The Hockey PDOcast - The Best Power Plays and What They're Doing

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Jack Han to do a deep dive on the best and most interesting power plays we're seeing so far this season, and what they're doing to find success. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEOCast. My name's Demetri Filippovich and joining me today is my good buddy, Jack. I'm Jack, what's going on, man? We are staying afloat in the food season. We are, yeah. I missed all of last week as I talked about on the show. Back off the IR, though, and feeling much better.

We both got lozenges and cough drops in right now, but we're going to power through it and it's going to be a fun show. here's the plan for today. We're going to use the PDOCAST Discord and some questions we got from our loyal listeners in there to hopefully kickstart some some fun conversation here between you and I today about kind of like early season tactics stuff we're seeing on video strategies, all that sort of stuff. We'll talk about young players and integrating them into tough environments at the end as well. But I want to start off here with the meat of the show right off the bat talking about power plays. it's something that I still think has untapped potential in today's game, right?

Like teams have gotten smarter. We've seen offense optimized. Everyone's looking for these little edges and they're harder to come by. At the same time, it feels like that's probably one area where there's still more meat left on the bone because that's where you're most likely to score and create consistent offense. We see teams that are sometimes lacking tactically in that regard and kind of running vanilla sets, but we're also seeing some fun teams that are really kind of experimenting and doing cool stuff that they're finding success with.

So in preparation for this, I basically watched a ton of tape of like every power play shift for nearly half the league, some of the good ones, some of the bad ones. And I know you've done so as well. So we're going to kind of go through a few of the notable teams that have caught our eye. And we got a question in the PDCAS Discord from Flying Red says, I need Jack Khan on the PDO cast to analyze the Vegas and Utah power plays.

Well, Flying Red, you're in luck today because that's exactly what we're going to do. And we have the great Jack Khan on. Jack, let's start with the Vegas one. They've created seven goals in about 29 minutes or so of time with the Madadvantage so far. One of the top teams in the league. I think they're doing some really cool stuff that leads to legitimate success and not just kind of like early season variants and luck. What are you seeing from them and why have they been?

so successful. So Vegas' top unit is my favorite one, not just to watch, but I think that the study so far this season, they're sick. Like in terms of the player attributes, in terms of the handiness, in terms of their structure, I think it's really textbook. And I know we'll probably get to Tampa a little bit later, but you know how Tampa used to be a kind of like the goal standard of like if you want to run a one three one and you have to imagine how the players like they would play like well i think Vegas is becoming that team now because obviously last

season they went out and got almost hurdle but they didn't really have that the whole team together for much the season so maybe we we didn't see kind of the power play really making a difference to the playoffs but early this season you know they're running

I would say fairly standard one three one but where all the players where their spots are and what the rotations they use and the little wrinkles that they for me, it's just it's like chef's kiss. Well, and they've needed it too, right? Because if you look, they're not, at least so far, the sort of well-willed five-on-five machine

that we've become accustomed to in past years, particularly defensively. They're 31st in the league in 5-1-5 goals share. If you look even closer, about half the goals, they've scored at 5-1-5, have been exclusively by the top line of Stone Eichland Barbershev. The rest of the team isn't really generating much. Yet on the power play, as you sort of illustrated there,

they've been lethal. And I've got three keys to success here that I want to rattle through with you. And we can kind of talk about each one, one at a time. The first one for me is a very easy and obvious one, yet it's one that you still don't see incorporated across the entire league and its usage. So that top unit that you mentioned of Eichel, Stone, hurdle, and then they've rotated Dorof V and Olives in there because Olofson got banged up. same with at the point with Theodore and Hannafin. They've played 24 of those 29 power play minutes that I mentioned they've had so far this year. That essentially amounts to about a minute 40 out of every two minute minor penalty that you get.

And that's massive, right? Because there's still teams around this league that are essentially unsure of who their top unit is. So they're going half and half. And you get maybe one or two chances if the puck gets cleared and about a minute is up. All right, you're off the ice. We're bringing on the second unit. And I guess that makes sense if you don't have five established guys or you're not even sure who your best players are and you're trying to kind of divvy up and balance the ice time. But in this case, they have a five-man unit that clearly works and is successful.

And they're essentially just giving them as many cracks at it as they can, right? They're not getting an early pull or an early leash. And I have to think that it's kind of chicken or the egg because it's easier to do obviously if you're being successful. But at the same time, they're actually getting that opportunity and that makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah, I mean, just from like a coaching point of view, I don't really mind the teams that maybe give their second unit a little bit more time this time of year because first of all, a lot of teams are trying to figure out like what their first unit is and whether it's any good. But also there is the element of like you want more of your players involved. And like when you get when you get second unit guys on the power plane, maybe they get some puck touches, they get some shots, maybe they score once in a while. it's good for confidence at 5-on-5 as well.

So it's like, yeah, like if you have a really good top unit, you want to leverage it as much as you can to build up maybe some cushion to standing points and get some wins. But on the other hand, it's like you don't want to come out like too hot almost because by the time that, you know, February, March, April, May rolls around, like maybe your top unit that's been really good. It gets a little bit stale or other teams that figure it out. So, yeah, like, of course you want to run your best players and you want to use them as much as you can.

