Solutions to the PP

[Gallagbi]

The Leaf's power-play hasn't changed, it's how opposing teams have observed what they do and are reacting accordingly. And as they see what other teams have done, other's are also copying it. So the issue is, the Leaf's power-play needs to change. As many have observed, the Leaf's points are getting no respect.

I would go with:
Nylander Tavares Marner
Rielly Matthews

I'd have Marner jump to the point if Rielly or Matthews sneaks in. The Oiler's top unit plays about an entire minute of PP time over the Leaf's top forwards. Wouldn't hesitate to give these guys all the ice one could, only using the 2nd unit if the guys on the first are gassed.

It's changed significantly. Both in personnel and philosophy.

From proper sides to offsides and back/forth, traffic instead of low options. Shots instead of puck movement. They've changed away from their successful models

 

[v00d00daddy]

Sorry but Manny has to figure it out or he needs to be removed.

The whole league has figured his tactics out. Change please

 

[v00d00daddy]

It's changed significantly. Both in personnel and philosophy.

From proper sides to offsides and back/forth, traffic instead of low options. Shots instead of puck movement. They've changed away from their successful models

Still Looks a lot like the vid I just posted.

 

[Gallagbi]

Still Looks a lot like the vid I just posted.

First 3 goals are different and I stopped after that. They share a screen, as do most powerplays, but what the players are doing around it and their positioning different between those goals and from what we see now

First has Marner on his offwing and feeding Matthews directly. We don't see that much recently. Matthews and Marner is a cross ice pass or we have Rielly as a mid-point.

Second goal has Tavares with a moving screen coming from downlow after Marner commits to a shot in the middle of the ice. We rarely see Marner in the middle right now and our moving screen is typically stationary.

Third goal is closer to our current setup, but Marner takes the puck low and Matthews comes around for a backdoor play, even though it doesn't get there. Right now Matthews and Marner are extremely reluctant to leave their shooting positions, that's being forced back high for a weak shot.

We've tried a few things throughout the year, right now we're lacking movement and high/low plays. We're stationary and it is leaving the puck in poor shooters hands.

 

[egd27]

You may be in the wrong thread. The 'i don't like our best defenseman' thread is further down.

Had a top 5 PP for the past 3 seasons with Reilly. Now he's suddenly the cause of all our PP woes.

#hfscapegoat

 

[Avilaj07]

Had a top 5 PP for the past 3 seasons with Reilly. Now he's suddenly the cause of all our PP woes.

#hfscapegoat

It's not so much about Rielly being the scapegoat. It's more along the lines of teams have figured out that Rielly is a non factor on the powerplay. He doesn't move from the top, he's not a threat to shoot, he either does a 5 ft pass to one of Matthews or Marner. Having a defenseman who can shoot and hit the net will open up more room for Matthews and Marner. Teams just collapse to the hashmarks and give Matthews and Marner no room now because they already know that's where Rielly is going. If we at home can predict that, I'm pretty sure NHL teams can as well.

Our powerplay is just way too stationary, it's like the players are glued to their a spots. There's zero movement, minimal passing to open up lanes, and beyond predictable now.

 

[123offtheglass]

Playing against a Vancouver team coming off the brazilian variant of COVID has got to be the Leafs best chance at regaining confidence on their powerplay.

Really hope they load up 1 unit, it's their best chance to get going, and by having all of Nylander, Matthews, Marner, Tavares & Rielly on the ice together is bound to make their zone entries much easier; they should have an easier time setting up with all that skill out there.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Watching the flames and habs game. Flames just had a powerplay and didn’t have a single player in front of the net. Where was he you ask??? Below the goal line. 2 posts, and almost all 2 minutes in the habs end. Way less talent in that group. And their point shot was not what opened up their PP. they stretched the zone by having someone below the goal, and always had a 2-way support for every player on the ice. It’s really not rocket science. Possess the puck, and move the puck. The scoring chances will present themselves. Stop cementing one player on the top of the crease to screen shots that never come. Start playing with the man advantage

 

[123offtheglass]

Our powerplay is just way too stationary, it's like the players are glued to their a spots. There's zero movement, minimal passing to open up lanes, and beyond predictable now.

