Wild PP Woes More Than Personnel

I've beaten this subject to death throughout the season as the Wild's hot start on the power play in October dwindled to utter mediocrity as the season wore on. It is a subject of contention that Head Coach Mike Yeo has yet to answer. Power play convergence has not improved under Yeo's tenure - going unchanged at 17.9 percent and 16th place in the league from the previous season.

Surely, things will change this year as the special teams coach, Andrew Brunette, will now be behind the player bench, right? The biggest question is if the power play woes are more systematic or personnel. Media members are pointing to the Thomas Vanek signing as an improvement to the man-advantage.

	PP Percentage
		PP G	TPP	PP%
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	65	278	23.40%
2	Washington Capitals	68	291	23.40%
3	Boston Bruins	50	230	21.70%
4	Phoenix Coyotes	56	282	19.90%
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	50	252	19.80%
6	Colorado Avalanche	50	252	19.80%
7	St. Louis Blues	56	283	19.80%
8	Philadelphia Flyers	58	294	19.70%
9	New Jersey Devils	47	241	19.50%
10	Chicago Blackhawks	50	257	19.50%
11	Columbus Blue Jackets	54	280	19.30%
12	Nashville Predators	46	239	19.30%
13	Tampa Bay Lightning	50	270	18.50%
14	Ottawa Senators	50	271	18.50%
15	New York Rangers	48	264	18.20%
16	Minnesota Wild	45	252	17.90%
17	New York Islanders	49	276	17.80%
18	Detroit Red Wings	50	282	17.70%
19	Montreal Canadiens	48	279	17.20%
20	San Jose Sharks	50	291	17.20%
21	Edmonton Oilers	46	271	17.00%
22	Anaheim Ducks	44	275	16.00%
23	Dallas Stars	46	290	15.90%
24	Calgary Flames	39	249	15.70%
25	Winnipeg Jets	40	259	15.40%
26	Vancouver Canucks	39	257	15.20%
27	Los Angeles Kings	43	284	15.10%
28	Carolina Hurricanes	41	281	14.60%
29	Buffalo Sabres	36	256	14.10%
30	Florida Panthers	27	269	10.00%

I've stated before that shots breakdown the four-man defensive box that most penalty killing units employ. Shots create rebounds and pull players out of position, usually leaving someone wide open.

	Team Shots per game
		GP	TS	S/G
1	San Jose Sharks	82	2,851	34.8
2	New York Rangers	82	2,719	33.2
3	Chicago Blackhawks	82	2,715	33.1
4	Ottawa Senators	82	2,692	32.8
5	Boston Bruins	82	2,613	31.9
6	Dallas Stars	82	2,597	31.7
7	Los Angeles Kings	82	2,595	31.6
8	Anaheim Ducks	82	2,569	31.3
9	Carolina Hurricanes	82	2,561	31.2
10	New York Islanders	82	2,537	30.9
11	Vancouver Canucks	82	2,527	30.8
12	Winnipeg Jets	82	2,516	30.7
13	Phoenix Coyotes	82	2,499	30.5
14	Philadelphia Flyers	82	2,490	30.4
15	Detroit Red Wings	82	2,456	30
16	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	2,454	29.9
17	Florida Panthers	82	2,451	29.9
18	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	2,446	29.8
19	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	2,431	29.6
20	Colorado Avalanche	82	2,420	29.5
21	Washington Capitals	82	2,412	29.4
22	St. Louis Blues	82	2,402	29.3
23	Nashville Predators	82	2,382	29
24	Montreal Canadiens	82	2,330	28.4
25	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	2,290	27.9
26	Edmonton Oilers	82	2,208	26.9
27	Calgary Flames	82	2,199	26.8
28	New Jersey Devils	82	2,199	26.8
29	Minnesota Wild	82	2,180	26.6
30	Buffalo Sabres	82	2,156	26.3

Many of the teams at the top of the list are in some way successful on the power play. Whether they draw more penalties, have a higher percentage of their total goals come on the power play, or own a high power play convergence. You can see where the Wild reside on this list for total shots per game: second to last.