But on the other end, like I can sort of understand teams being a little bit more sort of egalitarian right now where, you know, obviously games matter, but they don't matter as much as maybe later this year. You have such coaching brain. You really can't shake your, shake your roots there. For me, it's there's some sort of problem where break in chain of command or evaluation process. if you don't know who your five best guys are, or if you're not, or if you do, and then you're still not willing to give them

the most likely opportunities for them to score. Here's a second one that I have. They get set up very efficiently. So right off the hop, Tomas Hurdle is winning about north of 70% of his ozone draws on the power play, and that's kicking them off with possession right away. That's in like the Vince and Trotrick,

Sidney Crosby, like truly elite tier in that category. and while we sort of scoff at the importance of faceoffs on this show and in general in hockey analytics, it's clear that situationally it's important. And I think we can all agree that not having to start off wasting 15, 20 seconds going back and retrieving the puck behind your own goal is valuable. That's more time for you to cook and really get set up into your formation. And then when the puck does get cleared, they have Jack Eichel. And his ability to sort of just take the puck and transport it, cross the blue line, and gain and establish possession right away without having to stop and start and retrieve again is very valuable, right?

So they're pretty much getting to spend a very large percentage of that time on the ice, actually running through their set as opposed to wasting time, kind of trying to get set up in the first place. So, yeah, I absolutely agree with you. I think hurdle is super ad for that group in terms of, again, winning faceoffs and do all that stuff. one player I want to give some love to is Shay Theater because you know Vegas runs that drop power play breakout that's very standard that lots of fans hate but it's really it is objectively the most efficient way to set up on a consistent basis but the thing that theater does really well that someone like

Morgan Riley that's in Toronto doesn't do as well is theater is actually an entry threat himself right like you'll see had men do it once in a while even like OEL in Toronto you might see him do it once in a while but He might just, if he sees something that you like, so it just carry it right through instead of dropping it back and then attacking that right away. And that's, you know, you don't do it every time, obviously, but as a change of pace, that's good for a couple of shots off the rush a week

where you can get to the slot right away, create some chaos, maybe get like a great B chance right off the hop, like that's really good. And that's why I still think, you know, long-term theater is probably the guy on the top unit because, again, he's more of a carrying a threat and he's more of a shooting threat than Panofan is. Yep. I completely agree with that. At least kind of lodges in the back of the PK's mind and you have to respect it and you

can't just sell out for, all right, we know he's going to drop it off. You actually have to respect that he's going to attack you himself directly. Here's the most important one, though, and I saved for a last on purpose. It's the two-man action down low. Now, in preparation for the show, you sort of directed me towards a fluid Ocean Zau article on the athletic recently that was talking about sort of, the evolution of power plays, how the best ones are operating now, and where they're finding success, had some great quotes in there from coaches like Paul Maurice and Jim Montgomery.

And it really lined up a lot with what I saw on the tape from Vegas' powerplay so far in terms of like the proximity to net where they're attacking. And now they're uniquely set up because they've got Mark Stone kind of work in that sort of modern goal line role. And then they have Tomah Shirtle in that kind of bumper, although he's even closer to more of like a traditional netfront guy than most sort of bumper shooters are. But Stone's playmaking and passing

in tight out that goal line. And then they had this sequence against the Kings in their most recent game where you can sort of see the threat of like when the puck is up high and you have a shooting threat, both guys are so good at providing that kind of layered screen. And I think both of them actually wound up tipping one that wound up eventually beating David Ridditch.

And so look at the hockey biz heat map for them and how much of their sort of shot volume on the power play is just concentrated kind of net front out. And so I think it's no coincidence that they're being very efficient and successful doing so. And that's a clear sort of point attack for them as opposed to sort of some of the other top power plays we've seen have success in the past where it's like, all right, you're trying to kind of establish that cross-eye shot and you're trying to set everything up

and cater it to a slap shot from the face off circle. Instead, they're kind of by design moving even closer and closer to the net. and they're thriving doing so. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, whether it's on the power player at 5 on 5, like the name of the game is getting shots from close thin or at least sort of in that inner slot area, that's for logic, you know, likes to talk about.

And the beauty of Vegas's setup is they're inside players and their outside players, they obviously they're individually skilled, but they work really well off each other. So what I mean by inside players is on a one, 3-1, I consider that there's two inside positions, which are the bumper and the goal line player. So in Vegas's case, that's hurdle on the bumper and stone on the goal line or in front of the net.

