the crease/slot and leave three up top shooting

 

[Mooche]

I think Bones hit the nail on the head last night in the scrum -- it's obviously going to make a world of difference when the Jets have Scheif, KFC, Vilardi, Ehlers on the ice together (knock on wood, goodness gracious) at some point this season.

That being said, I think the lack of a "booming" shot on the PP has been evident. Even at full strength, the Jets are still missing a true bomb to get the respect from the PK, so I would sort of move into more of an up-tempo, quick puck movement look to emphasize the skill on this team.

Vilardi
Ehlers Scheifele Connor
Morrissey

I personally still love Scheifele in the bumper. I think his best asset is still that quick release and it forces him to use his shot in this sort of set-up. Sure, it limits his touches on the puck on the PP, but I think the respect he commands from the opposition collapsing down on him will create more room for Ehlers/Connor/Mo and stress the PK on the edges, especially.

Ehlers handling the puck on the half wall is just fine by me. He has the vision to drop the puck low to Vilardi, and he most certainly can nail those passes to Scheif in the slot, or KFC creeping and coming down on the other side of the ice. Sure, Morrissey doesn't have a bomb of a shot that I eluded to earlier, but I think he's going to see a lot of advantageous looks in a PP like this with teams just having to respect of all the offensive firepower out there. Also, the opposition can't forget about Ehlers walking the line and diving in to have a shot on goal himself off the half-wall.

I just think with the players Bones has at his disposal this sort of unit being trotted out gives the PP a ton of different threats out there. You can put a lot of pressure on the other team by pushing the puck around, being up tempo with varied looks, and getting your skilled guys touches in different spots on the ice.

I do eventually think Perfetti is the perfect half-wall QB for this team, and you can make the argument he's fit to do it right now, but I'll save that discourse for another day.

 

[JetsFan815]

Step 1: Log into Bowness/Lauer's computer

Step 2: Find the folder that says "PP plans and schemes"

Step 3: Select it and press the delete button

Step 4: Start over

 

[surixon]

I think Bones hit the nail on the head last night in the scrum -- it's obviously going to make a world of difference when the Jets have Scheif, KFC, Vilardi, Ehlers on the ice together (knock on wood, goodness gracious) at some point this season.

That being said, I think the lack of a "booming" shot on the PP has been evident. Even at full strength, the Jets are still missing a true bomb to get the respect from the PK, so I would sort of move into more of an up-tempo, quick puck movement look to emphasize the skill on this team.

Vilardi
Ehlers Scheifele Connor
Morrissey

I personally still love Scheifele in the bumper. I think his best asset is still that quick release and it forces him to use his shot in this sort of set-up. Sure, it limits his touches on the puck on the PP, but I think the respect he commands from the opposition collapsing down on him will create more room for Ehlers/Connor/Mo and stress the PK on the edges, especially.

Ehlers handling the puck on the half wall is just fine by me. He has the vision to drop the puck low to Vilardi, and he most certainly can nail those passes to Scheif in the slot, or KFC creeping and coming down on the other side of the ice. Sure, Morrissey doesn't have a bomb of a shot that I eluded to earlier, but I think he's going to see a lot of advantageous looks in a PP like this with teams just having to respect of all the offensive firepower out there. Also, the opposition can't forget about Ehlers walking the line and diving in to have a shot on goal himself off the half-wall.

I just think with the players Bones has at his disposal this sort of unit being trotted out gives the PP a ton of different threats out there. You can put a lot of pressure on the other team by pushing the puck around, being up tempo with varied looks, and getting your skilled guys touches in different spots on the ice.

I do eventually think Perfetti is the perfect half-wall QB for this team, and you can make the argument he's fit to do it right now, but I'll save that discourse for another day.

It's the coaches job to make use of what he has, not what he wishes he has. That is one area I haven't been impressed with Bones. He hasn't shown the flexibility to adapt his pieces on the fly on the PP. Injuries happen so you need ro be able to shift gears, not put in place inferior placeholders.

I also question if he actually understands what he has in terms of pieces. A coach should be able to reward and recognize performance. Perfetti has been the best PP performer this year. For a PP unit that is struggling you would think you'd want to play your best performer more, not less which is what the coaching staff has done.

Since the changes made to the pp on December 19, our first unit has 2 of the 7 PP goals scored (One of which was when Perfetti took Scheifele's spot on the hb).

Perfetti has been in on 5 of the 7 goals and has an over 9 ppp/60.

There is a complete disconnect here in terms of performance vs deployment. Either play pp unit two the bulk of the pp until unit 1 actually does something to warrant the ice time they are getting or pull your head out of your ass and recognize that you are under utilizing your best pp weapon and build a unit around him and play it properly.