Minnesota is near the bottom of the league in power play opportunities.

	Average PPs per game
		GP	PPO	PP/G
1	Philadelphia Flyers	82	294	3.59
2	San Jose Sharks	82	291	3.55
3	Washington Capitals	82	291	3.55
4	Dallas Stars	82	290	3.54
5	Los Angeles Kings	82	284	3.46
6	St. Louis Blues	82	283	3.45
7	Detroit Red Wings	82	282	3.44
8	Phoenix Coyotes	82	282	3.44
9	Carolina Hurricanes	82	281	3.43
10	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	280	3.41
11	Montreal Canadiens	82	279	3.4
12	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	278	3.39
13	New York Islanders	82	276	3.37
14	Anaheim Ducks	82	275	3.35
15	Edmonton Oilers	82	271	3.3
16	Ottawa Senators	82	271	3.3
17	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	270	3.29
18	Florida Panthers	82	269	3.28
19	New York Rangers	82	264	3.22
20	Winnipeg Jets	82	259	3.16
21	Chicago Blackhawks	82	257	3.13
22	Vancouver Canucks	82	257	3.13
23	Buffalo Sabres	82	256	3.12
24	Colorado Avalanche	82	252	3.07
25	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	252	3.07
26	Minnesota Wild	82	252	3.07
27	Calgary Flames	82	249	3.04
28	New Jersey Devils	82	241	2.94
29	Nashville Predators	82	239	2.91
30	Boston Bruins	82	230	2.8

The league average is 3.27 power plays per game and the Wild are clearly below average. It could be because the Wild are a low shooting team and the teams that do shoot pucks in great numbers are able to draw more penalties because they are on the attack more often. However, we've seen the Wild end a game in which they've had three power plays with a total combined shot total of five. The San Jose Sharks, the highest shooting team in the league can get seven shots on goal in one 2-minute power play.

	Team PP Goals Percentage
		TG	PP G	PP G %
1	Washington Capitals	225	68	30.20%
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	242	65	26.90%
3	Phoenix Coyotes	210	56	26.70%
4	Philadelphia Flyers	233	58	24.90%
5	Buffalo Sabres	150	36	24.00%
6	Columbus Blue Jackets	226	54	23.90%
7	New Jersey Devils	197	47	23.90%
8	St. Louis Blues	239	56	23.40%
9	Edmonton Oilers	199	46	23.10%
10	Detroit Red Wings	217	50	23.00%
11	Montreal Canadiens	209	48	23.00%
12	New York Islanders	216	49	22.70%
13	Minnesota Wild	199	45	22.60%
14	Toronto Maple Leafs	222	50	22.50%
15	New York Rangers	214	48	22.40%
16	Ottawa Senators	229	50	21.80%
17	Los Angeles Kings	198	43	21.70%
18	Tampa Bay Lightning	232	50	21.60%
19	Nashville Predators	214	46	21.50%
20	San Jose Sharks	239	50	20.90%
21	Vancouver Canucks	191	39	20.40%
22	Colorado Avalanche	245	50	20.40%
23	Carolina Hurricanes	205	41	20.00%
24	Dallas Stars	231	46	19.90%
25	Boston Bruins	258	50	19.40%
26	Calgary Flames	202	39	19.30%
27	Chicago Blackhawks	261	50	19.20%
28	Winnipeg Jets	219	40	18.30%
29	Anaheim Ducks	263	44	16.70%
30	Florida Panthers	188	27	14.40%