And the neat thing is hurdles are lefty and stone is a righty, which means that depending on the side the puck is on, they'll interchange. So if the puck is, if you're looking at the opposing goal, if the puck is on the left side, stone is going to be on the goal line and then hurdle is going to be in the middle. bumper. And then if the puck is on the right side, oftentimes it'll be flipped where hurdle is going to be on the goal line and then Stone is going to be in slot. So the handiness and obviously their individual sort of physical strength and their quick stick and their offensive instincts makes them really involved. Whereas if you look at one three ones with maybe a similar structure,

but that aren't able to create those down low shots, it's probably because the inside players are not as effective in their roles. It's also kind of fittingly or kind of creatively taking advantage of where the game is transitioned to from a PK perspective as well, wouldn't you say? Because I think teams are generally sort of taken on a more aggressive approach

on the PK and I still think it's kind of a net positive or at least it has been where you're sort of, you know, you're more actively challenging, you're realizing that all right, every team's running just one defenseman up top now. There's more sort of rush opportunities, you look at any Flyers game. And it seems like Travis Kineckney has either a two-on-one or a breakaway short-handed, pretty much every other game that he plays. And so I think it makes

sense for teams to be trying to sort of find ways to create offense off the PK. But now you've got defenders up higher. You're challenging more. And all of a sudden, it's creating these numerical advantages down low as well, right? Where it feels like teams are maybe a bit more exposed down low defending than they might have otherwise been in the past. Yeah, and in Fluto's article, he talks a lot about like the diamond P-K being an adjustment that teams are using to take away the 131. And the diamond works really well against a one-three-one that's outside dominant. So what I mean is the flank players and the point player, because when you have a diamond,

then the three defend, the three penalty killers higher in the zone, they're essentially in man-on-man coverage or they're in the late. lane. So if you have a one three one where it's like the flank guy passed the point who passes the other flank and then they pass it back and you know, you don't really have a seam option and then your inside players are not really involved, a diamond works really well. But the problem is that against the power play that first of all has great personnel but also has great rotations, you can very, well, not very easily, but relatively easily isolate a two on one for an end or a one on O that the goalie has to handle.

So the thing with the Diamond PK is, I think there are ways to make it really effective, but ultimately at the NHL level, I don't trust it because when you get into the playoffs against good teams with good power plays, they're going to find a way to kind of systematically pick it apart. That's a really good point. That's all I had on Vegas is power play now, unless you have something else to add there. Do you want to talk a little bit about Utah's since that was the sort of second part of this question and we're going to do our due diligence,

uh, answering the, uh, the listeners question as full, fully and thoroughly as we can. Um, I think Utah's interesting because if you look purely from a results perspective so far as,

as an efficiency group, they're sort of middle of the pack, but yet I still think if you just watch them, it's not very difficult to like, see the outlines at least of a group that's going to be a legitimate problem to deal with in the future because they have a lot of the pieces that you need to make a problem. power play work in today's game.

And also the way they move the puck around is really, really fun at times. Like I think they have a pretty clear sort of strategy for where they want to get the puck and how they want to attack you. A lot of it runs through that absolute bomb of a shot that Dylan Gunther has a left circle and he's still one of the players in the league that I feel confident if he gets his look off and hits his mark can beat any goal equally regardless of how well you defend it. So it makes sense that they would do so. But I'm kind of curious what you're seeing from them.

and how you feel about what they've got going on there in Utah. I think it's a good segue because a lot of what Utah does is like Vegas Light almost. Because, again, they run a one-three-one that's fairly structured. Like, they don't really freelance all that much. And they have personnel that's pretty well suited. Like you got Clayton Keller at the right plank looking to get a cross-stream to gun throw on the left flank, which makes total sense. You got Sergachev up top who was a carry threat, who's,

a shot thread as well. I would say maybe not the best distributor, but a guy with a lot of, you know, sort of tools in his toolkit that can potentially grow into that role and, you know, who we saw in Tampa running the power play as well, you know, at times.

Barrett Hayton at the goal line, really underrated player, I think, in terms of his skating, it's not NHL above average even, but in terms of his ability to read the game, his ability to work in small areas. I think he's really good. So around the net, he can be really effective. And then Nick Schmaltz in the bumper

who sort of, he's a conductor, right? Like he sort of does like this brain point thing where he'll use one touch passes to facilitate or to make the PK collapsed on him, which opens up a lot of options for for his linemates. So again, like good things take time. And I think this unit, if they stay together for a couple of years, like they can become one of the better ones. Yeah, and you see that with the chemistry that you mentioned there between Keller and Schmaltz. It makes sense they've been playing together for a while now and they have like a really fun sort of like one shared brain type of thing with their movement and the way they operate off of each other. They just continue it from the way they play at 5-1-5. I think this team brings up the concept of the value of continuity for power play success, right?

Just needing more reps together. Like I think historically if you look at the best power plays year over year over time, the common denominator is how long they've gotten to play together. and really like work all of all those kinks out and get the timing down and everyone's little intricacies. Now it brings us back to what we were talking about earlier where there is a bit of survivorship bias there, right? Where it's like, all right, well, the reason these guys get an opportunity to play together is because of successful and they're really good at it. So why would you mess with it? And others might not get that opportunity if they don't hit it off right off the bat. But I do think like when you look at the success the Rangers have and the way they operate and oilers, abs, avs, lightning in the past.

it's a lot of guys that have just been doing this for years together and kind of stacking everything together to the point where they're now a fully formed product, whereas this Utah team is obviously still on its way up. So I want to give it a bit of runway to actually get there before like, you know, determining one way or another what it's going to be. I will say though. Yeah.

