Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
You aren’t wrong that he plays LW.
But I’ve seen this left shot comment a lot. 2/3rds of hockey players shoot left. You can fill the RW hope with a right winger. Handedness doesn’t matter.
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The issue isn't that 2/3rds of hockey players shoot left. The issue is that in our current top nine forward group, if you made of a list of every forward that could ostensibly score 15+ goals next year, you have
Monahan (LHS)
Ferland (LHS)
Tkachuk (LHS)
Gaudreau (LHS)
Bennett (LHS)
Backlund (LHS)
Jankowski (LHS)
Frolik (LHS)
Versteeg (RHS* - not under contract and didn't exactly play last year)
If you dig into our AHL pool for potential future 20 goal scorers you probably just have:
Mangiapane (LHS)
Foo (RHS, and we're being optimistic)
The issue is this: Our biggest hole last year, and really since Iginla left, is that our power play doesn't have a right handed shot star forward.
Look at current playoff teams and you have some semblance of balance on that front - of course there are primarily going to be left shot forwards but there are key right shot forwards on
each of their PPs:
Coyle
Pavelski
MacKinnon
Palmieri / Zajac
Ovechkin / Oshie
Nylander / Marner
Panarin / Atkinson
Kessel / Hornqvist
Marchessault / Perron
Carter / Toffoli / Brown
Stamkos / Johnson / Point
Laine / Scheifele / Wheeler
Giroux / Patrick / Simmonds
Getzlaf / Rakell / Perry / Kesler
Bergeron / Krejci / Pastrnak / Backes
Forsberg / Johansen / Arvidsson / Turris
It's brutal how our Power Play RHS is.. Troy Brouwer
- The only playoff team as unbalanced as us on their PP is Anaheim as they have almost exclusively right shots - but they still have a left shot guy in Adam Henrique who is better than than any RHS we have.
Acquiring Pacioretty doesn't solve a lot, because we're still stuck with a whole bunch of left shots. Sure he would be a nice addition but giving up Brodie for a guy who doesn't actually solve a real issue is just... silly. Not only that but Brodie playing his game is more impactful than Giordano or Hamilton - he's not a generic #3 defenseman as people are treating him.
And while you're hypothetically adding a, let's say 35 goal scorer in Pacioretty, you're not just adding 35 goals. You're taking scoring opportunities away from say, a 21 goal scorer in Ferland (who may have scored more if Monahan were healthy). A RHS forward (doesn't need to be a RW - I'd be plenty interested in guys like LW Ilya Kovalchuk or C Nolan Patrick) is actually adding goals that no one is scoring right now because there is no one presently filling that niche. RHSs also have different passing angles - for instance Perron led the VGK in power play assists even though he's not as good overall as some of his teammates. even last year, Versteeg was arguably our most productive PP player. Handedness matters when you need quick decisions.
We don't need perfect righty/left balance but we sure as heck need someone. Unless of course, Matthew Phillips blows the roof off training camp. That'd be nice. And so not-Flames.
EDIT - though I guess you could make the argument Brouwer is just as effective as Charlie Coyle on the power play. But I don't think anyone is trying to emulate the Minnesota Wild Power Play. Or generally emulate anything about the Minnesota Wild.