Definitely seems way too predictable and less creative than it once was, I found before guys like Marner & Matthews roamed around much more than they do now (much like McDavid, Drasiaitl & Mackinnon on their powerplays).

 

[123offtheglass]

Watching the flames and habs game. Flames just had a powerplay and didn’t have a single player in front of the net. Where was he you ask??? Below the goal line. 2 posts, and almost all 2 minutes in the habs end. Way less talent in that group. And their point shot was not what opened up their PP. they stretched the zone by having someone below the goal, and always had a 2-way support for every player on the ice. It’s really not rocket science. Possess the puck, and move the puck. The scoring chances will present themselves. Stop cementing one player on the top of the crease to screen shots that never come. Start playing with the man advantage

Leafs should start doing this ^ with Nylander again. Overload the opposition with their skill, puck movement, creativity because that's what the Leafs have an abundance of; that's how they'll create their opportunities.

 

[horner]

When they were scoring at a crazy rate , they had alot of motion , nobody was stationary.

They seemed to confuse teams .

Know they are very predictable.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Watching the flames and habs game. Flames just had a powerplay and didn’t have a single player in front of the net. Where was he you ask??? Below the goal line. 2 posts, and almost all 2 minutes in the habs end. Way less talent in that group. And their point shot was not what opened up their PP. they stretched the zone by having someone below the goal, and always had a 2-way support for every player on the ice. It’s really not rocket science. Possess the puck, and move the puck. The scoring chances will present themselves. Stop cementing one player on the top of the crease to screen shots that never come. Start playing with the man advantage

There is nothing wrong with having a guy in front of the net, but the guy needs to make himself open. Can't just sit in front of the net doing nothing. Move to the goal line beside the net. Get your stick free. Whatever it is. We've scored goals with Simmonds and Hyman being available beside the net.

Number one thing that needs to be fixed is getting those wingers deeper down on the flanks. That stands out the most. They are way too high when they are receiving the pass, which means they need to skate into dangerous areas, and at that point their time and space is gone. Unless Rielly has skated deep or the other team has completely neglected to cover that side of the ice, the flanks shouldn't be any higher than a few feet above top of the circle on the PP... And if you are higher than that, you shouldn't be any closer to the boards than where the dot is.

You've got to keep the points open for Rielly to skate and because nobody on the opposing PK cares if Marner has the puck along the boards above the circle. He's not going to thread a pass from there and he certainly is not going to score from there. Yet that is where he spends most of his time. Also opens up opportunities for Rielly to make more meaningful passes or take an unblocked shot.

 

[Twine Tickler]

There is nothing wrong with having a guy in front of the net, but the guy needs to make himself open

ya I agree to some extent. I just think they need to be further away from that net than where they are. lets look at some stills from an Av's goal from a couple days back. The have a very comparable level of skill on their PP. So there really should not be any reason why we shouldn't be able to do what they are.

for context, Landeskog is the guy circled behind the net, he supports McKinnon on the left boards as well as Ranten on the Right boards. SHould they get pinched by the PK'er they can sauce it to the point or down the wall to Landy in either corner. On this play, Rantenen got pinched and threw it down to Landeskog, Landeskog rimmed it to McKinnon left wall, and then once he settled the play down, Landeskog got to the left side of the net to present himself as an option for McKinnon, who then went back to him (mouth full, I'll attatch the clip at the end). Notice how every PK'er is below the Dots? Good. Landeskog can now wheel behind the net and switch sides to Rantenen very easily , hit the guy in front if open, or play it back to Mckinnon. Tons of options. And the best part is, the PK'ers have all collapse down low.

