Quote:
Originally Posted by mcphee
I think there's a few reasons. Koivu's best play on th epower play is getting the puck low on the right side and making a quick decision whether to take it to the net to shoot or stuff it or go cross crease. His hands are good enough to pass after he makes the initial move, hence the need for the rh shot.
Plekanec and S.Kost. to a degree may be stronger,faster, but they don't have the calm as of yet to forced the d to move as well as Koivu does. Watch how they remain stationary in that situation, while Koivu forces movement.
Open ice 5 on 5, PLekanec does a lot of things Koivu can no longer do,imo, but Koivu's well tailored to that situation.
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Koivu is easily our most dangerous player in close to the net. Not only with the situation you mentioned above, but he also is very adept at getting to rebounds around the net. While he certainly isn’t our biggest or strongest forward, his ability to use his body position to retrieve rebounds makes him our best suited forward to stand in front of the net on the PP. That, coupled with his face-off ability makes him a no-brainer for the 5 on 3 situations.