 

[Gm0ney]

I think Bones hit the nail on the head last night in the scrum -- it's obviously going to make a world of difference when the Jets have Scheif, KFC, Vilardi, Ehlers on the ice together (knock on wood, goodness gracious) at some point this season.

That being said, I think the lack of a "booming" shot on the PP has been evident. Even at full strength, the Jets are still missing a true bomb to get the respect from the PK, so I would sort of move into more of an up-tempo, quick puck movement look to emphasize the skill on this team.

Vilardi
Ehlers Scheifele Connor
Morrissey

I personally still love Scheifele in the bumper. I think his best asset is still that quick release and it forces him to use his shot in this sort of set-up. Sure, it limits his touches on the puck on the PP, but I think the respect he commands from the opposition collapsing down on him will create more room for Ehlers/Connor/Mo and stress the PK on the edges, especially.

Ehlers handling the puck on the half wall is just fine by me. He has the vision to drop the puck low to Vilardi, and he most certainly can nail those passes to Scheif in the slot, or KFC creeping and coming down on the other side of the ice. Sure, Morrissey doesn't have a bomb of a shot that I eluded to earlier, but I think he's going to see a lot of advantageous looks in a PP like this with teams just having to respect of all the offensive firepower out there. Also, the opposition can't forget about Ehlers walking the line and diving in to have a shot on goal himself off the half-wall.

I just think with the players Bones has at his disposal this sort of unit being trotted out gives the PP a ton of different threats out there. You can put a lot of pressure on the other team by pushing the puck around, being up tempo with varied looks, and getting your skilled guys touches in different spots on the ice.

I do eventually think Perfetti is the perfect half-wall QB for this team, and you can make the argument he's fit to do it right now, but I'll save that discourse for another day.

You need good chances to score. The Jets still aren't generating much in that department. They were generating even less when there were fewer injuries to the top players.

The Leafs, Wild and Oilers are all generating 40%-50% more scoring chances on the powerplay than the Jets are. I know the Leafs have a pretty high end Top 6, and the Oilers have the McDavid cheat code, but the Wild?

 

[Mooche]

It's the coaches job to make use of what he has, not what he wishes he has. That is one area I haven't been impressed with Bones. He hasn't shown the flexibility to adapt his pieces on the fly on the PP. Injuries happen so you need ro be able to shift gears, not put in place inferior placeholders.

I also question if he actually understands what he has in terms of pieces. A coach should be able to reward and recognize performance. Perfetti has been the best PP performer this year. For a PP unit that is struggling you would think you'd want to play your best performer more, not less which is what the coaching staff has done.

Since the changes made to the pp on December 19, our first unit has 2 of the 7 PP goals scored (One of which was when Perfetti took Scheifele's spot on the hb).

Perfetti has been in on 5 of the 7 goals and has an over 9 ppp/60.

There is a complete disconnect here in terms of performance vs deployment. Either play pp unit two the bulk of the pp until unit 1 actually does something to warrant the ice time they are getting or pull your head out of your ass and recognize that you are under utilizing your best pp weapon and build a unit around him and play it properly.

I mean, I am not going to argue with you that the results have not been there. They obviously haven't been with the PP being quite the eyesore for a while now. Bones and Brad Lauer need to wear that.

We are on the same page there.

That being said, you're right, injuries do happen, but when we are talking about putting "inferior placeholders" that is going to usually be the case when you are losing major top-six contributors to any team at a given time. That's not really been up for debate with the injuries the Jets have sustained and the varied timelines a lot of these guys unfortunately have been on throughout the year.

If you are Bowness, it's certainly going to be nice to have your best net-front presence, three most dynamic offensive players, and best overall defenseman all available to you to deploy at one time on a given unit.

Does the structure and method on the PP need to change even what that happens? Absolutely.

I'd love to see some of the tweaks that I had mentioned above in my armchair PP coach post.

You need good chances to score. The Jets still aren't generating much in that department. They were generating even less when there were fewer injuries to the top players.

The Leafs, Wild and Oilers are all generating 40%-50% more scoring chances on the powerplay than the Jets are. I know the Leafs have a pretty high end Top 6, and the Oilers have the McDavid cheat code, but the Wild?

As mentioned, the structure and method certainly needs to change.

I am not surprised to see the Leafs and Oilers PP humming along. There are not many units in the league that I am sure either of us would be picking over them on any given night when running at full capacity.

In terms of the Wild, I am actually quite impressed with their options on PP1 and I believe it's a massive strength of their team. Their top unit has a lot of skill and is really no joke with the break-out of Eriksson-Ek and the emergence of Faber quarterbacking the point.

It's a sneaky good group for the Wild.

 

[surixon]

I mean, I am not going to argue with you that the results have not been there. They obviously haven't been with the PP being quite the eyesore for a while now. Bones and Brad Lauer need to wear that.

We are on the same page there.