Next:

He ends up going Back to Mckinnon, and because the puck moves faster than the PK'ers, they are still down low. Not Pictured here is Makar up top, and Im sure we can all see just how wide open Rantenen is. This is all accomplished by working the puck down low and drawing the PK'ers down with them.

next:

he plays it back up to makar who has 15 ft to walk in to either shoot, or dish to McKinnon on a 1T, or Rantenen on a 1T. Both of which are wide f***ing open. still 3 PK'ers below the dots.

result, pass to Mckinnon and bingo. Also notice who is back at the top of the crease, Landeskog. who provides a screen on a shot, not a pass. Its really not that hard lol. Move the net front guy around until you collapse the D, and until a shot opens up. untill then they are a waste



play starts at 3:30

 

[SeaOfBlue]

ya I agree to some extent. I just think they need to be further away from that net than where they are. lets look at some stills from an Av's goal from a couple days back. The have a very comparable level of skill on their PP. So there really should not be any reason why we shouldn't be able to do what they are.

View attachment 423369

for context, Landeskog is the guy circled behind the net, he supports McKinnon on the left boards as well as Ranten on the Right boards. SHould they get pinched by the PK'er they can sauce it to the point or down the wall to Landy in either corner. On this play, Rantenen got pinched and threw it down to Landeskog, Landeskog rimmed it to McKinnon left wall, and then once he settled the play down, Landeskog got to the left side of the net to present himself as an option for McKinnon, who then went back to him (mouth full, I'll attatch the clip at the end). Notice how every PK'er is below the Dots? Good. Landeskog can now wheel behind the net and switch sides to Rantenen very easily , hit the guy in front if open, or play it back to Mckinnon. Tons of options. And the best part is, the PK'ers have all collapse down low.

Next:

View attachment 423377

He ends up going Back to Mckinnon, and because the puck moves faster than the PK'ers, they are still down low. Not Pictured here is Makar up top, and Im sure we can all see just how wide open Rantenen is. This is all accomplished by working the puck down low and drawing the PK'ers down with them.

next:

View attachment 423380

he plays it back up to makar who has 15 ft to walk in to either shoot, or dish to McKinnon on a 1T, or Rantenen on a 1T. Both of which are wide f***ing open. still 3 PK'ers below the dots.

result, pass to Mckinnon and bingo. Also notice who is back at the top of the crease, Landeskog. who provides a screen on a shot, not a pass. Its really not that hard lol. Move the net front guy around until you collapse the D, and until a shot opens up. untill then they are a waste



play starts at 3:30

I think the ARI PP goal is a good example of what not to do. They got lucky with a tip but we've seen a lot of that from the Leafs and Rielly and we know it doesn't work. Keller and Kessel are not in dangerous positions at all. Three guys on the blueline is not going to work against any structured PP.

I do like the space Colorado opens up for Makar up top by having the forwards down low. We aren't giving that to Rielly right now and Rielly can be deadly if he is given that kind of space. I know Thornton was operating down low like that at one point and it worked decently well. We mostly just need guys open right now. Not getting that at all.

 

[The Apologist]

It's not so much about Rielly being the scapegoat. It's more along the lines of teams have figured out that Rielly is a non factor on the powerplay. He doesn't move from the top, he's not a threat to shoot, he either does a 5 ft pass to one of Matthews or Marner. Having a defenseman who can shoot and hit the net will open up more room for Matthews and Marner. Teams just collapse to the hashmarks and give Matthews and Marner no room now because they already know that's where Rielly is going. If we at home can predict that, I'm pretty sure NHL teams can as well.

Our powerplay is just way too stationary, it's like the players are glued to their a spots. There's zero movement, minimal passing to open up lanes, and beyond predictable now.

It took NHL scouts this long to figure that out about Rielly eh?
You think they've also figured out that with Mitch all they need to do is play the pass?

 

[Twine Tickler]

We aren't giving that to Rielly right now and Rielly can be deadly if he is given that kind of space. I know Thornton was operating down low like that at one point and it worked decently well.

