Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
Average team gets roughly 250 power plays a season.
Average team scores about 50ish goals a year. A 5 goal swing can put a team from 15th to top ten or bottom ten. A ten goal swing is massive.
So it doesn't take much random chance to affect the outcomes.
If PPs were 100% skill based then Pittsburgh/Washington would finish 1st every single season.
I mean certain teams do well over stretches of time. Like the Capitals. It's clear that skill is important. Ovechkin for instance is pretty much the only guy in the league that can beat goalies clean with a long range wrister in today's game. That has tremendous value.
But you can look at a team like San Jose. They've had basically the same top players for years. So lots of chemistry, and talent, and their PP fluctuates wildly from one year to the next.
I mean all NHL teams know what each other are doing. They essentially all play the same systems. Anyone can break down Washington's PP on tape easily, but they can't copy it because they don't have Ovechkin.
So what's a PP coach realistically going to do?
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Not really - San Jose has recorded a PP of more than 20% 6 of the last 8 seasons. They're good because they have a great players who have a PP system that suits their skill set as a unit. The Flames are forcing a square into a round hole and are unwilling to acknowledge it. It is actual insanity that they are not changing the system or doing anything at this point with something like a 9% powerplay the last 6-8 weeks. People can blame Cameron all they want, but it's Gulutzan who has the cake on his face if he is this spineless that he cannot step up and force a system change or punt Cameron.
It's not asking much for a PK unit lining up against the Flames to let Gio putter around at the point, unable to get shots through so long as they box Johnny out the majority of the time. Well coached, effective PP's have multiple options and are able to adapt if things are not working.