Good teams are able to use the man-advantage to supplement their 5v5 scoring with a healthy ratio of PP Goals making up the rest of their total team goals. Often bad teams are only able to find scoring with the other team down a man and that will show with a higher majority of total goals being scored on the power play.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	NIEDERREITER, NINO	Minnesota	109:14:00	18.126	1.648	0.917	11.11	77.78	0.889
2	FONTAINE, JUSTIN	Minnesota	63:41:00	14.447	1.256	0.92	6.52	75	0.815
3	SUTER, RYAN	Minnesota	291:37:00	24.347	3.155	0.885	9.01	89.13	0.981
4	KOIVU, MIKKO	Minnesota	209:31:00	25.583	3.437	0.882	8.96	91.67	1.006
5	GRANLUND, MIKAEL	Minnesota	154:14:00	21.007	2.982	0.876	10.49	82.61	0.931
6	PARISE, ZACH	Minnesota	207:51:00	26.076	3.56	0.88	9.96	91.89	1.018
7	SPURGEON, JARED	Minnesota	140:39:00	22.467	3.271	0.873	8.23	86.96	0.952
8	MOULSON, MATT	Minnesota	217:48:00	23.508	3.03	0.886	10.55	96.97	1.075
9	POMINVILLE, JASON	Minnesota	266:11:00	25.02	3.531	0.876	9.01	91.49	1.005
10	BRODIN, JONAS	Minnesota	110:56:00	16.046	2.704	0.856	11.24	93.33	1.046
11	HEATLEY, DANY	Minnesota	184:02:00	21.192	3.695	0.852	7.69	91.18	0.989
12	COYLE, CHARLIE	Minnesota	155:15:00	19.453	4.251	0.821	8.61	84.85	0.935

I took a look at the individual stats of each player that saw over 60 minutes of power play time. What you can see here is that out side of Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter, the other defensemen that play on the point aren't getting enough shots off or through.

Let's take a look at the PP units of the top five teams in the league.

First let's look at Pittsburgh, the number one team in the league.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	STEMPNIAK, LEE	Pittsburgh	128:19:00	22.133	1.403	0.94	7.75	100	1.077
2	MAATTA, OLLI	Pittsburgh	94:07:00	23.588	1.913	0.925	9.91	88.89	0.988
3	MARTIN, PAUL	Pittsburgh	116:22:00	30.077	2.75	0.916	12.57	93.75	1.063
4	JOKINEN, JUSSI	Pittsburgh	178:12:00	25.589	2.357	0.916	10.53	85.71	0.962
5	NISKANEN, MATT	Pittsburgh	238:55:00	26.704	2.846	0.904	10.34	97.06	1.074
6	CROSBY, SIDNEY	Pittsburgh	331:08:00	29.354	3.201	0.902	10.7	90.57	1.013
7	KUNITZ, CHRIS	Pittsburgh	276:07:00	30.784	3.477	0.898	10.59	93.75	1.043
8	MALKIN, EVGENI	Pittsburgh	264:59:00	29.738	3.547	0.893	10.15	89.36	0.995
9	NEAL, JAMES	Pittsburgh	216:24:00	29.76	3.512	0.894	11.49	94.74	1.062
10	SUTTER, BRANDON	Pittsburgh	86:08:00	20.898	2.554	0.891	8.89	81.82	0.907
11	LETANG, KRIS	Pittsburgh	133:44:00	26.62	4.786	0.848	9.55	90.62	1.002
12	GOC, MARCEL	Pittsburgh	57:01:00	18.942	5.262	0.783	3.7	86.67	0.904

