Why hasn't the Hawks Powerplay during the Toews, Kane, and Kieth era been much better than it is?

[Chuck Testa]

No legit PP QB, except when Gustafsson was on fire.

Sadly those days didn't last long

 

[Fire Stan Bowman]

its still Quennevilles fault

 

[JaegerDice]

Some of the underlying numbers, for anybody interested. The numbers are for all powerplays, so it includes 5v4, 5v3, 4v3. It does not include EN scenarios. Regular season only.

Year	CF/60	RANK	SF/60	RANK	xGF/60	RANK	SH%	RANK
2008	72.7	30th	43.38	28th	5.17	25th	13.15	14th
2009	89	25th	51.24	15th	5.06	30th	13.94	12th
2010	102.8	9th	53.16	11th	6.42	18th	12.29	18th
2011	96.48	11th	51.57	12th	6.48	14th	16.54	1st
2012	87.52	23rd	46.77	24th	5.35	28th	11.51	26th
2013	86.53	23rd	43.27	28th	4.71	30th	13.30	16th
2014	99.07	15th	52.51	18th	6.29	21st	13.51	16th
2015	102.12	9th	53.48	13th	6.1	24th	11.56	20th
2016	85.8	28th	47.37	25th	5.87	25th	17.92	2nd
2017	92.65	22nd	51.45	19th	6.16	21st	12.32	19th
2018	98.57	25th	49.88	29th	5.88	30th	11.35	25th
2019	94.95	14th	52.61	12th	6.4	18th	13.79	15th
2020	91.34	21st	50.17	22nd	6.46	18th	10.58	29th

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

General thoughts:

The Blackhawks have had a mediocre-to-bad PP system every single year of the Toews/Kane era.

The only years they ranked in the top 10 in any metric was 2010 (9th in shot attempts per 60 on the PP), 2011 (1st in SH% on the PP), 2015 (9th in shot attempts per 60 on the PP), and 2016 (2nd in SH%).

When it comes to the generation of shots and chances on the man advantage, they have been middling to poor. Their jumps in PP% are the result of SH% spikes, not significant changes to system.

Their best PP performance was actually in 2011, where they were just outside the top 10 in all 3 metrics, in addition to having the benefit of a white-hot sh%.

Most of these years took place under Q, and despite how much credit and blame the assistant coaches get for the special teams, the truth is both were always Q's system. He's the one signing off on or nixing ideas. That's why the Blackhawks remained fairly consistent in their underlying PP mediocrity, despite several assistant coaching changes over the course of Q's tenure.

Q was, is, and always will be a defense first coach. I'm not sure he has the creativity to 'coach' offensive systems. He's a great defensive coach, or was for a long time anyway, but it seems most of the team's offensive output should be credited to the players and their own creativity, more than anything Q draws up for them.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Our best PP unit had Chelios + Suter as PP QB

Both had great shots and were good passers

With recent Hawks it could be argued Seabrook (Not the last few years version) was at least up to par with Suter but we had no one like Chelios as Keith outside of early years was no threat with his shot

 

[Panzerspitze]

Sadly those days didn't last long

It lasted for quite a while, and what a treat it was to watch, knowing there's actually a legit chance to score from near the blueline on the man advantage...

 

[x Tame Impala]

Boqvist needs to develop a lethal shot

 

[Bubba88]

lack of PP QB, a 2nd guy to worry About with Kane on the ice and no triggerman to pull the trigger.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Poor zone entry, often takes half the PP time to get setup in the zone.

No threat from the point.

Poor puck retrieval in O zone.

Never actually using the man advantage. No movement to create a wide open guy, rarely outnumbering the opps on the puck, rarely a shot on net from the point and outmanning opps for rebound chances.

All these "minor" things add up to poor PP play.

 

[clydesdale line]

No legit PP QB, except when Gustafsson was on fire.

Brian Campbell.

 

[Chuck Testa]

Brian Campbell.

I can't quite remember but wasn't Campbell not on the first unit?

Or am I just imagining that.

They instead used hyperactive Keith.

 

[Panzerspitze]

Brian Campbell.

Campbell didn't appear to be ever taken seriously as a PP weapon by Quenneville in Chicago. He also wasn't used on the PK at all, something he got to do later in Florida, apparently with very good effectiveness (rather to my surprise), according to the article on Tallon's Florida tenures I read recently.

 

[JaegerDice]

I remember reading somewhere that Keith was essentially promised PP1 time as part of his contract.

Which would be crazy if true, but it would also help explain why he openly dislikes Colliton so much, since Colliton replaced him with Gus on PP1.

Campbell was always used on PP2... the thing is, PP2 was actually viable for the years Campbell was here. It wasn't until 2012 when the Blackhawks essentially became PP1 and 'a bunch of guys to give the other guys a breather'.

 

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

Controversial opinion: Seabrook was a better ppqb than Keith during their years here.

Huge shot that got through, never tried to get too fancy with passes, was solid defensively. I remember him cycling the puck down low on the pp.

He was underrated as a ppqb imo. Campbell was better tho

Edit: i also think, given time, Leddy could have been an excellent ppqb.

 

[JaegerDice]

Controversial opinion: Seabrook was a better ppqb than Keith during their years here.

Huge shot that got through, never tried to get too fancy with passes, was solid defensively. I remember him cycling the puck down low on the pp.

