I know the quick response is "we dont have a big shot from the point"...and that may very well be a factor. However, not every team has a Chara shooting lasers. There are other teams out there that dont have a guy shooting BB's....yet their PP is just fine. I also see PP's that have the same talent or even less then ours, and their PP is solid (or at least not embarassing).
So...what is it with ours? Is it a personnel issue? Is it our strategy? Is it a lack of smart decision making? One thing my amateur eyes notice, is that we seem to take forever to make decisions on what to do with the puck. You look at good PP's, and there is quick decision making....tic tac toe passing and alot of player movement. We take forever to move it, and that seems to cost us i.e a shot may be there, but we hesitate allowing the opposition to block a shot...or a passing lane might be open, but we hesitate and the lane ends up getting clogged.
We also seem to have trouble deciding how to get into the offensive zone. Alot of times we get caught in between of carrying the puck in, or dumping it in and retrieving it. Things like that make me think its a strategy issue...thanks Mike Sullivan.
Thoughts? I feel like if we had even an average PP, we'd have the conference locked up already.
Who the heck knows at this point... An average or poor power play seems to be a stable of the Rangers organization post lock-out. I feel like if there was a simple solution to the problem, the people who are paid to manage this crap would have figured it out by now and come up with a solution. Feels like a lost cause.
at this points it has to be either a mental issue with the players or the coaches fault i think it was joe who made a good point today during the game when he said "there is no reason a power play with this amount of skill should be 29th in the league"
To be fair, the powerplay wasn't horrendous tonight. They are starting to shoot more, and getting more chances from shooting from the points. The net presence needs to be better. But they are on the right track.
Our transition on the PP is still a problem however.
The power play has been bad for years. As I stated in the Chicago thread, we are a team that has MAYBE five players with genuine offensive talent.
Gaborik
Richards
Del Zotto
Stepan
Anisimov
Literally every other player is some deviation of an offensively unskilled player, mostly grinders. Putting Anisimov in as a skill player is being generous too.
Until we get more offensive TALENT, this offensively inept squad will continue to struggle with putting the puck in the net.
The power play is a microcosm of our offense entirely. A severe lack of skill all over.
Last edited by KingWantsCup: 03-10-2012 at 12:01 AM.
I think he did run it last year, I'm not sure if he has consistently run it this year. Most teams allow players to run the PP. But with our defensive lapses, I doubt we are going to practice it any time soon.
Even if Sullivan has run the PP, its not enough to fire a guy who has gotten so much out of guys like Stralman, and DZ improving dramatically. Despite our struggles recently, the man knows how to run a D corps. I just think Torts needs to open his staff to an offensive coordinator.
The power play has been bad for years. As I stated in the Chicago thread, we are a team that has MAYBE five players with genuine offensive talent.
Gaborik
Richards
Del Zotto
Stepan
Anisimov
Literally every other player is some deviation of an offensively unskilled player, mostly grinders. Putting Anisimov in as a skill player is being generous too.
Until we get more offensive TALENT, this offensively inept squad will continue to struggle with putting the puck in the net.
The power play is a microcosm of our offense entirely. A severe lack of skill all over.
I think it's unfair to not include Cally in that list... He really can play well offensively given the right line-up.
The power play has been bad for years. As I stated in the Chicago thread, we are a team that has MAYBE five players with genuine offensive talent.
Gaborik
Richards
Del Zotto
Stepan
Anisimov
Literally every other player is some deviation of an offensively unskilled player, mostly grinders. Putting Anisimov in as a skill player is being generous too.
Until we get more offensive TALENT, this offensively inept squad will continue to struggle with putting the puck in the net.
The power play is a microcosm of our offense entirely. A severe lack of skill all over.
You don't need an immense amount of talent to just have an average PP.
It has nothing to do with Chara's lasers from the point, and yet it has everything to do with lasers.
We have one single player in the entire line-up with a big time shot especially off the pass. After that, no-one that is putting a hard accurate shot on net right off a pass, and Gabby doesn't fire off the pass or one-time often at all.
Those are the PP goal scoring leaders in the NHL. Almost that entire first page is guys with big shots. The list is headed by Hartnell, who isn't known for his shot, but if you click on PP assists this year and last, he happens to be playing with one of the best PP centers in the NHL on his unit. That'll work to.
We haven't really had a guy with a big time shot since Jags, and back then our PP was among the best. We had McCabe for a short period, but he wasn't even a shell of the former McCabe. We're going on quite a few seasons now of not having an NHL quality player with a big time shot anywhere in our line-up outside of Gabs.
It's not mandatory to have a big shot in your line-up to score on the PP, but outside of a few guys playing with some of the most elite PP playmakers in the league, the PP goals stat has been owned by teams that have a cannon, whether it be up front, or on the blue-line.
There is absolutely no movement. You don't score on the PP standing still while the defenders line themselves up.
defenders can't line themselves up when players are shooting off the pass. which we don't do, at all. I don't see many teams skating all over the place in the offensive zone once they have possession.
Because they stand in an umbrella/box passing back and forth without anyone barely shooting because they are looking for the perfect shot instead of just trying to create chances/rebounds.
EVERY player on our PP over handles the recieved pass and especially our blueline . It takes that extra second every time for them to get a shot away which gives the opposition plenty of time to assume defensive position and block it .
The power play has been bad for years. As I stated in the Chicago thread, we are a team that has MAYBE five players with genuine offensive talent.
Gaborik
Richards
Del Zotto
Stepan
Anisimov
Literally every other player is some deviation of an offensively unskilled player, mostly grinders. Putting Anisimov in as a skill player is being generous too.
Until we get more offensive TALENT, this offensively inept squad will continue to struggle with putting the puck in the net.
The power play is a microcosm of our offense entirely. A severe lack of skill all over.
I would include Callahan in this list also. That would then have 5 forwards with genuine offensive talent. This is more than enough for the top (2) lines. I also think Dubinsky is just having an off year. He has the talent to be a legit top 6 NHL player also.
I wasn't sure what to classify Callahan as. He's a grinder that gets a nice amount of goals, most of which are dirty goals. I assume it wouldn't be incorrect to classify him as legitimately offensive.
My god this subject is driving me insane. This team PP has been absolutely dreadful. Torts has to be embarrassed for not been able to provide some sort of resolution to this never ending problem. I am up to the point where I don't expect them to score on the PP, just wish it would end soon enough without a short handed goal against them. I hope they will hire someone who will bring some difference next year.
1. They don't setup properly in the zone
2. They love to overpass and telegraph what they are going to do
3. They don't move around to open shooting lanes
4. Not enough creativity...
We have seen them score a goal successfully a couple times, but they just can't seem to do these things on a nightly basis. Very infuriating
Honestly, it's as simple as that. A couple of quick passes to find an open shooting lane, and then crash the net. It's almost as if they're adverse to scoring off the rebound.