As you can see, The Penguins defense are very active shooters on the power play. The higher shooting rates suggest that they are also finding ways to get their shots through the first shot blocker. The Wild tried to get the defensemen more involved in the offense last season, but the slow passing and the predictability that was the Wild PP, they were unable to effectively use the point as a source of offense.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	PENNER, DUSTIN	Washington	120:48:00	25.828	2.318	0.918	8.97	92.86	1.018
2	CARLSON, JOHN	Washington	247:37:00	31.339	3.635	0.896	10.31	91.11	1.014
3	LAICH, BROOKS	Washington	66:42:00	27.886	3.598	0.886	9.68	83.33	0.93
4	BACKSTROM, NICKLAS	Washington	282:54:00	32.308	4.171	0.886	11.38	88.14	0.995
5	BROUWER, TROY	Washington	262:52:00	33.325	4.261	0.887	11.64	89.29	1.009
6	JOHANSSON, MARCUS	Washington	236:02:00	29.148	3.898	0.882	11.34	91.3	1.026
7	OVECHKIN, ALEX	Washington	374:54:00	29.341	4.161	0.876	11.09	88.46	0.996
8	WARD, JOEL	Washington	135:33:00	22.28	3.689	0.858	9.93	84	0.939
9	GRABOVSKI, MIKHAIL	Washington	82:32:00	23.263	4.604	0.835	13.54	89.47	1.03
10	GREEN, MIKE	Washington	178:24:00	24.215	4.933	0.831	12.5	86.36	0.989
11	CHIMERA, JASON	Washington	69:12:00	26.879	5.78	0.823	10.75	85	0.958

Washington has a really high shooting percentage from their prolific forwards. Whereas the Wild employ only two players with a 11 percent or higher Fenwick shooting percentage, that Capitals own five players with a +11 percent FSh%.

	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	MESZAROS, ANDREJ	Boston	55:10:00	22.115	1.088	0.953	11.48	100	1.115
2	ERIKSSON, LOUI	Boston	115:49:00	26.248	2.072	0.927	11.18	100	1.112
3	BERGERON, PATRICE	Boston	152:47:00	25.265	2.88	0.898	10.36	86.36	0.967
4	SMITH, REILLY	Boston	131:37:00	25.529	3.191	0.889	13.1	85.71	0.988
5	SODERBERG, CARL	Boston	130:00:00	24.615	3.077	0.889	13.75	85	0.988
6	HAMILTON, DOUGIE	Boston	120:54:00	23.491	3.143	0.882	11.97	89.47	1.014
7	KRUG, TOREY	Boston	192:24:00	27.235	3.534	0.885	9.16	94.12	1.033
8	IGINLA, JAROME	Boston	186:27:00	26.924	3.647	0.881	9.96	91.18	1.011
9	CHARA, ZDENO	Boston	179:08:00	28.359	4.019	0.876	10.24	91.67	1.019
10	KREJCI, DAVID	Boston	196:49:00	27.03	3.76	0.878	9.77	91.89	1.017
11	LUCIC, MILAN	Boston	184:44:00	27.174	4.006	0.872	9.96	91.89	1.018

The Boston Bruins employ a more distributed power play unit. they like to share the wealth. All FF per 20 for each player is over 20 unblocked shot attempts and 8 out of 11 players have a FPDO over 1.000. Minnesota does not have two units that are able to be that deadly...at least not yet.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	KORPIKOSKI, LAURI	Phoenix	51:44:00	24.356	2.32	0.913	4.76	100	1.048
2	EKMAN-LARSSON, OLIVER	Phoenix	311:15:00	27.116	2.956	0.902	9.72	93.48	1.032
3	VERMETTE, ANTOINE	Phoenix	194:22:00	25.828	3.087	0.893	11.16	90	1.012
4	BOEDKER, MIKKEL	Phoenix	177:08:00	26.421	3.274	0.89	10.68	96.55	1.072
5	YANDLE, KEITH	Phoenix	349:14:00	26.401	3.322	0.888	9.33	91.38	1.007
6	RIBEIRO, MIKE	Phoenix	247:53:00	26.383	3.308	0.889	8.26	90.24	0.985
7	DOAN, SHANE	Phoenix	182:20:00	26.654	3.62	0.88	11.93	93.94	1.059
8	VRBATA, RADIM	Phoenix	209:23:00	26.745	3.63	0.88	7.5	92.11	0.996
9	HANZAL, MARTIN	Phoenix	173:44:00	27.168	3.799	0.877	8.05	96.97	1.05
10	STONE, MICHAEL	Phoenix	88:26:00	23.973	3.619	0.869	9.43	93.75	1.032
11	ERAT, MARTIN	Phoenix	81:32:00	24.775	5.397	0.821	4.95	90.91	0.959

