Ongoing Powerplay Discussion

[Fly Like a C5]

Fire Fraser.

In Fraser's first year with the Stars, the PP had a 17% percent success rate. It's gotten worse each season since despite having more talent available. I don't see any reason to keep him around.

 

[Stars99Lobo37]

He should not have a job. Simple as that.

 

[Starry Knight]

He really should be fired right now. There's no excuse when you have players such as Seguin, Benn, Spezza and Hemsky.

Especially those two, since the powerplay is their bread and butter. Spezza has had a career of success on the PP and their is no reason other than coaching for his play dropping off so significantly.

 

[Brand New Stars]

Yep. Even Hemsky should thrive in the space a PP should create.

 

[glovesave_35]

It boggles my mind that we've been waiting for a PP QB to arrive since Richards left (and he was a step down in effectiveness from Zubov) and now that we have a guy who can do it he rides pine or gets token 2nd unit minutes.

 

[SonicSpeedDash]

It boggles my mind that we've been waiting for a PP QB to arrive since Richards left (and he was a step down in effectiveness from Zubov) and now that we have a guy who can do it he rides pine or gets token 2nd unit minutes.

Veteran love. Any decent coaching staff would have Klingberg on the top unit.

 

[Troy McClure]

Veteran love. Any decent coaching staff would have Klingberg on the top unit.

It's also the insistence to go with four forwards on the top unit. I think they fear the only D being Klingberg, so you get a vet like Daley or Goligoski on the top unit.

It's time to break up the first unit. Move Spezza or Benn down to the second unit and put two D out there on the top unit. This four forward crap isn't working.

 

[SonicSpeedDash]

It's also the insistence to go with four forwards on the top unit. I think they fear the only D being Klingberg, so you get a vet like Daley or Goligoski on the top unit.

It's time to break up the first unit. Move Spezza or Benn down to the second unit and put two D out there on the top unit. This four forward crap isn't working.

Spezza down to the second would be best. But them fearing Klingberg being the only D out there is a hell of a lot better than Daley or Goligoski in case of a short handed attempt.

If you roll two D on the top. You put Klingberg by default and Daley.

 

[cizko]

I consider Ruff to be a smart coach of sorts, although he has a tough times sometimes, this is inexcusable. It doesn't matter to me if he isn't directly responsible for the PP, but he is a head coach and has responsibilities for this whole mess.

If you spent a whole day practicing a PP, and a result is a total abomination, {with the personnel we have}, there is something very wrong. I hope a coaching change is coming, either a head coach or asst. coaches, because this team is going nowhere with this setup.

 

[piqued]

It's time to break up the first unit. Move Spezza or Benn down to the second unit and put two D out there on the top unit. This four forward crap isn't working.

Yep. The most important premise to start with is 2 Dmen and 3 forwards per unit. Next is Klingberg must be on the 1st unit. The other Dman isn't as important, could be any of Goligoski/Daley/Demers depending on who's going the best.

I wouldn't move Spezza down to the 2nd unit though. Starting with possession is so damn important. Spezza should be taking as many of those 1st faceoffs as possible and treating them with the same urgency as a final seconds protecting a lead defensive zone type faceoff. You lose that and you're taking 20 seconds off the clock or around 33% of the 1st unit's likely total ice time.

Benn can be sent to the 2nd group. I've always regarded PP play as his greatest weakness. And now with whatever is bothering him he's as much a liability as a strength. Benn and Seguin's chemistry is mainly based around their even strength play, Seguin will be fine without him on the PP.

So right now I think your strongest alignment is probably

Klingberg, Other D, Spezza, Seguin, Ritchie


2nd unit I would go

Other D, Other D, Benn, Hemsky, Roussel

 

[Starry Knight]

Yep. The most important premise to start with is 2 Dmen and 3 forwards per unit. Next is Klingberg must be on the 1st unit. The other Dman isn't as important, could be any of Goligoski/Daley/Demers depending on who's going the best.

I wouldn't move Spezza down to the 2nd unit though. Starting with possession is so damn important. Spezza should be taking as many of those 1st faceoffs as possible and treating them with the same urgency as a final seconds protecting a lead defensive zone type faceoff. You lose that and you're taking 20 seconds off the clock or around 33% of the 1st unit's likely total ice time.

Benn can be sent to the 2nd group. I've always regarded PP play as his greatest weakness. And now with whatever is bothering him he's as much a liability as a strength. Benn and Seguin's chemistry is mainly based around their even strength play, Seguin will be fine without him on the PP.

