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The Devils' Power Play Quandary


Triumph

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It's a third of the way through the season, and while the Devils have scored some power play goals, one thing is for sure - their power play stinks.  Still it's kind of stark how bad some of it is.

 

With Eric Gelinas on the ice on the 5 on 4 PP, and excluding last night's game, the Devils have 46 shots in 47 minutes, 20 seconds.  Not bad.  That would rank 7th in the NHL in power play shot rate.

 

Without Eric Gelinas on the ice, again excluding last night's game, the Devils have 41 shots in 94 minutes.  This is abysmal.  Not only is it bad, it would rank 26th in shots on goal per 60 minutes for 5 on 5.  Horrible!  The main culprits are Peter Harrold and Adam Larsson - in the 21 minutes Harrold played, he had a S/60 rate of 19 SF/60, which is atrocious.  Adam Larsson was much worse - in the 10 minutes he played on the PP, the Devils registered 1 shot on goal.  

 

We can see the issues with the top unit, which right now consists of Ryder-Elias-Jagr-Zidlicky-Zajac - no one there has the speed to make people consider not blocking a shot, because none of these guys can consistently beat defenders 1 on 1.  Then again, I'm not sure what can be done with the first unit - I like the idea of Gelinas in back and Bernier screening up front, and without someone like Bernier to screen, I'm not sure what the first unit would be doing on Gelinas shots.  Who knows, maybe it will all settle out eventually, but at the very least the 2nd unit should be receiving equal time or more time than the first.

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It's a third of the way through the season, and while the Devils have scored some power play goals, one thing is for sure - their power play stinks.  Still it's kind of stark how bad some of it is.

 

With Eric Gelinas on the ice on the 5 on 4 PP, and excluding last night's game, the Devils have 46 shots in 47 minutes, 20 seconds.  Not bad.  That would rank 7th in the NHL in power play shot rate.

 

Without Eric Gelinas on the ice, again excluding last night's game, the Devils have 41 shots in 94 minutes.  This is abysmal.  Not only is it bad, it would rank 26th in shots on goal per 60 minutes for 5 on 5.  Horrible!  The main culprits are Peter Harrold and Adam Larsson - in the 21 minutes Harrold played, he had a S/60 rate of 19 SF/60, which is atrocious.  Adam Larsson was much worse - in the 10 minutes he played on the PP, the Devils registered 1 shot on goal.  

 

We can see the issues with the top unit, which right now consists of Ryder-Elias-Jagr-Zidlicky-Zajac - no one there has the speed to make people consider not blocking a shot, because none of these guys can consistently beat defenders 1 on 1.  Then again, I'm not sure what can be done with the first unit - I like the idea of Gelinas in back and Bernier screening up front, and without someone like Bernier to screen, I'm not sure what the first unit would be doing on Gelinas shots.  Who knows, maybe it will all settle out eventually, but at the very least the 2nd unit should be receiving equal time or more time than the first.

Not a fan of the 4 forward PP. I don't see why you can't put Gelinas with Zid on the 1st unit every time. No one is afraid of Elias or Zajac at the point, but I'd be pissing my pants if I was in front of Gelinas about to let one rip. I think when we have two shooting threats, it makes it harder for the opposition to defend against and forces them to play for the shot and the pass, rather than one or the other.

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What do zidlicky's numbers look like? It seems to me our power play either looks good and creates some chances (non necessarily score), or we cant even gain the zone and look inept, and IMO zids is always screwing up gaining the zone.

I'm not gonna fret at larsson's numbers since it's a small sample and most of it I believe was with the second unit before gelinas came up.

Harrold should just not be on the pp. I agree with your speed assessment and would like to see Pete shake it up a bit... instead of going with all of the skill guys like jagr zid and Elias in one unit, try splitting them up and put jagr with gelinas and zajac, and put zids and Elias with lokti bernier and Greene.

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the problems are many, guys take turns screwing up.  wether it be entering the zone or pressure at the halfboards. brunner and ryder are scary at the halfboards and even patty has stunk there. the dump in's are terribly mis- timed too  and when they finally get some breathing room the passing movement is flat (most of the time). zid has the skill set to carry in and drop pass, but he alway seems to make that one horrible decision at the end, so aggravating

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Gelinas has done more with this PP than Zidlicky has since he's been here. Zid does way too much waiting with the puck, either shoot it (VERY rare) or pass it. Our biggest bright spot is Jagr, followed by Bernier at the doorstep. I like our alignment as Gelinas and Elias at the point, with Jagr and Bernier centered by Loktionov. Have Bernier screen, the rest of the forwards cycle and look for shots, and Gelinas rips it at the net for deflections/rebounds. I think we kinda have the right idea, we just need to shoot more.

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A while back I jokingly said to my brother "It's time for the PSE&G power play! The most electrifying power play in sports entertainment!". Moking how bad it is. He told his girlfriend and she thought it was a real saying and was upset when she found out I made it up. If our power play ever becomes good, can we make this a thing??

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Zidlicky is on for 31 shots/60 which is again, awful. It's not all on him though, but I don't think he has been good enough finding passers or lanes. The zone entry needs fixing before I start blaming Zidlicky primarily.

I was probably too harsh in him but zids primary job IS to gain the zone... He's always the one leading the rush on the first unit so I do blame those failings primarily in him.

Once we are set up though it seems like a comedy of errors from anyone and everyone.

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