Power Play, any change could not be less effective.

[FossilFndr]

Preds have proven that their execution of the PP strategy is a complete failure. Firing coach(es) isn't going to get the guys to get the puck off their stick more quickly, powerfully and accurately. Have they just gotten stuck driving the play off their 'top' defense? We still seem to be locked into the Shea Weber era but now without his league leading shot speed. Subban on the blue line and Ellis on the 'Ovechkin' dot has not worked. Are our forwards not skilled enough, no. We've got at least one group of 5 guys who are skilled enough to be successful. But they haven't been.

Most (damn near all) of the posters here are better with x's and o's than I am. How would overload or 1 3 1 work better with our personnel? Who would you put on ice for the #1 unit in other strategies? Would anything else work if the players still wait that extra tick for the 'perfect pass'?

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[Gh24]

Maybe the coaches think that when you perfect one style, you're going to produce with it, even if the opponent knows what you're trying to do. Or they're being stubborn, I don't know.

 

[FossilFndr]

Perfect one style? I'd be happier if we were middelin' one style.

 

[Armourboy]

TBH Ellis has been so inaccurate this year they pretty had to stop trying it. I just wish they would try something other than point shots and the occasional one timer. Nothing in the middle, only Forsberg tries to drive in and shoot, and if they get the puck at the side of the net none of them will take it to the net and shoot.

 

[Gh24]

Ellis has indeed been noticeable for missing the net so often.

 

[Armourboy]

Think about it, when is the last time you saw a cross ice pass for a shot on the back door? We are easy to defend.

 

[FossilFndr]

A few one touch passes would be helpful

 

[LCPreds]

The Preds are a huge outlier. High in the overall standings while at the bottom of the power play standings. If you look at those power play standings every other team we are most worried about in the playoffs are in the top 10. Most in the top 5.

 

[Drake744]

The Preds are a huge outlier. High in the overall standings while at the bottom of the power play standings. If you look at those power play standings every other team we are most worried about in the playoffs are in the top 10. Most in the top 5.

The top 5 are Tampa Bay, Boston, Winnipeg, Florida and Colorado. Other than Winnipeg who are the teams we're "most worried about"? If you want to say Colorado that's fine I guess but I'm not worried about them. Plus you and I could probably coach that top line to a top 5 power play spot. They just have that luxury. As for the eastern teams I don't care about them. If we meet them in the playoffs we had a good year.

 

[Pred303]

New
we have a personnel/handedness problem in trying to run your standard 1-3-1 PP off the halfboards. Mainly because of our lack of mix of left/right handed scoring threats. we have a 'natural' halfboard QB in Johansen. since he is right handed, he 'naturally should run the PP off the left halfboard. When you run the left halfboard ideally you have a righty down low (arvy), and a left handed shooter in the high slot. Forsberg as a righty isn't in the best spot there to one time passes from the left halfboard. fiala, bonino the only other left handed viable options there. since Forsberg, smith, turris are all rightys (our best offensive players). subban at point, josi on the weak side (really like josi as the weak side guy able to sneak down backdoor)

then you have turris as our 2nd PP QB, again a righty (Fiala high slot, Smith down low). or you could let fiala try to QB off the right half board and have Smith in high slot and Turris down low. with Ellis on the point, ekholm weak side.


I admit because of our lack of left handed scoring, it isn't the perfect setup, but man I think it would be so much better than this sorry umbrella we try to run.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

New
we have a personnel/handedness problem in trying to run your standard 1-3-1 PP off the halfboards. Mainly because of our lack of mix of left/right handed scoring threats. we have a 'natural' halfboard QB in Johansen. since he is right handed, he 'naturally should run the PP off the left halfboard. When you run the left halfboard ideally you have a righty down low (arvy), and a left handed shooter in the high slot. Forsberg as a righty isn't in the best spot there to one time passes from the left halfboard. fiala, bonino the only other left handed viable options there. since Forsberg, smith, turris are all rightys (our best offensive players). subban at point, josi on the weak side (really like josi as the weak side guy able to sneak down backdoor)

then you have turris as our 2nd PP QB, again a righty (Fiala high slot, Smith down low). or you could let fiala try to QB off the right half board and have Smith in high slot and Turris down low. with Ellis on the point, ekholm weak side.


I admit because of our lack of left handed scoring, it isn't the perfect setup, but man I think it would be so much better than this sorry umbrella we try to run.

We've set a really low bar. Anything could be better.

 

[LCPreds]

The top 5 are Tampa Bay, Boston, Winnipeg, Florida and Colorado. Other than Winnipeg who are the teams we're "most worried about"? If you want to say Colorado that's fine I guess but I'm not worried about them. Plus you and I could probably coach that top line to a top 5 power play spot. They just have that luxury. As for the eastern teams I don't care about them. If we meet them in the playoffs we had a good year.

You basically answered your own question.

Winnipeg
Colorado
Tampa Bay

But the weird thing is you focused on the completely wrong portion of the message. Those teams are in the top 5. The Preds are in the bottom 1. That's a freaking problem and it will be the Preds downfall in the playoffs if they don't figure out how to be at least average by then.

 

[101st_fan]

I just sorted the past 40 years of PP% and it is revealing. 1042 team seasons .... the current Preds percentage is the 27th worst.

 

[Drake744]

You basically answered your own question.