Phoenix/Arizona relies heavily on Oliver Ekman/Larsson and Keith Yandle to anchor the points on the power play. The Coyotes run their power play from their point-men and they deliver. Again, we see a PP unit with very active shooting defensemen.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	VAN_RIEMSDYK, JAMES	Toronto	237:49:00	25.902	4.71	0.846	7.79	87.5	0.953
2	BOZAK, TYLER	Toronto	149:07:00	25.752	4.694	0.846	8.85	80	0.888
3	FRANSON, CODY	Toronto	222:40:00	23.264	4.671	0.833	8.88	90.38	0.993
4	KESSEL, PHIL	Toronto	244:05:00	25.975	5.162	0.834	8.2	88.89	0.971
5	LUPUL, JOFFREY	Toronto	163:37:00	23.225	5.012	0.823	12.63	92.68	1.053
6	GARDINER, JAKE	Toronto	176:48:00	23.303	5.09	0.821	9.71	91.11	1.008
7	PHANEUF, DION	Toronto	249:36:00	24.359	5.369	0.819	8.55	89.55	0.981
8	RAYMOND, MASON	Toronto	160:37:00	19.176	4.981	0.794	13.64	90	1.036
9	RIELLY, MORGAN	Toronto	139:01:00	20.142	5.179	0.795	13.57	88.89	1.025
10	KADRI, NAZEM	Toronto	178:30:00	19.048	5.266	0.783	10.59	91.49	1.021
11	CLARKSON, DAVID	Toronto	60:43:00	18.117	5.929	0.753	5.45	94.44	0.999

Toronto was held up by really strong FSh%'s by Joffrey Lupul, Mason Raymond, Morgan Reilly, and Nazem Kadri. The Maple Leafs have been a bit of a house of cards possession wise and their power play looks to be no different.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	PARENTEAU, PIERRE	Colorado	132:36:00	23.68	2.715	0.897	5.1	94.44	0.995
2	HOLDEN, NICK	Colorado	91:05:00	24.373	2.635	0.902	11.71	100	1.117
3	DUCHENE, MATT	Colorado	180:03:00	21.772	2.555	0.895	11.22	100	1.112
4	O_REILLY, RYAN	Colorado	198:31:00	22.769	2.922	0.886	11.06	96.55	1.076
5	MACKINNON, NATHAN	Colorado	178:23:00	21.527	2.691	0.889	10.94	95.83	1.068
6	BENOIT, ANDRE	Colorado	185:53:00	20.873	2.582	0.89	9.28	95.83	1.051
7	MITCHELL, JOHN	Colorado	78:20:00	23.745	3.064	0.886	5.38	91.67	0.97
8	LANDESKOG, GABRIEL	Colorado	183:06:00	20.098	2.512	0.889	8.15	100	1.081
9	STASTNY, PAUL	Colorado	155:15:00	20.354	3.221	0.863	10.13	100	1.101
10	JOHNSON, ERIK	Colorado	200:49:00	20.516	3.585	0.851	11.17	100	1.112
11	MCGINN, JAMIE	Colorado	137:47:00	20.322	3.774	0.843	10.71	100	1.107
12	BARRIE, TYSON	Colorado	165:07:00	18.775	3.755	0.833	10.32	100	1.103

The other house of cards in the Western Conference was the Colorado Avalanche. they rode an unsustainable high PDO throughout the season. The high FPDO and FSh% show that trend as well. Colorado had a high Fenwick Against while on the PP this season as well.

Lastly, the St. Louis Blues, a team that is able to beat most defensemen with size and strength around the crease. they like to crash the net hard and find rebounds to tap in.