One more note. And I thought you put this very favorably for him on the Surgachev point. I think a limiting factor is him quarterbacking it because I do think he has various tools that are conducive to success on the power play. And I agree with all that. I think sometimes when you watch him, though, I think he kind of forgets

that not everyone is there to just watch him cook. Right? And sometimes I would like that player while you do need to maintain a shot threat. I want the guy at the top of that umbrella or on top of the set to be a bit more, you know, leaning towards distributor and trying to actually conduct it

to get the puck to where it needs to be. And that's him up top probably is not the most dangerous. yet at times you watch it and it's like, all right, this is the Mikhail Sergachev show. He's going to try to do something here. Whereas I think that's kind of a suboptimal approach in today's game for running a power play. So I did want to note that. But obviously he just got there and I just made that point about continuity and reps. So I'll give it a little bit of time.

Yeah, I mean, you know, if healthy, I think Jersey is a better facilitator up top. But again, I think Sergachev has better tools. He's a better puck carrier. He has a better shot. He just has to grow into it, hopefully. But that's kind of been his thing his whole career, right? The reason why he was seen at him and his hair apparent,

but he never really took that step and then maybe this fresh chart is going to make it happen. All right, here's a really interesting one. And I think this makes for a fun case study for us if you have been watching them. I really like, I suggest you go out of your way and make an appointment viewing. Is this devil's power play

that we've gotten to see so far this year? It's very motion-based, I'd say, in terms of like they've essentially just thrown out kind of traditional rain assigned spots for guys on the ice out of the window. They allow Jack Hughes in particular to just detach and kind of cycle around the zone, weave in and out, similar to the way McDavid does when the Oilers power play is humming where he'll have the puck on his strong side and he'll have that sort of downhill wrist shot threat.

But really what he's trying to do is circle around the zone, go behind the net, come back out, maybe stretch you out a little bit, get guys out of position, and then go back across the sea or against the grain to dry cycle for that one timer. And we've seen a lot of that from the Devils so far. I think it's very different than a lot of the top power plays we're seeing in the terms of the way they're trying to attack you. So I really wanted to talk to you a little bit about them

and what you're seeing from that and kind of how it compares in contrast, I guess, to a lot of the other stuff we're seeing. So as you said, the devil's power play again it's more motion based so it does start at 1 3-1 but then there's more freelancing and

there's more sort of players using their kind of creativity to find sort of mini rush opportunities inside the zone and I'm just looking at some stats here it looks like since the start of the year their shot volume and their goal volumes

are trending up so it seems like the approach has been working pretty well for them. And, you know, like I looked at them closely about a week and a half ago and I was seeing some growing pains, but it seems like they're on their way. And the thing with a motion-based power play is that, yes, you know, it is more creative. Yes, you are giving, especially the Jack Hughes and that yes, were brought to the world a little bit more space to operate.

But you run to this problem where, you know, you need a certain degree of predictability. to create a lot of shots and a lot of goals. And that's why you see power plays being generally more structured than five on five play. And what I saw from the Devils very early on was, you know, they would have the puck for 15, 20, 25 seconds and they're not able to get their look because people are just like they're in the wrong spots

relative to their skill sets. So that was one problem that it seems like they're on their way of solving because obviously the more you run these motions, the more you realize, oh, well, so and so like the land there. So let's make that happen a little bit more often. And then the other thing is like in terms of personnel, they're generally speaking, they're really well set up with, you know, he's sure winning face offs and being sort of that bumper guy or the download guy. Jack Hughes obviously controlling the puck and going wherever he wants and yes for broad being sort of, you know, his counterpart. and then Dougie Hamilton shot threat.

The two main problems with that personnel, that's not really a problem, but just something that you've got to work through is Dougie Hamilton loves to shoot the puck. So you're trying to find ways, you're trying to find ways for him to get a little bit closer in. So a lot of times early on, you would see Jack Hughes at the point

where Hamilton usually would stand, and then Hamilton at the left flank. So that's a good solution, except, you know, even then, like, Hamilton is not going to score at the same rate of, let's say, a Stamco's, you know, in TAP or, you know, and Emmchkin is prime. Like, defensemen, the lower you put them in the zone,

the less comfortable they are generally. So that's something that they're going to have to figure out eventually. And also, Timel Myers fit on the top unit because he's obviously the fifth best player on that team. But I actually like Stefan Neeson better because Nissen is a righty. So when he's working with Hecher sort of down lower and those inside positions,

you got one left team, one righty who can rotate with each other. And Niesin is like, you know how like Zach Hyman score all those goals last year just like being there at the back post? Like Nissen is almost exactly like that. And you want him to be that because, you know, you have Hughes and Broad and Hamilton who are so good up top and using high motions downhill that you would, want a guy who can establish himself at the net front or at the back post. Whereas I don't know

if Timel Meyer is exactly as comfortable or maybe, you know, his skill set is a little bit more redundant in a way. So, you know, if they can get Meyer or Nissan and the whole Hamilton thing figured out, like I think they can be one of the top units. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think the motion-based approach also makes a ton of sense for them because it just leverages the best attributes of their top forwards, right? Like you want to get Jack Hughes on the move and trying to stretch the events out that way as opposed to him just kind of standing in a spot

because all of a sudden, while he obviously, his shot has just improved leaves and bounds and he can beat goalies from that left circle, it makes it a lot easier to defend him if he's just kind of standing there. I guess what are the, you know, you mentioned the Hamilton point. I think that's a really good one.