Yup. As much of a lightning rod Moe has been all year. He is not the problem on the powerplay. He is more than capable of dishing the puck to wide open 1T’s as seen in the McKinnon goal. We are handcuffing all of our talent in our current system. And yes you are also right on Thornton. He was down low early on and it worked very well. Not sure why they don’t go back to that. Hyman also was down low last game and they were so fixated on covering the wall guys because that’s the pre-scout on us that they let hyman essentially walk to the net untouched. Which lead to our only real chance on that 5v3 if I’m not mistaken. Time to start exploiting this Pre-scout

 

[Stonehands1990]

Had a top 5 PP for the past 3 seasons with Reilly. Now he's suddenly the cause of all our PP woes.

#hfscapegoat

Barrie ran the PP last year

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

I'm sure its been mentioned already but I want to have my 3 shooters up high with Rielly and Marner as the set up guys at the net sides:

______________Net_____________
_____Marner________Rielly____


Nylander____Tavares____Matthews

If Matthews or Nylander shoot have Marner/Tavares/Rielly crash the net.

If Tavares is the target have the off-side wing crash.

You don't need the "net front" guy when you can shoot like these guys can and we haven't been getting the puck there much anyways lately.

Also wouldn't allow the goalie to cheat and just wait for Matthews to let it go.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

It's not so much about Rielly being the scapegoat. It's more along the lines of teams have figured out that Rielly is a non factor on the powerplay.

These narratives are really cute

 

[Rielly4]

I would definitely consider the 5 forward option. Hyman is a monster in front of the net and wins battles downlow off rebounds and such. Marner acts as the d man, Matthews and Willy shooters on the halfwall and JT in the bumper. Thats definitely an option.

The other option is using Mitchy downlow as a playmaker from behind the net, he could even rotate up top with Nylander to create some motion and confusion the same way the Capitals have done it on the right side for years with Backstrom and Kusznetsov.

Either of those options are good, but either way we need all our top players on the top unit and we need Willy to be on the halfwall more because the reality is Willy was always better at that long range cross ice pass to Matthews and hes also a better shooter than Mitch. Mitch is a better playmaker than Willy all around but Mitch is at his best when hes moving or creating chaos to open up lanes, he isnt great as a stationary playmaker.

People acting like Rielly is some terrible PP dman are mistaken, hes better than most but its true that he moves the puck slow at times and doesnt have a great shot. Sandin might end up being the better option there as soon as next year especially if our PP struggles continue. This will also bring down Riellys UFA contract keeping him off the top unit.

 

[PuckMagi]

flying V

 

[Shanwhatplan]

Forgive me if this is already been discussed in this thread as I have not read over all seven pages. When I think of teams with successful power plays, I tend to think of Boston, Pittsburgh, and Tampa Bay to name a few. Those teams have one main power-play unit that plays for the majority of that power-play. I believe that is what we should do. My five players would be Hyman for his net front presence, Marner, Matthews, and Tavares. On the point I would have either Holl or Muzzin even though their skating is not that great, mainly due to the presence of a slap shot. Teams do not respect Rielly for that reason and tend to back off which allows them to apply much more pressure to Marner or Matthews when they receive the puck. As well, not as much passing, but get more pucks to the net and look for rebounds. And it goes without saying, win the damn face off! I am anxious to hear what people think.

 

[egd27]

Barrie ran the PP last year

It was pretty close to an even split based on PP TOI / Game

 

[Mess]

PP coaching change !!!

This much talent, and these limited results reflects on poorly on system and coaching.

Leafs have goon 43 PP opportunities and over 85 minutes PP/TOI time with only 1 goal.

 

[zeke]

Barrie ran the PP last year

PP 20-21 w/Rielly On Ice: 8.74gf/60, 7.79xgf/60
PP 19-20 w/Rielly On Ice: 8.54gf/60, 7.65xgf/60
PP 19-20 w/Barrie On Ice: 7.52gf/60, 6.45xgf/60