That being said, you're right, injuries do happen, but when we are talking about putting "inferior placeholders" that is going to usually be the case when you are losing major top-six contributors to any team at a given time. That's not really been up for debate with the injuries the Jets have sustained and the varied timelines a lot of these guys unfortunately have been on throughout the year.

If you are Bowness, it's certainly going to be nice to have your best net-front presence, three most dynamic offensive players, and best overall defenseman all available to you to deploy at one time on a given unit.

Does the structure and method on the PP need to change even what that happens? Absolutely.

I'd love to see some of the tweaks that I had mentioned above in my armchair PP coach post.



As mentioned, the structure and method certainly needs to change.

I am not surprised to see the Leafs and Oilers PP humming along. There are not many units in the league that I am sure either of us would be picking over them on any given night when running at full capacity.

In terms of the Wild, I am actually quite impressed with their options on PP1 and I believe it's a massive strength of their team. Their top unit has a lot of skill and is really no joke with the break-out of Eriksson-Ek and the emergence of Faber quarterbacking the point.

It's a sneaky good group for the Wild.

What I meant by inferior placeholders is moving up guys like Lowry and Iafallo who are bottom 6 players and dont have much business being on a top pp unit. Especially when you have the alternative to easily move the two best players from PP unit two over. One of which is outperforming everyone on PP1, and Nino who's actually outperformed Vilardi in the bumper this year.

Sure more talent helps, but it's a lazy narrative when you still have good talent available that is underutilized. I'll take a quote out of Bones's playback, he needs to look for solutions and stop making excuses.

 

[Adam da bomb]

What I meant by inferior placeholders is moving up guys like Lowry and Iafallo who are bottom 6 players and dont have much business being on a top pp unit. Especially when you have the alternative to easily move the two best players from PP unit two over. One of which is outperforming everyone on PP1, and Nino who's actually outperformed Vilardi in the bumper this year.

Sure more talent helps, but it's a lazy narrative when you still have good talent available that is underutilized. I'll take a quote out of Bones's playback, he needs to look for solutions and stop making excuses.

Nino is a better option than Lafallo, but, we have too many perimeter players if you play perfetti, ehlers, kc, schief. The best powerplays I have seen against us, are scoring work-man type goals. They have 2 guys in front of our net who either get tips or rebounds.

 

[surixon]

Nino is a better option than Lafallo, but, we have too many perimeter players if you play perfetti, ehlers, kc, schief. The best powerplays I have seen against us, are scoring work-man type goals. They have 2 guys in front of our net who either get tips or rebounds.

I mean you can accomplish the same thing with proper switches and rotation. You don't need to have two people planted there. Perfetti often rotates into the slot area for instance. The other two imo do spend far too much time on the perimeter.

It's how Edmonton runs their PP. They have Hyman as the only full time net front presence. RNH switches in and out of various roles to support what needs to be supported.

 

[WolfHouse]

I mean you can accomplish the same thing with proper switches and rotation. You don't need to have two people planted there. Perfetti often rotates into the slot area for instance. The other two imo do spend far too much time on the perimeter.

It's how Edmonton runs their PP. They have Hyman as the only full time net front presence. RNH switches in and out of various roles to support what needs to be supported.

That's the power play we are running now... why keep doing it? We are not getting net front consistently and if we do, its Lowry who has stone hands.

When healthy
Vilardi-Iafallo in the slot
KFC-Morrissey-Scheif

Barron-Nino
Ehlers-Dillon-Perfetti

Shoot shoot shoot

 

[surixon]

That's the power play we are running now... why keep doing it? We are not getting net front consistently and if we do, its Lowry who has stone hands.

When healthy
Vilardi-Iafallo in the slot
KFC-Morrissey-Scheif

Barron-Nino
Ehlers-Dillon-Perfetti

Shoot shoot shoot

The problem is our shooters don't get their shots through so that shoot, shoot strategy doesn't work as our puck movement is crap.

You have to actually open up shooting lanes to shoot the puck on the pp and that is where our pp struggles mightily.

The top unit has had far less success since going to your two big guys (Iafallo and Vilardi) sitting infront of the net for tips and rebounds then it did when Cole was switching in and out of the bumper position changing the pp's configuration and point of attack.

 

[Buffdog]

What I meant by inferior placeholders is moving up guys like Lowry and Iafallo who are bottom 6 players and dont have much business being on a top pp unit. Especially when you have the alternative to easily move the two best players from PP unit two over. One of which is outperforming everyone on PP1, and Nino who's actually outperformed Vilardi in the bumper this year.

Sure more talent helps, but it's a lazy narrative when you still have good talent available that is underutilized. I'll take a quote out of Bones's playback, he needs to look for solutions and stop making excuses.

My guess is that they wanted to keep PP2 intact to try to form some sort of cohesiveness in at least one group moving forward