I will say that if you look at their heat map in particular as the season's gone along, they've done a really good job of compressing the offensive zone where a lot of those shots now are coming closer and closer. Essentially, they're sort of living in that sort of high area at the top of the, like in between the circles as opposed to more out towards the point. So I do like that they're gravitating that way. I guess the one negative, you mentioned the kind of lack of predictability.

And it's a positive because it makes it less predictable for the opposing PK. But also it's a bit tougher to stiffer for the actual attacking players themselves, is that if guys are moving around this much and stuff, obviously it makes you more susceptible or vulnerable to counter rushes the other way, right? Because all of a sudden, now that Dougie Hamilton is a world-class one-on-one defender, but if Jack Hughes is the only guy up top after all this motion and the other team gets the puck, all of a sudden, I think it's a lot trickier now. You have guys like Hughes and Brat who are world-class skaters so they can backtrack pretty quickly and sort of turn that odd man rush into a more even situation, certainly. But I think

that does add a little bit to their plate, especially if you're getting into these sequences where like the power play has been moving around for a minute and a half and they're tired and now all of a sudden they're having to go back and defend. Yeah. So it's just a philosophical thing because again, if you watch the devils, it's, you know, moving creates opportunities. Whereas if you watch Vegas or Utah, it's like not moving creates opportunities because, you know, you know exactly where your options are. So it's cool that we have this variety in terms of philosophies or approaches. So that for me is a positive just because it's not as boring as people making it it out to be that, oh, like everybody runs a 131. It's like, we're, yeah. All right, Jack,

let's take our break here. And then when we come back, we'll jump right back in and we keep talking about power plays, answer a few other questions as well. You're listening to the Hockey PEOCast streaming on the SportsNet Radio Network. All right, we're back here on the HagePedioCast with Jack Hahn. Jack, we're talking NHL powerplays and what we're seeing from some of the most interested ones in the league. Part two of this question, we talked a lot about Vegas and Utah, New Jersey, in part one, is

how would you organize the Tampa Bay power play and then follow-up questions about why wouldn't Tampa Bay add sprang? Something we've talked about. Over the past couple weeks on this show, I know something you've raised on Twitter as well, kind of perplexing. And there's a follow-up question or even that, which we can get into after, but I want to talk

about Tampa's power play first, right? Because they finally scored a few goals in those most recent game. We expect them to be, if not number one, definitely top three in the league based on historical track record and the personnel of Stokutrov Point and Headman there. Yet early on, it hasn't quite looked the same without Stamco's at that left circle. I'm curious for your take on what you're seeing from them, adjustments, experimentation, and kind of what the final solution is going to be for them.

Okay, so obviously Tampa is, you know, historically their top unit is a well-oiled machine with, again, the right-handedness, the right players, you know, the right patterns of play. And now without Stamco's for me, it's like a loose thread. And the more you pawn it, the more problems emerge. Because, again, like, before this season, my thought was like, you know, if they just signed Daniel Sprong, who's one of the better right-handed, you know, one-timer shot threats in the league, and just put them where

stamp code used to be, I think they're okay and then they didn't go in that direction and then, they used that money essentially to get Cam Atkinson, who hasn't really been a factor. Like, he was on that top unit

during preseason, they're really do a lot with the opportunity and now they're forced into other things. I don't know why they win signs wrong. That's probably way above my pay grade, but whatever. now we're seeing them trying Darren Radish was a right-handed shooter

but was a defenseman and the point I was making about Hamilton where defensemen are not comfortable on the flanks because first of all they're not used to shooting from that low and second they're not as good at retrieving pucks offensively and then making a playoff from that.

So whenever you see a defenseman at the flank like Hamilton might be the best one in the least one in the league right now because it didn't really work for eggblad in florida it didn't really work for for radish in tampa so so radish is probably out as an option and now they've got um they've got haigel up on that top unit with uh kuturov gensel um who was that the goal line that they have point yeah yeah exactly hem in point so that like you think that's a minor interchange, but that just opens up a whole can of worms because now that angle is on that unit, who are your shot threat?

Well, it's going to be Kutrov and Gensel, which means that instead of running the power play from right to left, which is Kuturov to Kammkos, now you've got to run it left to right, which is, you know, whoever to maybe Hedman up top, but more likely Gensel in the slot and then Kutrov on the flank. So now what you're seeing is they got to change your face off because now instead of taking every face off on the right side with point, now they're going to take it on the left because they want to open up Gensel and Kutrov ASAP after they win the drawback.

