Intelligent Hockey

The power play is the NHL’s equivalent of the NFL’s red zone. Scoring a touchdown is not a certainty when a team is in the red zone, but the chances are amplified. In football, leverage comes with excellent field position; in hockey, it is achieved through extra man power. In both sports, this is the moment for a team’s premier offensive talent to shine.

As hockey coverage gets more sophisticated and nuanced, the power play has become a bonus that is appreciated but downplayed. The metrics show that production at even strength has better predictive power for a team’s success, which diminishes the importance of scoring with the man advantage in some evaluators’ eyes. But like the pinky toe, a strong power play is an appendage every successful team would like to possess.

The NHL’s superstar players are prominently featured in their power plays. San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin play very different roles for their teams on the man advantage. Both score a lot on the power play, and the imagined power-play units in this article were configured to best complement their strengths.

What would the Frankenstein power play look like? Each unit’s objective is pursuing maximum output, i.e., SCORING GOALS. How can we utilize the NHL’s greatest skill players in roles where they are most successful?

Here is how IH sees the first and second units functioning: where players would be positioned, what set plays would be run, and what are the first, second, third, and fourth options that would be executed.

Note: IH is well aware that there is no defenseman on the second unit proposed in this article. There was some internal debate as to whether it should be a rule that one defenseman needs to be on each unit, but putting Erik Karlsson on the first unit already indicates that defense is clearly not a priority in this exercise. Although he is a rearguard, Karlsson’s defensive play this season has been about as good as if Malkin switched to defense; his focus has been on offense. So taking that into account, only one blueliner is being used in total.

This is about scoring as many goals as possible and assembling the best shooting, passing, skating, and puck-handling into one all-world amalgamation. The puck movement on both units would be comically good. Even though Shea Weber and his cannon would be a nice touch on the second unit, Malkin’s playmaking and versatility as an offensive supernova make him irresistible.

Zone Entry
The back-side pass on the zone entry when driving the middle should suffice for both units. There is so much talent in both groups that it allows for more ornate zone entries, but for the sake of not wasting precious power-play time or motion, it is best to keep it simple.

First Unit
Zone Setup: 1-3-1
Positioning: Sidney Crosby is set up along the half-wall on the right side; Erik Karlsson is at the point in the middle of the ice; Tyler Seguin is in the slot; Joe Pavelski is the net-front presence; and Steven Stamkos is the right-handed, one-timer sniper on the left-side of the ice.

First Option
“Half-boards Shot or Cross-Ice Pass,” per Hockey Plays and Strategies by Ryan Walter and Mike Johnston
This sequence will be the first unit’s golden goose. It would be unstoppable, and making it this group’s pet set makes perfect sense. Crosby, set up along the half-wall on the right side of the ice, passes to Karlsson at the point, and he passes to Stamkos for the one-timer on the left side.

Alternatively, if coverage sees this coming, Stamkos has the option of halting the slap shot and threading a seam pass to Crosby, likely for a cross-ice one-timer for No. 87. The flight path of the puck is in the shape of a triangle if Stamkos passes it back to Crosby. Any juicy rebounds around the net will be deposited by Joe Pavelski, who is setting the screen and deflecting shots from higher ice.

Stamkos likes to creep even lower than Ovechkin on the power play, like on this play.

If he dips below the dot, that is just fine. The pack of distributors on the ice will find him.

Second Option
Seguin is leading the NHL in goals and points right now, so it is probably a good idea to get him involved. Since Seguin is nestled in the slot and is a right-handed shot, it makes more sense for Crosby to feed him from the right side of the ice. The preliminary motion is similar to the first option, only run in reverse. Stamkos, situated at the top of the left circle near the half-wall, passes to Karlsson, who passes to Crosby (who is on the right side half-wall). Crosby then serves up a puck in Seguin’s wheelhouse as he is sitting in the slot for a one-timer. Bull’s-eye!

Seguin, a natural scorer, relishes that area of the slot and has great instincts for it. This goal is not on the power play, but watch how Seguin pops out here on the second goal. Good luck trying to prevent that.

Third Option
The first two options play to the three players in the middle’s strengths, but Karlsson, the best offensive defenseman in the NHL today, seems unfairly underutilized. That changes now. On the third option, Karlsson is the fulcrum of the man-advantage operation. Karlsson has the choice of passing it to Stamkos or Crosby for some misdirection window dressing, but ultimately he blasts it from the point into the double-layered screen of Seguin and Pavelski. Karlsson has the precision and power on his shot to score from anywhere on the ice, and he is shooting into a two-level screen of players who are incredibly adept at meeting the puck with their stick while its in flight.

This video is a nice montage of three Karlsson plays where he displays deft footwork and finds the shooting lane.

Fourth Option
The net-front presence is an extremely important job, and for some teams, the player in that role’s duty is to screen the goalie, and if possible deflect the puck. But Pavelski is the best net-front presence in the NHL. So as you can imagine, he has more offensive capability than just to screen the goalie and try to wave his stick at incoming shots. This low-release play allows him his moment in the sun.