So right now I think your strongest alignment is probably

Klingberg, Other D, Spezza, Seguin, Ritchie


2nd unit I would go

Other D, Other D, Benn, Hemsky, Roussel

Only issue I see with the first unit is that there is too many right-handed shots (never thought I'd see the day...). Considering Benn is really the only left handed shooting threat on the team, not having him on the first unit could create more issues. We could really use a left-handed defenceman that doesn't shoot directly into the PKer's shinguards (looking at you Goose) or shoot no where near the net (looking at you Daley).

 

[Klockis]

Only issue I see with the first unit is that there is too many right-handed shots (never thought I'd see the day...). Considering Benn is really the only left handed shooting threat on the team, not having him on the first unit could create more issues. We could really use a left-handed defenceman that doesn't shoot directly into the PKer's shinguards (looking at you Goose) or shoot no where near the net (looking at you Daley).

Sooooooooon

 

[KiedisA]

But not until Ässät wins the championship and EL gets all the possible individual trophys..

 

[FrailSwan]

That face...i'm pretty excited for his time.

 

[piqued]

Still we persist with the 4 forward sets.

 

[MetalGodAOD*]

And a lack of Klingberg

 

[piqued]

Their choices are so obviously wrong it makes you feel like there must be some ulterior motive at work, like they're punishing Klingberg for doing something they don't approve of at even strength.

But if that's the case then why would you put him on the ice with the extra man at the end of the game when you really need to win?

I'm afraid we're seeing the hallmarks of a staff that's coaching scared for their jobs, while trying to maintain some level of control (manifested by misusing the easiest targets Klingberg/Oleksiak), which as we've seen over the past half-decade only results in progressively worse decision making.

 

[Mr Misty]

Any idea why Seguin and Spezza have switched spots? It seemed to me like when things were working-ish Seguin was scoring from down low. Maybe cross crease passes are too cute to rely on, but it seems like they changed it and lost whatever measure of success they were getting before.

 

[aloonda*]

the cross ice cute stuff only works if the other team ever thinks you will shoot from the first side in the first place

and we were all about heavy slapshots with no accuracy--wrist shots with these sticks these days---come on

 

[Satan]

The most glaring problem is trying to force Seguin to take shots from the perimeter (Misty hit on that in his post) instead of using him as an option on the left side.

We've seen Seguin hammer in opportunities from the left side all the time. He's dynamite from the left boards to the hashmarks.


Ritchie appears to be our netfront guy. I'm fine with him or Roussel being on. I think Roussel should be our go to for the PP. Especially on zone entries. Get [Defenseman of your choice here] to dump the ****ing puck in and have Roussel chase after it. The dump and chase probably suits our play style much better than these slow, lackadaisical entries that leave 4 of our players flat-footed on the blueline and most of the time Daley trying to carry the puck in through 5 guys.


If Ryan Garbut could be trusted with not taking a stupid penalty, I'd also be willing to test him out in front of the net. Except the chances are so high for him to do something insane and give up the man advantage. But the guy gets so much negative attention from the opposing team (similar to Roussel) that he may take pressure off Benn/Seguin/Spezza and give them more room to do their thing.

 

[beltjones]

IMO, it all comes down to passing. Every PP it seems like they are passing the puck to each other's skates, with nary a tape-to-tape pass to be found. Even when someone hits Seguin when he's open he has to dig the puck out of his skates and move with it before he can even try to shoot.

I agree with many that the PP has too many passes, but you can't get a nice tic-tac-toe-shot game going unless each of the passes is crisp and accurate. What ends up happening is we see a boatload of bad passes, with the shotlanes clogged up before anyone is able to get in a position to shoot. Forget about a one-timer...

And while I'm at it, clearing the puck and creating a rush - passing.

Getting through the neutral zone - passing.

Creating scoring chances - passing.

The good passers on this team are few and far between. I'd like to see Ruff focus on that above just about anything else.

 

[nablock]

Ritchie appears to be our netfront guy. I'm fine with him or Roussel being on. I think Roussel should be our go to for the PP. Especially on zone entries. Get [Defenseman of your choice here] to dump the ****ing puck in and have Roussel chase after it. The dump and chase probably suits our play style much better than these slow, lackadaisical entries that leave 4 of our players flat-footed on the blueline and most of the time Daley trying to carry the puck in through 5 guys.

So much this. Same thing over and over again. Once they finally get the puck deep a minute is already gone off the PP. Not to mention, if the defenseman turns it over, the 4 flat-footed forwards can't do **** to help.

So...Adam Oates time? If Seguin could be used in the Ovi role on the PP, he would be a perennial top 3 in Hart voting.

 

[Satan]

Adam Oates is a coach in New Jersey and I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

 

[ElGuapo]

When they get a power play, they should just pretend they aren't and let the advantages presented develop naturally.

 

[ginblossoms]

When they get a power play, they should just pretend they aren't and let the advantages presented develop naturally.

always wondered how well this would work. as far i know, it's never really been attempted.