Winnipeg
Colorado
Tampa Bay

But the weird thing is you focused on the completely wrong portion of the message. Those teams are in the top 5. The Preds are in the bottom 1. That's a freaking problem and it will be the Preds downfall in the playoffs if they don't figure out how to be at least average by then.

I said Winnipeg was worth being afraid of. Colorado is a good team but we typically do well against them so I don't think they are. If we need to deal with Tampa in the playoffs so be it.

I'm not saying our power play doesn't suck, it clearly does. It needs to be shaken up in a big way. But honest question....would you (not just you, fans in general) rather have a power play ranked 31th and a penalty kill ranked 13th or the other way around? Obviously neither are ideal but if one has to be significantly better or worse, what's the preference?

 

[LCPreds]

I said Winnipeg was worth being afraid of. Colorado is a good team but we typically do well against them so I don't think they are. If we need to deal with Tampa in the playoffs so be it.

I'm not saying our power play doesn't suck, it clearly does. It needs to be shaken up in a big way. But honest question....would you (not just you, fans in general) rather have a power play ranked 31th and a penalty kill ranked 13th or the other way around? Obviously neither are ideal but if one has to be significantly better or worse, what's the preference?

If the only choice is 13th / 31st or 31st / 13th then I'd rather just be atrocious on the power play. But there are better options.

 

[Drake744]

If the only choice is 13th / 31st or 31st / 13th then I'd rather just be atrocious on the power play. But there are better options.

I agree. Regardless, being ranked 31st (or 31th as I apparently called it) in either one isn't going to get you anywhere in the playoffs. At least there's no reason to think it would.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Here is an amazing stat:

The Preds have 23 PPG in 53 games. That is tied for 26th in the league. The teams below them or tied?

Detroit
Columbus
Montreal
LA Kings
Anaheim

But because the Preds have had the 3rd most opportunities in the league on the PP, they hold the worst PP%.

How something has not been done about this is SHOCKING.

Edit: For comparison, the Jets have 45 PPG in one fewer games and are clicking at 27.6%

 

[triggrman]

Here is an amazing stat:

The Preds have 23 PPG in 53 games. That is tied for 26th in the league. The teams below them or tied?

Detroit
Columbus
Montreal
LA Kings
Anaheim

But because the Preds have had the 3rd most opportunities in the league on the PP, they hold the worst PP%.

How something has not been done about this is SHOCKING.

Edit: For comparison, the Jets have 45 PPG in one fewer games and are clicking at 27.6%

what really makes it unbelieveable is we score at a higher rate per game than the Jets at even strength, 2.14 versus 2.10.

 

[Soundgarden]

Christ, I feel like we should have scored one on accident by now.

 

[drwpreds]

Christ, I feel like we should have scored one on accident by now.

That is exactly what I keep saying- even if you threw absolute garbage talent out there time after time it would be almost impossible to go 0 for 31.

With the talent we have this 31 in a row is one of the most mind boggling things I have ever seen in my lifetime of being a sports fan.

People like to criticize the coaches, and some of it is certainly justified, but for me, we have enough talent that we shouldn't go o for 31 even if we had no coaching staff whatsoever.

Just crazy....

 

[LCPreds]

I just envision Gene Hackman shouting "Four passes! How many passes? Four!"

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Maybe for a whole game they should just put out "Plan D" players... guys who would normally not get a sniff of the top PP unit. NHL players with the man advantage should still have an advantage. Maybe guys like Grimaldi up front and Weber on the point are actually capable of coming up with something they have some skills, and maybe they would set an example with urgency. Put out the top PP unit you don't normally expect... Grimaldi-Jarnkrok/Bonino/Sissons-Hartman with Ekholm and Weber. Not just as a one-off, but as top unit for a whole game or two.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I keep counting 33 straight powerplays. Although the last one against Dallas was only 6 seconds. Not that it really makes a difference 31, 32 or 33 are all horrible.

 

[Drake744]

I just envision Gene Hackman shouting "Four passes! How many passes? Four!"

I'm sure that practice was doubling down on their current strategy. I look forward to no real change tomorrow night.

 

[adsfan]

Preds have proven that their execution of the PP strategy is a complete failure. Firing coach(es) isn't going to get the guys to get the puck off their stick more quickly, powerfully and accurately. Have they just gotten stuck driving the play off their 'top' defense? We still seem to be locked into the Shea Weber era but now without his league leading shot speed. Subban on the blue line and Ellis on the 'Ovechkin' dot has not worked. Are our forwards not skilled enough, no. We've got at least one group of 5 guys who are skilled enough to be successful. But they haven't been.

Most (damn near all) of the posters here are better with x's and o's than I am. How would overload or 1 3 1 work better with our personnel? Who would you put on ice for the #1 unit in other strategies? Would anything else work if the players still wait that extra tick for the 'perfect pass'?

I like the overload idea. About 10 years ago, Hamilton played this 1-4 scheme and made it work because the other teams didn't change enough to counteract it. Against Milwaukee, it looked like a stretch pass drill in the first period. By period 3, Hamilton was ineffective.

I have a worse way to run a PP. The Ads got a minor penalty on Saturday. The IceHogs came out with 4 skaters on their PP and kept it that way for 20 or 30 seconds. Then the hot prospect from Chicago, Jarvo something hopped off the bench to join in. I don't remember seeing a team play shorthanded by accident for that long. I was loving it! Especially since Rockford was supposed to be on the PP.