So now what you have is you have Brandon Hegel taking the face off because you need a lefty that's not Gentzel and that's not Kutrov winning it back. So you've gone from having, you know, whether it was Stamco's taking, taking a face off was really good or point taking a face off was pretty good to a guy who's not even a face off take at five on five taking that very critical first face off. So you see how like this whole like sort of like the dominoes kind of fall, right? Yeah. Well yeah, as you mentioned, they started with radish there and he looked like a fish out of water. And like I think the other point to make there is obviously a lot of the passes while they're absolutely brilliant and right

of the money from Kuturov going across that seam. are like absolute bullets that have very little margin for error because like you need to have very fine motor skills in tight areas. And that's something I'd also say a lot of defensemen, especially like guys who aren't undersized and naturally that's skilled in that way, have. And so I wouldn't classify Radish as that. And so you could see there were a couple times early in the season where Kutraub would make the right play and get that pass across. But it would wind up essentially either in Radish's skates or like him kind of having to stop and corral it and settle the puck, and by that point, you sort of eliminated the threat to begin with. And so

that wasn't working. I thought they made an interesting adjustment in the most recent game against New Jersey. You mentioned the Hegel upgrade there. Obviously, he's a phenomenal player, and he had a massive game in that one on Tuesday. He's a left shot, though, and you sort of just illustrated all the issues with that and kind of what that poses all of a sudden now. But what they did do, and I think this is a short-term fix just to kind of give it a bit of a facelift and upgrade until they figure out an actual long-term solution is they moved Kuturov to essentially the left point. And he was playing high in the zone almost along like the blue line extended down the wall. And they had this one sequence that led to a goal where Kuturov makes that cross seam pass,

going to the right for the one-timer to Hegel. And he just gets it on net, which was enough because points there. And he's so good at sort of corraling pox. And he like won a batting one in and it led to a power play goal. and so I like that they adjusted it that way. I have the utmost faith that they're going to figure it out because Kutrov is a supercomputer offensively, right? And eventually there's no problem that he won't be able to crack.

And so we already saw a little bit of that in their most recent game. But I think ultimately for them to be at their highest level and most dangerous, Kutrov needs to be at that right circle passing to a right shot on the opposite flank, and they just don't really have that player right now. So I think that's something they're clearly going to have to address and acquire, there's not too many obvious options. I was looking at the list, and it's like from guys who are either expiring or could potentially be available down the road.

It's like Kyle Palmieri. I don't know, maybe Bjork Strand in a year or so, depending on what happens with Seattle, David Perron, like it's the list of players that fit that specific criteria while it seems kind of easy is actually more difficult to find in practice. So I'm curious to see what they do there, but it's something I'll certainly be watching. and I think ultimately they're going to figure it out one way or another.

Okay, so here's what I would try. Because when we talked about Vegas, I talked about kind of the inside and the outside player. And what I would try is I would have right and points shift over to the left plank. Because we've known him essentially exclusively as an inside player around the net in the bumper. But, you know, he's got high-end skill. He's a good goal score. And I would say the goals that he's squire.

in the bumper, they're way harder than taking one time or through the left flank. So maybe if you keep the personnel, you would have Hegel and Gensel working together on the inside, and then you would have Hucherov and Point trying to find each other on the flanks. Yeah, you could even have, I mean, they did this last year, right, where like Nick Paul is kind of the goal line net front guy instead of Hagle there, because he's pretty good at that. And then all of a sudden, and then you have Gensel in the natural spot in the slot in the bumper. I guess the issue with that is point has been so good in that kind of man in the middle spot and that connection

with Kuturov and then that stretches it out a little bit. Also, I know that technically a lot of like the one touch passes Kuturov does the point in the slot there are essentially one timers because it's happening so quickly and he's not giving the opposing PKK time to adjust. But it also, it's a little bit different than having Braden Point kind of standing at the circle uncorking actual one timers, which I can't really recall him having in his bag or repertoire. He's a very skilled player and he can score a goal

goals in a variety of different ways. So he'd probably wind up being pretty good at it too. But it would be an adjustment because I just can't really remember throughout his career, him actually being asked to do that very often. Yeah. And again, I think it would require some time and some reps. But this, I think moving point to the flank would be the solution

if it were. That fixes all of the other problems. It does. Okay. we mentioned sprong there and there was like a part B or follow up to this which was specifically on Sprong is there anything outside of the power play that Tampa requires that he doesn't do I think this is just kind of like a question trying to explain why he wasn't on their list I know you mentioned it's above your pre-gared but I'm kind of curious as it relates to how teams

can integrate I guess players that they view as like non-system fits in terms of the preference for how they play as a team and actually adding players who could provide a specific isolated skill set that they actually need in Sprong here would be a good example. Now, listen, I love Sprong. I talk about him a lot on this show, very fond of his game and what he provides in a very unique way. There's also a reason why he's been on, what, six teams now as a 27-year-old and why after playing 13, 8, and 12 minutes to start the year for the Canucks, Rick Tockin has healthy scratched him since.

