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shadowlord · 01-10-2018, 01:30 PM

I feel like the PP is weak for the following reasons:

1) Slow puck movement. The first unit is not moving the puck very quickly, and even when we do, it's usually between the Johnny and Gio/Brodie - on occasion Versteeg/Janko. As a result, opposition PKs rarely need to move that much, just keep the two (Monny and Tkachuk/Ferland) in the middle bottled up, and the puck only stays on Johnny's side of the rink.

2) Poor puck retrieval. Janko's improved this a bit, but typically after a shot, the PKers retrieve the puck and send it down the ice. I might get flak for this, but I've noticed Johnny has been getting lax on chasing after pucks if he's behind the opposition puck-carrier. I see this at ES as well, but it's been worse this season. I miss the days when Johnny would use his speed and hands to pickpocket the opposition, but now he seems to back off the chase a lot - maybe it's GG's system of forcing players to maintain their positioning. Anyway, with Mony & Ferland tied up in the slot, it's up to JG and Janko to retrieve the pucks that miss the net -- or effectively Janko-only on puck-retrieval duty.

So with poor puck retrieval and subsequent PK clearing the zone, our PP zone entry is needed more frequently, and without any variation in zone entry, as Enoch said, the opposition "eats you alive".

Everytime the puck gets cleared, it results in lower offensive pressure, so the PKers can rest or change more frequently. Having sustained offensive pressure tires out the defenders and they make mental mistakes that we can exploit (like missing player-coverage).

I think GG/Cameron knows about the poor puck retrieval, which is why 1st unit/Johnny never does a dump-and-chase PP zone entry; whereas the 2nd unit tries it and it occasionally works when Bennett & Tkachuk race into zone.

01-10-2018, 01:30 PM	#44
shadowlord First Line Centre Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Vancouver, BC Exp:	I feel like the PP is weak for the following reasons: 1) Slow puck movement. The first unit is not moving the puck very quickly, and even when we do, it's usually between the Johnny and Gio/Brodie - on occasion Versteeg/Janko. As a result, opposition PKs rarely need to move that much, just keep the two (Monny and Tkachuk/Ferland) in the middle bottled up, and the puck only stays on Johnny's side of the rink. 2) Poor puck retrieval. Janko's improved this a bit, but typically after a shot, the PKers retrieve the puck and send it down the ice. I might get flak for this, but I've noticed Johnny has been getting lax on chasing after pucks if he's behind the opposition puck-carrier. I see this at ES as well, but it's been worse this season. I miss the days when Johnny would use his speed and hands to pickpocket the opposition, but now he seems to back off the chase a lot - maybe it's GG's system of forcing players to maintain their positioning. Anyway, with Mony & Ferland tied up in the slot, it's up to JG and Janko to retrieve the pucks that miss the net -- or effectively Janko-only on puck-retrieval duty. So with poor puck retrieval and subsequent PK clearing the zone, our PP zone entry is needed more frequently, and without any variation in zone entry, as Enoch said, the opposition "eats you alive". Everytime the puck gets cleared, it results in lower offensive pressure, so the PKers can rest or change more frequently. Having sustained offensive pressure tires out the defenders and they make mental mistakes that we can exploit (like missing player-coverage). I think GG/Cameron knows about the poor puck retrieval, which is why 1st unit/Johnny never does a dump-and-chase PP zone entry; whereas the 2nd unit tries it and it occasionally works when Bennett & Tkachuk race into zone.