Through three different coaches over the past three seasons, one issue has remained the same for the Vancouver Canucks: the ineptitude of their power play. It failed to make an impact throughout the final year of Alain Vigneault’s tenure, it was the epitome of an embarrassment in John Tortorella’s one and only year as head coach, and it’s been a non-factor for a while now under the guidance of Willie Desjardins. If the Canucks hope to do the slightest bit of damage come post-season (if they make it that is), their play with the man advantage needs to improve, and drastically.
The Vancouver Canucks Powerplay Needs to be Fixed
There’s a lot of blame to be spread around here, and lots of it has to be put on the shoulders of the Sedin twins. Have they carried this team on their backs at times over the past handful of seasons? Most certainly, but considering the weapons they have had at their disposal, including but not limited to Jason Garrison, Ryan Kesler, Alex Edler, and now Radim Vrbata, and the fact that they are the one common denominator over each of the past three years, they have to find a way to come through.
Those two are also the main reason behind the predictability of the power play, specifically Daniel Sedin. It was doing just fine when Henrik Sedin was the go-to passer of the squad, while his brother played the role of trigger-man, as evidenced by top-ten finishes in terms of power play percentage in 2010-11 (1st place at 24.4%) and 2011-12 (4th place at 19.8%) when Daniel put up 41 and 30 goals respectively. Since then, his goal totals have dropped each year, with an 82 game pace of 20 goals in the 2012-13 lockout-shortened year, 16 during last year’s epidemic, and a pace of 17 this year. How did Vancouver fare with the man advantage those years? 22nd (12-13), 26th (13-14), and currently 22nd for this year. Obviously having two passing Sedins is not working, and while Vrbata has tried to fit in as the next power play shooter, he hasn’t been utilized nearly as much as he should be.
Another issue that needs to be solved with this club is the lack of a true power play quarterback. Christian Ehrhoff filled this role marvelously in the Canucks’ astonishing 2011 campaign, and Alex Edler, an all-star in 2011-12, filled the gap to some extent on their way to a second consecutive President’s Trophy, but since then, the lack of mobility from the blue line has been more than evident.
Do they have players with that kind of upside in the pipeline? Most certainly, especially with the addition of Adam Clendening, but those players are a few years away from becoming legitimate difference makers. In the meantime, the Canucks have two options: try and get Edler back to the 50-point, offensive-minded Edler of 2012, or fill the hole via trade or free agency. It really doesn’t matter how it gets done, but General Manager Jim Benning and the rest of his management group needs to find a solution, or this issue could continue for next couple of years as well.
The Canucks are in a crucial part of the schedule right now, as you all probably know. With the likes of the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames nipping at their heels, points are at a premium, and finding a way to produce power play goals on a regular basis would help their case drastically. Over the past five games, the ‘Nucks have been unable to score a single goal with the man advantage, and the affects are being felt. For example, the 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in which they held a 2-0 lead in the second period could have become 3-0 and probably out of reach had they capitalized on the power play. In their recent 4-0 defeat at the hands of the LA Kings, a power play goal would have had them right in the thick of things in that contest. What’s perhaps most concerning however, is the fact that besides not scoring any goals, they can’t even garner momentum off of the man advantage, and often times they do nothing but kill anything they had going up to that point (but hey, on the bright side, they’ll never be accused of diving anymore! Why the hell would they want to go on the power play anyway?).
It really doesn’t matter how the coaching staff chooses to fix this power play predicament, but something needs to change. Whether that means putting out a faceoff specialist such as Bo Horvat or Brad Richardson in the place of Nick Bonino on the second unit, giving Edler or Kevin Bieksa the green light to be more adventurous with the puck, or splitting up the Sedin twins, something needs to be adjusted if they want to be taken seriously. You can’t afford to be losing points because of an incompetent man advantage at this point of the season. We shall see what happens in the coming weeks.
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