Like, he does stuff that clearly just irritates coaches and doesn't have a long shelf life. So I'm not sure what to fit there. I mean, it's a player making about a million dollars on a one-year deal. So it's not ultimately that big of a deal. But I'm kind of curious, just generally, maybe not even specifically to the sprung Tampa example here, but just as a player like that, who's obviously flawed, but has contributions, whether teams essentially just have like no fly lists in terms of like,

all right, this guy's just not on our board because he doesn't play the way you want to play. And if you think that's the right approach, or do you think teams should be more open-minded about adding different types of players that on the surface don't make sense for them but can contribute if they're used in the right way. Well, I mean, to go back to the playing defense thing, like Kutrov doesn't really play defense if you really look closely.

So, I mean, theoretically, as long as you don't play Sprung and Kutrov together, you could be okay. But the other thing is like, you know, Sprung is a player who's like he's got a lot going on, obviously, but he's still in the league, right? He's got a lot going on, obviously. That's a great life.

Or in, he's not playing in Switzerland or in KHL. Like he's an NHLer, right? And NHL teams continue to employ him. So, and he does certain things which are elite, and he does other things which are maybe below replacement level, but he's still, I would say comfortably, an NHL player. Well, he's a bona fide shot taker. and shot maker.

And that is a valuable skill set, no matter how flawed you are elsewhere. So I agree, and theoretically, that's a skill that this lightning team could exactly need in that specific spot. All right, any other notes on PowerPlayes

or do you want to move on to a next question? I feel like we've really covered a lot of bases here. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's do, here's a question about the Minnesota Wild.

The Minnesota Wilde still haven't trailed yet this season. Is it a small sort of fluky sample size or have you seen some adjustments in their team tactics that are driving these results? You posted an interesting clip of their breakout. I actually have noticed some stuff along those lines in terms of their rush attack and what they're doing, which could explain a little bit of this. It is just six games worth, but I'm curious if your take on the Minnesota Wild.

So sorry to ran on the parade, but it's fair to assume that at some point in the season, the Wild Will Trail. So I don't think this trend is going to last forever. You're not going to go through 82,000. games and then the entire playoffs having never trailed. So I think we can kind of put that to bed right now. But they're playing well. They're surprised me.

And I think, you know, I was kind of down on them because last year defensively and on the PK, they were just kind of a shit show. Like they're pretty disorganized. And then, you know, obviously the offense wasn't really the calling card of this team either. But they do have lots of good players and models such as. the doms are higher on them than I think maybe some of us would expect. And what I'm seeing from just watching a few of their games just kind of very quickly is they're really creating a lot off the rush on whether it's a counterattack or things from

their end. A player like Kurokaprizov, like for me, he's one of the best in the world in terms of, like, when it comes to unstructured situation, if there's a quick turnover, if there's a loose fuck, he can really make you pay. And where he's maybe not quite as elite is like in more structured situations, right, where you're consistently seeing the same patterns of play and then you just got to convert on them. And maybe that's the difference between him and Kuturov, because Kutrov, even though

he's very deceptive, very creative, like he, he's able to create these high frequency events for him and his linemates, and then they can just go back to the well over and over again, whereas Caprizov is more like somebody who's maybe a little bit hard to read, but who has that ability to be really a magician one-on-one. And when you're counterattacking and when you're working off of the other team's turnovers early in the season, you're going to see a lot of these kind of broken plays where if you improvise correctly,

you can score. And that's what I'm seeing from Minnesota right now. So my question is, like, does that keep happening once, every team is dialed in in their ozone play and kind of in their half ice offense. They're not turning the puck's over. They're not, you know, failing on their plays as much. But then on the other hand, you know, like John Hines's first year coach there, like he's got some offensive idea, right? Like whether it is his time in Jersey, maybe Nashville wasn't as productive for him, you know,

in terms of installing an interesting offensive system. But maybe Minnesota is a good opportunity for him to kind of recommit to that side of the game. They're an interesting team because, as you mentioned, obviously, they're going to trail at some point and we'll see what it looks like then. But through these six games, they've led for 220 minutes and trailed for a total of zero seconds. Now, admittedly, a relatively soft schedule to start, although if you look ahead, their next 10 games have a lot of Philly, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Anaheim, Chicago, Montreal. So they still have, we'll have an opportunity there. And to their credit, a lot of these

games have come on the road. The most recent one is the one that I watch very closely at Florida on Tuesday, where they wall up the Panthers 5-1, and you saw a lot of these concepts that you actually mentioned there. I went back and looked at it. Instad had them down for 17 scoring chances as a team in that game. 11 of them came off of these rush opportunities that you're mentioning. And I really like the movement, particularly off the puck, right? Like, as soon as they enter the zone, what they're trying to do. It's not vanilla at all. And a lot of this is completely hinging on the top two lines that have a lot of chemistry together in the case of Zuccarello and Caprizov, a lot of continuity there, just those reps we talked about. And then you got Boldie and

