Blues News Forum

It's been talked about at length already on this forum and elsewhere, but after talking to a fellow fan of mine about it today, what exactly do people here think was the main problem in this area last year?

Personnel wise the team adds O'Reilly who has been huge on the powerplay in the past, but you may remember that Schenn was one of the top Powerplay guys in the league the year before he came here as well. Hypothetically, with Tarasenko, Schenn, Schwartz when he's healthy and guys who can move the puck well from the back end it really shouldn't have been as poor last season. Was the problem just systematic?

I should point out that I think our low "tipped puck goals" rate or "Tkachuk-esque goals" rate or "thing Joe Pavelski gets his dick sucked by announcers for" rate or whatever you want to call that was big, I believe I read the Blues ranked 29th in that department last year. Hopefully adding O'Reilly/Perron/Maroon (who does have low career powerplay totals) helps that some.

Oates2Hullie450 wrote:It's been talked about at length already on this forum and elsewhere, but after talking to a fellow fan of mine about it today, what exactly do people here think was the main problem in this area last year?

Personnel wise the team adds O'Reilly who has been huge on the powerplay in the past, but you may remember that Schenn was one of the top Powerplay guys in the league the year before he came here as well. Hypothetically, with Tarasenko, Schenn, Schwartz when he's healthy and guys who can move the puck well from the back end it really shouldn't have been as poor last season. Was the problem just systematic?

I should point out that I think our low "tipped puck goals" rate or "Tkachuk-esque goals" rate or "thing Joe Pavelski gets his dick sucked by announcers for" rate or whatever you want to call that was big, I believe I read the Blues ranked 29th in that department last year. Hopefully adding O'Reilly/Perron/Maroon (who does have low career powerplay totals) helps that some.

55 has that use that cannon of his more, and quit pussy-footin' around. He acts like he's afraid he's gonna hurt somebody or something...

Turk Sanderson wrote: 55 has that use that cannon of his more, and quit pussy-footin' around. He acts like he's afraid he's gonna hurt somebody or something...

You gotta break some ankles to make a power play omelette.

The biggest thing to me is to get some movement both with and without the puck. Keep your formation, but all to often I felt like we'd see 4 guys standing around watching the puck. There are a number of reasonable personnel deployments that make sense among the forwards, but I'm not keying in on Parayko at all. He's an extremely valuable player, but he can't run a PP. Shattenkirk was great at it for years without a big shot. If he ever puts it together, great, but I'd rather see Dunn or Petro out there at this point. They both have their limits on the PP, but they are more decisive and seem to keep the play moving along. Similarly, I think at times last season the PP got too fixated on Tarasenko, which ties into the point about people standing around. Eventually the puck would end up on his stick, no one would move, and he'd fire it right at a goalie who had a clear look and make an easy save. That's not necessarily a criticism of him, since frequently there'd be no other option. Move the puck, move your bodies, and keep the PK guessing. The more they move, the more they get out of position and chances are created.

Some great ideas here, but the first step is eliminating the bald, goateed, spectacled roadblock.

Also a huge issue was that our second PP unit usually had either Berglund, Sobotka, or some other combo of third line players that had no business being out there. Once the Schwartz, Schenn, Tank line didn't score, you knew the PP was over. Now you could have 2 solid PP lines and I would love to see Maroon in front of the net:

Maroon - ROR - Tank
Petro - Dunn

Schwartz - Schenn - Perron
Parayko - Steen

Hopefully with a mix of Thomas or Fabbri in there as well because that would mean that they are producing in Thomas' case, and healthy in Fabbri's case.

I may be forgetting someone or some combo, but you get the drift.

I think having all left-handed shots really limited the creativity and ability to one-time shots last year. That should be somewhat improved with the possibility of adding Bozak, Perron, and hopefully Thomas and/or Kyrou to the PP units.

I also think having that dedicated net-front presence like O'Reilly or Maroon will help, we had nobody willing to step into that role last year. Screens, tip-ins, rebounds have been sorely lacking from this team since losing Backes and Brouwer.

I think getting a trigger man on the left half wall to take some of the focus off of Tarasenko would do wonders for the effectiveness of PP1. I trust that we've added enough talent that we can run a nice PP2 that can succeed in spite of Yeo, as long as we take a reasonable approach. I think Yeo has enough self-awareness that if he's part of the problem he will stand aside and defer to an assistant who is better at running a PP.

Edit: Candidates for this role would be Thomas, Perron, Parayko, Bozak and possibly even Kyrou if he makes the team. I would prefer Petro in more of a QB role.

Finding the quarterback up top for the PP units will be the key IMO. Dunn really needs to develop into something special on the PP.

