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Our Two Main Problems


devspage

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OK, our power play is just suckice. And Elias and Nieuwy can't seem to find the back of the net.

All things remaining equal, meaning NO trades, what are your solutions to these issues?

1. I can't believe what I'm seeing on the power play. Last year the power play was one of my favorite things to see and this year, jeez-us. OK, this is where not having Holik hurts us. But it ain't worth no $9 mill to have that one thing.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I'd like to try some different combos out there and not stick with the standard lines. Put McKenzie in front of the net on one line and Stevenson in front of the net on the other for starters. The D is totally fine. I'd try something like Maddenbrunner on one line and Nieuwy-Elias on the other.

But really I don't have much here.

2. It's GOTTA be to put Elias-Nieuwy together. They worked really well together after the trade and I gotta think that without a trade this is our answer to freeing them both up. They know how to work together, have respect for each other and know what the other is going through.

Reunite Nieuw-E!!!!

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I'm not sure what the answer is. I'd like to try some different combos out there and not stick with the standard lines. Put McKenzie in front of the net on one line and Stevenson in front of the net on the other for starters. The D is totally fine. I'd try something like Maddenbrunner on one line and Nieuwy-Elias on the other.

I agree completely. I don't really understand Burns' thinking here; why he wouldn't try "special teams" for power plays. It can't be any worse than what he's putting out there now!

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The reason their power play stinks is because it cannot be compared to what they had in previous years.

When you think back to why New Jersey had so much success on it in recent years, it was because they had quick passing and most importantly, they had a couple of big gunners who weren't shy about firing the puck with players in front for screens/redirections.

Take the #1 unit last year. On the points, you had Rafalski and Arnott. Rafalski had a good low accurate shot that could either go through or be redirected. He also was/is an excellent passer.

Arnott had the booming one-timer that goalies dreaded. Teams would back off when he looked ready to blast it. It was the intimidation factor.

Up front, you had the creative Scott Gomez along with your master blaster Patrik Elias, who was frequently set up in the slot so he could either receive a pass for a one-timer or redirect a shot from the point/find a rebound. On the other side, you had the equally as dangerous Petr Sykora who possessed a rocket of a shot. So, opponents had to pick their poison. Let Arnott one-time one or let him go across to Sykora who had an equally as hard a shot.

The thing they did well was move the puck quickly. You rarely saw them have problems getting up ice and gaining the zone. That's the key to a good power play. The '94 Rangers had it and were great at backing opponents off. Zubov and Leetch on the points were awesome.

The three teams who I think have the best power plays this year are Pittsburgh, Columbus and Detroit.

Obviously, when you have the game's biggest whiner, you're bound to get some calls. But when you have the talent of a Lemieux, Kovalev, Straka and Hrdina, it backs off penalty killing units. There's a lot of creativity with the puck and you never know what these guys will do. Thus, they click at over 30.0%. An amazing rate.

I have always liked Detroit's man-advantage. They use great speed through center ice to gain the zone effectively. Lidstrom and Fedorov man the points. They pass the puck quickly and sometimes will overload one side and get it across to Fedorov for that laser of a one-timer. He hasn't missed much this season. Throw in guys like Shanahan and Hull and goalies are in fear. It will only get better when Yzerman returns.

When Columbus added Andrew Cassels, they knew they were getting a winning hockey player. He's one of the most creative playmakers in the league. Underrated for years when he played in Hartford and Vancouver (Calgary before the Nucks), he is a great skater and backs off the PK well. Not the biggest player but he uses his skating so well that teams back away. He is a great passer but he also can sneak in on a PP and get the backdoor feed for a tap-in. Throw in Geoff Sanderson and Ray Whitney and you got three high flying forwards that create problems. They don't mess around with the puck. It's moved quickly and shots are fired from everywhere.

One other reason the NJ power play is bad. Rotating players. When a man-advantage struggles, a coach will start changing up units. When this happens, there's no consistency and if you don't have the same personel, it won't work. Players need time to jell and mesh as a unit. Throw in basically new players (Niewendyk, Friesen, Tverdovsky) to their system and they're bound to struggle early on. Once they settle on two units and the players know tendencies, it will improve.

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Actually Gomez never really palyed ont eh 1st unit pp with the A-line. Holik was always the center. So not only were there 2 very hard shots, 2 accurate shooters, and 2 big bodies to contend with. The 2nd unit never really ever clicked last year the shooting just wasnt there.

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I am sick of the "we gotta play Elias with fill-in-the-blank" stuff. Elias has been matched with everyone under the sun. He has no excuse. It's time to score goals. This is supposed to be a player who is good enough to make others around him better.

I think it's time to put away the chemistry sets for Elias and hold him to a litle higher standard. He should be a HELL of a lot more productive than this, I don't care what line he's playing on.

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Most often heard noise from the CAA in years past:

Arnott's one-timer from the point clanging off the back glass!

I agree that there hasn't been consistency with personel on the PP. Furthermore, there isn't the capable body in front of the net for garbage goals or deflections. You can't just put McKenzie or Stevenson there b/c they have zero goal scoring ability. Holik in years past was excellent in this role. Andreychuk has made a living there as well. The 2nd unit in 2000-2001 was always Gomez, Mogilny, McKay, Brylin, and Neidermayer (occasionally McKay would sit and White or Stevens would see PP time). This unit actually used the passing game more than the point-shot/body in front of the net look.

The truth is that if you have decent offensive personel (which the devils do), keeping a strict unit out there (there can be multiple units, but keep the same 5 as best you can) with a specific style (overload, hi-low, low-circle controled, umbrella, etc.) will produce results

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One specific thing about the PP that has little to do with the original post: Someone said earlier in this thread why doesn't Burns have "special special teams"; I have to agree, especially seeing Pando get A MINUTE AND A HALF of PP time with the Maddenbrunner line the other night (I forget which game this was, might have been the Toronto game). I have no problem with keeping the entire Maddenbrunner line together shorthanded or 5-on-5 but can we get another wing for the PP, please???

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One specific thing about the PP that has little to do with the original post: Someone said earlier in this thread why doesn't Burns have "special special teams"; I have to agree, especially seeing Pando get A MINUTE AND A HALF of PP time with the Maddenbrunner line the other night (I forget which game this was, might have been the Toronto game).  I have no problem with keeping the entire Maddenbrunner line together shorthanded or 5-on-5 but can we get another wing for the PP, please???

Yep, I agree. That's what I meant about not running the PP line as the regular unit.

And as for those analyzing the rest of the troubles, yes, we KNOW all that. The question is what do you think we can do about it?

Yes, it's time for Elias to step up. We know that too.

What I was looking for here was different ideas of how to get the job done. Not like anyone was gonna listen to us, but I certainly prefer it to saying this or that just sucks.

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Unfortunately, what the Devils are dealing with is a huge drop-off in talent from each of the past three years. I'm not sure anything can be done with the status quo to help the cause. You can try every line combination, every idea on the power play, etc....but none of them can change the fact that there just aren't many talented, scoring forwards on this team.

The only thing that can be done at this point is to keep trying to win 1-0 and 2-1 games. It's their best (and possibly their ONLY) option.

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