Ericksonek on the second line. And Boldie is just such a fluid player that like Ericksonek's obviously great in his own right, but in a more sort of defined traditional sense. Whereas Boldie, like, you could put your eye with him and he would just draw us out of our shell and get us just moving around and playing off the puck and getting into open spaces because he commands it and I really love watching them because of that. And so you have those two lines that are creating off the rush like that. And I like it because similar to what we just talked about in the power play, when you're as a like as a conventional puck carrier, right, like the guy who's transporting it, you command so much attention because everyone's eyes naturally gravitate on puck. And especially

with Caprizov and Zuccarello there, you have these sequences where they take full advantage of that, right? Like the other guy is using the lack of attention and open space to go there, knowing full well anticipating that his teammate will get him the puck. And then as soon as that happens, the roles reverse and the other guy all of a start and starts moving. And so you get all of these sort of intricate giving goes

that they execute better than pretty much anyone. So I really like what they're doing there because a lot of the, it's happening more off the rush, but a lot of the power blade concepts we talked about, the work. they're applying essentially into 5-1-5 with the top line, but also the second line as well. Yeah, and Brock Faber's been playing really well.

And that was my main worry where that team is, you know, last year, even though Faber got a lot of love in terms of individual accolades, the underlying stats weren't quite there. But this year, even though he's got a new contract, a lot more expectations,

he's performed really well so far. So if he's able to keep that up and that team is for me. It is. And defensively, And that's a good segue to that. 11 goals against in six games, just six of those at 5-15 as a team. Pretty much when they have those top two lines out, they're not giving up anything. When Brock Faber is on the ice, 117 minutes, one goal against 61% of the chances

and expected goals. They play him with Brodine occasionally as well, and they're just, they give up nothing when they're out there. So it is interesting because, like, a lot of their defensive metrics, they're giving up the second few of us expected goals against. No one's conceded fewer high-dangered chances against the 5-15, and those are sort of on-brand. with Minnesota wild hockey that we've come to expect, maybe not last year when they had all their struggles,

but generally historically, yet they're still able to get out and attack off the rush as a team despite that, right? Generally, the teams would attack off the rush are ones because they embrace a more open environment where they're kind of running and gunning, giving up chances the other way, and that's not really what's happening here.

So it's definitely a storyline to track as the season goes along. You mentioned Faber's season last year, right, and kind of the underlying numbers versus reputation, And I think a lot of that just comes to like he clearly was just overused and worn out because out of necessity they were playing them like multiple times over 30 minutes. And that's just a crazy workload for anyone, especially someone adjusting to the league. I assume that was a segue intentionally on your part to talking about Lane Hudson because we had a question about that and young defensemen as well. I don't, I want to save that conversation actually for the next time I have you on because we've only got a couple minutes left here. And I think that's one where we essentially could do almost a full show.

So I'm apologizing for like teasing both you and the listeners because I think it's a very interesting rich topic with a lot of stuff that we could talk about. I want to get into the Montreal Canadians, the where they're playing defensively, whether we're reaching a point of no return, all that stuff. I think there's so much meat on the bone there. But let's save that for for the next time I have you on. And it provides us with a good reason to have you back on again in a couple weeks. I'll let you plug some stuff here on the way out in the final. a couple minutes. We had another question from a listener asking, when is the 2025 version of hockey tactics coming out? Give us a little spoiler on that, what to expect, and sort of a timeline.

Yeah, so every year I put out an e-book that's sort of a systems walkthrough for all 32 NHL teams. This year is going to be no exception. I've already started working on it. Hockey tactics, 2025 is going to be out early next year. As the name implies, I'm playing around with a couple format changes, which will make it even more useful for diehard fans, coaches, players, and people who just want to nerd out about the tactical side of hockey. Now, because I assume I haven't looked at the numbers, but I'm just going to anecdotally assume that the Venn diagram in terms of interest of people who listen to the show and people who will be reading that book is just one full, complete circle. Hopefully we'll be able to set at least

the listeners of the show, but also especially the diehards who were in the P.D.O. Guests Discord with a little promo code or a little taster when the book finally comes out to set them up because I think they're going to be very interested in that. So is that something we can do, Jack? Absolutely. Nice. I love it. All right, I got you on the hook there. We've got you on record. So don't try to waffle on it now. That's going to be all for today. Thank you to the listeners for listening to us. Hopefully you enjoyed hearing me and Jack nerd out about power plays. I'm already looking for it to next time we have Jack back on. If you want to help all the show, go smash the five-star

button wherever you listen to us. Get into that Discord. We referenced if you want to get future questions for us. Jack's also in there. You can tag him. You can get direct access to him as opposed to tweeting and not knowing if he's going to respond because who knows these days. Just get at him in the Discord as well. And we'll be back tomorrow with not only one, but I think two new episodes of the HockeyPedio guests. Looking forward to that closing out the weekend style. Thank you for listening to us here on the Sportsnet Radio Network.