He was underrated as a ppqb imo. Campbell was better tho

Edit: i also think, given time, Leddy could have been an excellent ppqb.

I dont think anybody ever had much problem with Seabrook on the PP, but I don’t really think he ever really QBed it either.

 

[LordKOTL]

Controversial opinion: Seabrook was a better ppqb than Keith during their years here.

Huge shot that got through, never tried to get too fancy with passes, was solid defensively. I remember him cycling the puck down low on the pp.

He was underrated as a ppqb imo. Campbell was better tho

Edit: i also think, given time, Leddy could have been an excellent ppqb.

Leddy was already a better PPQB than Keith when he was let go. His zone entry was cleaner, he wouldn't take geologic epochs to shoot or pass, and he wasn't dialed in on the opposition's shinpads.

His D-game left a lot to be desired, but I remember multiple times where the 'hawks #1 unit was stymied with Keith out there, only for the 2nd unit to come in and execute cleanly.
~~~
One other aspect I haven't read that kills our PP is that it seems like everyone's looking for the cute, pretty plays and the perfect pass or shot and doesn't muck things up and go for dirty. Whne we had guys like Buff, Bickell before MS, and to a lesser extent Shaw (who just didn't have the mass) get to the front of the net and wreak havoc, the PP did a lot better. Right now, we don't have that often and when we do, we usually score. The few times the prima donna attitude is dropped (and per my eyes it's usually Toews that decides to get dirty), we usually score.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

Boqvist needs to develop a lethal shot

He already has one. Could have scored 10 goals in half a season for the same price with some puck luck.
Bo has an elite shot. It's not Weber, who has one of the best ever, but it' a notch below.

 

[Blackhawks]

Cause Keith sucks at his position and he’s been put out there year after year. Matter of fact everyone other than Kane and Panarin has been horrible on the power play.

 

[Rolo]

Keith is more suited for the 2nd PP unit. Good skater, good passer, good at holding the line. But his lack of shot makes him a very bad point man.

 

[JaegerDice]

Cause Keith sucks at his position and he’s been put out there year after year. Matter of fact everyone other than Kane and Panarin has been horrible on the power play.

Kane isnt without blame.

His Carmelo Anthony routine on the half-wall grinds everything to a halt.

 

[Brightwing]

Cause Keith sucks at his position and he’s been put out there year after year. Matter of fact everyone other than Kane and Panarin has been horrible on the power play.

In the early part of the season Gus was on the power play and that was the right call given the prior season's results. When he was traded they took a brief look at Boqvist but it wasn't working. He wasn't ready and there was no reason to destroy his confidence with repeated failures. It was better to put him on PP2 with less pressure. Hence Keith by default. As the young guys come on there may be more options.

One of the other problems with the PP this year was DeBrincat's atrocious shooting year. They kept him on the PP longer than they should have hoping to kick start him. People lament why it took so long to put Kubalik on there. The reason is you can put two of Kubalik, DeBrincat and Kane on the PP. You need a dman, you need a centre to win faceoffs and you need a net front guy screening which neither of those three are suited for so you don't have space for all three. Kubalik was scoring 5v5 anyway. DeBrincat was not but had a history of performing well on the PP and you were more likely to kickstart him keeping him on the PP. It didn't work and honestly, if DeBrincat can't play PP1 and his 5v5 scoring isn't there, you gotta wonder about his role on the team. He's gotta take a step forward next year.

 

[GaryU]

Boqvist needs to develop a lethal shot

Shot's ok. Confidence is needed.

 

[Jay haller]

Their entries are too predictable. Once they get into the zone after the successful entry has eaten up 30-1min already. Their actual setup play is predictable in that they all stand and watch kane stick handle and hope the Back door play happens. Maybe, some of that is due to a lack of big shot at the point. But Because of the lack of movement the defenders typically pinch and play a passive pack it in on the cross passing lanes.

The power play looks better when they have quick passes and movement as it means the defenders also have to move around which creates gaps and miscommunication.

 

[Taze em]

Patrick Kane is not a very good PP player off the wall. Everyone feeds him the whole PP and he hoards the puck and everyone becomes stationary. Pucks rarely challenge the center of the PK. If the PP is bad for 10 years you really can’t make excuses for him (or Toews or Keith) anymore.

amazing player but he is a puck hog on the PP

 

[JohnnyZ]

Right handed shot on the left wing...

 

[hawksfan50]

Clearly,Keith was no threat as the bomb from the point and puckingbupnonlyvsecaondatyvassisysxafter he passes to Kanexand when they manage a pp score after that is hardly being a pp QB.. also Toews did not score enough pp points too..

It did not work well enough most of the time with just a few exceptional spurt parts of seasons...


But realky...the Keithbis no threatcfron the point has been a massive problem for pp productivity...Opps PKs need not respectKeith's point shot...so could collapse and defend/ check our other PP players tighter...And now ...as Keoth turned geezer and fumbles more pucks they have changed to pressing him to mishandle pucks even before he attempts shots or passes...Keith never was and now is certainly not an effective pp qb or shot guy...

So 75% of blame for PP problem is on Keith...

Other 25% split between Kane ,Toews and anyone else on the PP.


And it has not helped that D-Cat who got the big bucks extention as our best shot threat to score,fell of the cliff this past shortened season.


Add these woes up and result is a stinky PP.