For me, the #1 problem with our pp last year, was the absence of the net front guy, who could both screen the goalie, and score the dirty deflection goals. Hopefully, between Maroon, ROR, Perron,and Botz, we will see an improvement in that area.
I have expectations that even if he starts out on the 3rd or 4th line, that Thomas will quickly develop into a PP quarterback. If Dunn continues to improve, he could make a serious contribution also.

barnburner wrote:For me, the #1 problem with our pp last year, was the absence of the net front guy, who could both screen the goalie, and score the dirty deflection goals. Hopefully, between Maroon, ROR, Perron,and Botz, we will see an improvement in that area.
I have expectations that even if he starts out on the 3rd or 4th line, that Thomas will quickly develop into a PP quarterback. If Dunn continues to improve, he could make a serious contribution also.

Hopefully Maroon provides that big bag of knuckles in front of the net. NHL goalies (even the worst) will stop pretty much everything they can see. Successful NHL powerplays over the course of a season have to use screens and tips. Net front presence isn't a luxury. It is a necessity.

blueslifer wrote:I think having all left-handed shots really limited the creativity and ability to one-time shots last year. That should be somewhat improved with the possibility of adding Bozak, Perron, and hopefully Thomas and/or Kyrou to the PP units.

I also think having that dedicated net-front presence like O'Reilly or Maroon will help, we had nobody willing to step into that role last year. Screens, tip-ins, rebounds have been sorely lacking from this team since losing Backes and Brouwer.

I think it was the handedness almost by itself. Opponents knew they could flood the right side of the ice because that was the only danger area for all left handed shots and that anything that funneled to the other side they'd have an extra stride or two to get over there while the player with the puck got himself into a dangerous shooting position.

There were other issues like no one parking in front, poor faceoff percentages off the initial faceoff in the zone, no set-up behind the net to open up space at the points and an unbelievable lack of willingness to bomb shots from the point. That last one, even if 10 shots in a row get blocked by Paryako - they serve their purpose and you start getting more space opening up as teams know he actually may do it. Add all of those things up and we were just waaaay too predictable and easy to defend on the PP. We gave up a lot of shorties but even when we didn't there always seemed to be at least 1 powerplay per game where the game was there for the taking and we desperately needed not even a goal but a momentum boost and the pk unit carried the play the entire 2 minutes and got the better of the chances.

Dave's a mess wrote:The biggest thing to me is to get some movement both with and without the puck. Keep your formation, but all to often I felt like we'd see 4 guys standing around watching the puck. There are a number of reasonable personnel deployments that make sense among the forwards, but I'm not keying in on Parayko at all. He's an extremely valuable player, but he can't run a PP. Shattenkirk was great at it for years without a big shot. If he ever puts it together, great, but I'd rather see Dunn or Petro out there at this point. They both have their limits on the PP, but they are more decisive and seem to keep the play moving along. Similarly, I think at times last season the PP got too fixated on Tarasenko, which ties into the point about people standing around. Eventually the puck would end up on his stick, no one would move, and he'd fire it right at a goalie who had a clear look and make an easy save. That's not necessarily a criticism of him, since frequently there'd be no other option. Move the puck, move your bodies, and keep the PK guessing. The more they move, the more they get out of position and chances are created.

This says it all. No movement without the puck. No screens. No pulling defenders away to create lanes. No driving the net. Just shooting from far, in clear sight from the goalie, and easy saves made.

The Blues now have loads of players who can shoot, several decent from the point, several who can tip the puck in and/or jump on it up close, after camping out there, several who can pass well. There is more than enough skill to fill out 2 good PP units. But, they need to play smart and decisive, and keep skating, passing and shooting - not all stand and watch one teammate telegraph his open view shot straight on towards the unscreened goalie, with no one skating towards the net (or anywhere else).

Dunn needs to be more involved. Steen shouldn't be on the point. Parayko should be taking a fair amount of shots, but, get them off quickly, while Maroon, or Schenn, or Steen, or O'Reilly is creating havoc, down low. No excuses this season!

I would draw up a different play. Everybody knows Tank is going to try and shoot from the right circle. while everybody else is standing around.

I'd put tank at the left front of the crease, move the puck down to ROR (right shot) in the low left corner. When ROR gets the puck Tank backs out toward the slot on the left side. Everybody and their mother are thinking one timer to Tank.

Sneak Schwartz in low backside, Sneak Petro into the lane just created by Tank to the high right slot. You are looking for the D to sell out on Tank and open some lanes for more options.

Yeah tank is a really good goal scorer. In my play he's a decoy.

Parayko's shot should be involved more. Move him around a little. Setup a one timer. Get a little creative. Last year he was under utilized on the PP. Then when the other team adjusts you have more room down low. Set something up down there next, and the circle of life conitnues.

The powerplay was too static in general. It isn't rocket science.

Good points from everybody. How come a dozen or so guys just shooting the shit can come up with a better power play than Yeo can.

I hope the Blues are reading this.