You're speaking to an unsolvable problem. Every Cup winner ever had to win the series their powerplay wasn't that great in.
Washington's PP wasn't dissimilar setup wise with OV and Mika on slapper island and Lavi ran a fair amount of set plays for Oshie (RH) in that bumper. I'd wager that at least to start the PP will mirror what we ran last year with Trochek doing the same thing.
it needs to be an option especially when they play the top PK units which tend to be aggressive and attack up high.
Honestly, I didnt want to make that pick. IF the option was even there to make a 1 for 3+5 i would have done that bc while i thought laffy would be a very good nhl player i didnt think he would be SO good that it would make up for this org's glaring issues up the middle and the options that were there after him. IF the 3+5 was there i would have made it, hoped stuz fell to 3 but happily taken byfield, and then probaly would have traded back from 5 if there was a good offer that kept you in the top 10 to still take lundell.
We got embarrassed in the playoffs because we're just not that good 5v5. I think that should be a much higher priority.
if we are so bad at 5v5 (i agree that we were) then i think it is reasonable to expect our highest paid player to stop regressing his game at 5v5 and maybe recommit to the things that made him so effective those first couple years. i think people now forget just how much time bread spent attacking the slot in those years and how much space it opened for his elite vision and passing. the guy was an animal when he attacked and teams had to respect his shot. i miss that player, hope i see him again
Panarin was our best forward 5v5 this past year and the only guy in his zip code was Kreider.
Right and letting Laf have a bunch of PP time so he ostensibly scores more points (he probably doesn't - he's literally one of the worst powerplay players in the 21st century, but I digress) isn't going to make him have more of an impact at even strength.
It doesnt make him good as a 5v5 player if the whole team was shit 5v5 and he was the best of the shit. the guy would torch bad defensive teams but anyone with awareness would know he would either come down the left and make the hard backhand pass high slot or curl to the boards and try to find a trailer. He was horrific with turnovers on his own side of the red line as well. I am not sure how you quantify "best forward 5v5"
agree he has been awful on the pp but ANY skilled player will tell you that getting easy touches on the pp and handling pucks and such during a game will roll over into a level of confidence at 5v5. there is no guarantee that it will happen with him but at some point he or kakko needs to get an extended look
Sure, for Kakko, I would buy that. I don't know if an "easy touch" exists for Lafreniere.
He would be one of the better ones on a any team. He's still extremely effective 5v5.
The point was the bumper works better for RH in our setup. Zibanejad is a RH shooter.
Players who touch the puck a lot more, especially in open space areas, generally feel more confident through-out the game with the puck. I've seen that with Kakko. I haven't seen that with Laf. Right now putting him on the powerplay just to increase his point total, screams "I want to tell everybody I told you so when he hits 50 points." Maybe he comes into camp with a lot more confidences, a little more explosiveness in his legs, a motor that keeps the legs moving, and plays a more meaningful 5 on 5 role, but until then I don't think tossing him on the powerlay just to increase his totals benefits us.
He got a bit of a pass from me two years ago when they got to the conf. final because he was injured. Even with the big goal against Pitt, his performance was disappointing.