#	Player Name	Team	TOI	FF20	FA20	FF%	FSh%	FSv%	FPDO
1	STEEN, ALEXANDER	St.Louis	216:41:00	26.213	2.492	0.913	9.86	88.89	0.988
2	BACKES, DAVID	St.Louis	190:10:00	25.136	2.629	0.905	10.88	88	0.989
3	TARASENKO, VLADIMIR	St.Louis	107:16:00	21.255	2.051	0.912	10.53	81.82	0.923
4	SCHWARTZ, JADEN	St.Louis	137:53:00	22.628	2.321	0.907	11.54	93.75	1.053
5	SHATTENKIRK, KEVIN	St.Louis	256:27:00	24.722	2.886	0.895	9.46	89.19	0.987
6	OSHIE, TJ	St.Louis	207:22:00	25.559	3.183	0.889	10.19	90.91	1.011
7	SOBOTKA, VLADIMIR	St.Louis	94:26:00	20.544	2.542	0.89	11.34	91.67	1.03
8	ROY, DEREK	St.Louis	166:25:00	24.757	3.245	0.884	8.74	96.3	1.05
9	BERGLUND, PATRIK	St.Louis	119:08:00	18.97	2.686	0.876	7.96	81.25	0.892
10	PIETRANGELO, ALEX	St.Louis	215:23:00	20.243	3.25	0.862	10.55	91.43	1.02
11	BOUWMEESTER, JAY	St.Louis	172:28:00	18.206	2.899	0.863	9.55	96	1.056
12	OTT, STEVE	St.Louis	140:39:00	20.476	3.839	0.842	4.86	92.59	0.975
13	MORROW, BRENDEN	St.Louis	67:42:00	18.611	4.431	0.808	14.29	86.67	1.01

The Blues' highest shooters were Alexander Steen, David Backes, and T.J. Oshie, all big time players that know how to score.

So What do the Wild Need to do?

As we've seen from the top power plays in the league last year, the shooting needs to come from everyone. The defense absolutely needs to take part in the man-advantage. They also need to employ short, quick passes to get the puck to the open man. Finally, The Wild do have size, but they need to get in the higher percentage areas. They can't be predictable by passing puck around the perimeter. Any penalty kill will allow you to do that all day long.

Here's what I suggest for the Wild power play units:

Parise - Granlund - Niederreiter

Scandella - Spurgeon

I like the way Parise and Nino camp out in front of the net and are able to make themselves open to receive the puck. Who then better to deliver the puck than Mikael Granlund? Granlund has the vision and skill to find their sticks for goals. Then on the back end you have Scandella and Spurgeon. Both have shown the ability to score and this particular alignment gives the Wild right and left-handed options at the point, which means no more Pominville at the point. Also, setting up this way lets Suter find some time on the bench to help cut some of his minutes.

PP Unit 2:

Vanek - Koivu - Pominville

Brodin - Folin

Vanek is the key on this power play unit. He should be able to find areas on the ice to use his shot. I also have something radical for an idea: put Koivu in the middle of the ice. Koivu is big and strong and shouldn't be found on the periphery near half wall. He should be near the net, using his big frame like a David Backes to score the puck. For the last 3+ years, Koivu has been on the half wall trying to dish the puck rather than shooting the puck. If they change his role, I think you'd see his goal total rise considerably. Pominville has a great shot from the circles and he and Vanek can should be able to have room in the circles to shoot if Koivu is in front of the net. Now you're probably wondering why I put really young, inexperienced defensemen on the power play. In the attempt to manage Ryan Suter's minutes, I needed to find other defensemen that can shoot the puck. Brodin started last season on a scoring tear. it eventually slowed, but he was showing more and more of his ability to get the puck on net. As for Folin, a lot of my ideas will hinge on the fact that he has to make the team first. However, Folin has scored in college by using a heavy slap shot from the point. I would like to see him keyed on the point to show off his slapper in spots where he is allowed to be offensive.

The Wild need to improve on the power play in order to make another jump. As we saw both in the regular season and the playoffs that if the Wild could have made the most of their power play opportunities, it could very well have made a difference in series. The Wild's power play was nothing to fear, it was predictable, and also very conservative. However, I don't feel that the Wild's woes are not simply personnel - it's systematic.