On this option, Crosby passes to Karlsson, and Karlsson feeds Stamkos. Pavelski then releases from his position in front of the net and sits on the goal line, waiting for Stamkos’ pass from the half-wall to down low. Once Pavelski receives the puck from Stamkos he has three choices: He can pass to Seguin in the slot, dish to a cutting Crosby for the backdoor one-timer, or try a jam play, and preferably shoot off the far pad so Crosby has a chance for the follow-up opportunity.

Pavelski is a right-handed shot so the first sequence is easiest for him. But Seguin is a right-handed shot perched in the slot, so he might prefer the first unit running this in reverse, with Crosby dishing it to Pavelski and Stamkos making himself available for the back-door play. Either way, this play would be dynamite, and all of the players are talented enough to make this surgical in its execution.

Second Unit
Zone Setup: Overload
Positioning: Henrik Sedin is set up along the half-wall on the right side; Daniel Sedin is straddling the goal line; Wayne Simmonds is the net-front presence; Evgeni Malkin is the left-handed shot from the point; Alexander Ovechkin is plopped onto his spot along the left circle – like Stamkos, he is the right-handed, one-timer sniper.

First Option
It seems like heresy that Ovechkin has been shunted to the second unit. But mad scientists can require sacrifices! Plus, Ovie gets to be the centerpiece of the second unit. And the following first option is run by Washington, and has been run over and over again with prolific success.

Ovechkin slips into his spot along the top of the left circle and sets up for the one-timer. Malkin and H. Sedin can play catch, with Sedin feigning an attempt down low to D. Sedin, before they flex it to Ovechkin for the cannon slap shot. That can come by seam pass from H. Sedin or high-low exchange by Malkin. Malkin is a left-handed shot and John Carlson, generally in the point role for Washington, is a right-handed shot, but Malkin is a gifted enough playmaker that there is a lot of confidence on this end that he would get the puck to Ovechkin fluidly. H. Sedin is playing the Nicklas Backstrom role, and both players (H. Sedin and Backstrom) are lefties so that is not an issue as far as cross-ice seam passes.

Second Option
The Sedins do the half-boards interchange. This opens up the possibility of one of the Sedins (the one with the puck) shooting off of the half-wall or dishing the puck back out to Malkin at the point, which allows him to step into a one-timer. If there is a lot of room down low, a Sedin can do a jam play if he sees a ton of room around the goal line. Simmonds is in his tripod position (coined by Doc Emrick) and can score off the loose rebound.

Third Option
The Canucks run the Low-Play option (terminology again from Hockey Plays and Strategies) with Alexander Edler a lot, and often it morphs into a hybrid of the second option; i.e., the half-boards interchange and the Low Play option. With the Low Play option, D. Sedin passes to his brother, who passes to Malkin at the point. Malkin fakes a slap shot and passes the puck back to H. Sedin, who rolls off the wall and fakes a shot before passing to D. Sedin. D. Sedin then can either jam the puck or feed Simmonds in front of the net or pass to Ovechkin for the backdoor play. Essentially, on the second and third options, the Sedins are rolling off the wall or making plays from the goal line. All of this is accomplished in varying degrees and off the Sedins’ patented interchange.

In this video, the Sedins run the interchange and then feed Radim Vrbata for the backdoor play.

They score, so the play was clearly effective – albeit with the caveat that it came against the Edmonton Oilers — but with Ovechkin commanding attention as the back-side presence, this sequence would be a force of nature against any team.

Fourth Option
In a stunning turn of events, Malkin has been a supporting actor in the first three options. Partially, this is because Ovechkin is an assassin on the man advantage and needs the puck, but also it is because of the incredible efficacy of the Sedin interchange. But Malkin is a beast, and it is time to give the man some love.

The fourth option starts with D. Sedin down low. The puck moves gradually from low to high, with Malkin as the intended recipient. D. Sedin passes to H. Sedin at the right side half-wall, and he passes to Malkin, who is stationed on the right side near the point. Malkin gracefully carries the puck toward the center of the ice – he is a gazelle when moving laterally – with the sequence’s crescendo rapidly approaching.

The key to this play is that, as the puck is shuttled up the boards to Malkin, all four skaters crash the net. Malkin brings the puck from the right side to the middle of the ice and cranks a heavy slap shot at the net from the point. Both Sedins are pragmatically moving toward the net, trying to position themselves for the rebound. Ovechkin is doing likewise. Simmonds stays front and center as the screen, with both Sedins coming from the strong side for a rebound and Ovechkin coming from the weak side.

Malkin has one of the best shots in the NHL, and four gifted scorers are swarming the net. This play would be horrifying for the opposition.

Closing Thoughts:
Scoring at five on five is an important way to gauge a team’s Cup legitimacy, but the otherworldly skill sets of the NHL’s marquee superstars are often more visible on the power play. The man advantage allows for coaches to get creative in how they manufacture space, and enables them to devise fun sets to get their best shooters and passers in positions and roles that play to their best attributes. When working with two units stocked with the game’s greatest talents, putting them into positions where they would thrive was the easy part.