It comes as no surprise that most teams at the top of the NHL standings have at least one good special teams unit; whether that be power play or penalty kill. To be a Stanley Cup contender, let alone a successful team, you need to be able to take advantage of power plays and for whatever reason, the Philadelphia Flyers’ once vaunted power play has fallen into a downward spiral.
THE FALL OF THE POWER PLAY
Joe Mullen was the Flyers’ long time power play coach and under his rule, and they only finished below 15th once in his tenure. He was in charge of the man advantage from 2007-08 to 2016-17 and the Flyers had a top-10 power play seven times, including three top-4 finishes in the league. It’s no secret that they qualified for the playoffs in 7 of those 10 seasons in part because of the power play.
In his stead came Kris Knoblauch, who was Ron Hextall’s “outside of the box” hire, as he was coming out of the OHL with the Erie Otters. In his short two-year stint with the Flyers, the power play finished a measly 15th and 23rd, respectively. Once the Flyers purged their management of Ron Hextall’s fingerprints, they hired former NHL head coach Michel Therrien in Knoblauch’s place, and his tenure hasn’t been any better. The Flyers have finished 14th and 18th respectively in Therrien’s first two seasons with the team. In the early goings of the 2021-22 season, they currently sit 23rd in the NHL in power play percentage and have gone 3 for their last 31.
HOW ARE OTHER TEAMS SUCCEEDING?
Teams like the Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado Avalanche take full advantage of their power plays and utilize their top skill players to best of their abilities. For whatever reason, Therrien tries to think outside the box when the solutions are right in front of him.
The Capitals, for example, stack their top unit with Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, Tom Wilson, and of course Alex Ovechkin. Everyone on planet Earth knows that the puck will eventually land on Oveckin’s stick for a one-timer but they use that to their advantage. The one-timer will always be used but because everyone is double-teaming Ovechkin, their other star players have wide open lanes to wreak havoc. The Lightning, Avalanche, and Oilers utilize their star players with point shots and one timers to perfection. You’ll find it nearly impossible to stop the Lightning when they’re playing tic-tac-toe with Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Nikita Kucherov. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are almost unfair together 5-on-5, and just imagining them on a 5-on-4 situation is nightmarish.
WHAT ARE THE FLYERS DOING?
The Flyers might not have a top-tier or generational talent on their roster but they have several talented and good hockey players all throughout their roster. James van Riemsdyk is a power play specialist with his net-front presence and deflections. Sean Couturier has been a dependable bumper player for years, but is now taking on Jakub Voracek’s role on the power play. Let’s also not forget that the Flyers possess the NHL’s leading power play point getter of the last eleven seasons in Claude Giroux.
Speaking of Giroux and his NHL-leading 289 powerplay points since 2010, ever since Joe Mullen was let go by the Flyers, Giroux sits 23rd in the league with 93 points on the man advantage. That should be the primary point of concern regarding the Flyers’ abysmal power play. Knoblauch wasn’t able to utilize their “x-factors” so to speak with a man up, and neither has Therrien, and it’s a crippling reason as to why the Flyers can’t find any sustained success in the regular season.
Keith Yandle, whose role has been somewhat diminished over the last few years, has scored 98 power play points in the last 5 years, which sits him 19th on that list in that span. Yet for some reason, Therrien and company decided to remove him from the top unit for Ivan Provorov. It’s nothing against Provorov, as he is the most skilled defenseman on the team, but he is not a power play quarterback at this stage in his career. The play seems to slow down when he’s on the back end of the top unit, as he has trouble keeping control of the puck, and his passes are often too predictable; leading to odd man rushes going the other way.
THE COMMON DENOMINATOR
When you look back to the league’s leaders since 2010, you’ll still find players like Wayne Simmonds at fourth in power play goals with 97, yet he only has 8 since he’s departed Philadelphia three seasons ago. Brayden Schenn sits 22nd in power play goals and Jakub Voracek is 14th in power play points in that time frame, and Shayne Gostisbehere sits 11th in power play points for a defensemen since 2015.
The common denominator for their success was Joe Mullen, and even though the past is the past and we need to move forward, we need to examine what worked back then so efficiently. The Flyers had a daunting man advantage, and Mullen’s system was simple enough but it worked. The umbrella and the one-timers that every team utilizes is missing from the Flyers right now.
The moment Giroux receives the puck on his off-hand, he has to gather the puck and then fire a shot. By then, most defenses and goaltenders are going to have enough time to get into position to block the shot or make the save; meaning Giroux needs to fire the most precise and perfect shot for a goal.
They currently have trouble with winning the faceoff, entering the zone with speed, setting up the power play itself, and then getting actual scoring chances. Their power play looks sluggish and slow even when they are set up, which makes it way too easy to defend. Carolina’s aggressive penalty kill thwarted the Flyers’ man advantage from getting any chances on Friday. There are too many cross-seam passes that get blocked or deflected and shots that are fired with no traffic in front of the net.
WHAT DO THE FLYERS HAVE TO DO?
The Flyers need get back to the basics with Giroux and Couturier utilizing their one timers with Yandle as the quarterback. van Riemsdyk needs to be the net-front presence deflecting shots instead of trying to pull back for his “patented” spin move, and Travis Konecny needs to either be in the slot waiting for a Giroux pass or be a pest behind the back of the net, confusing the goaltender and defense.
The second unit doesn’t need much time to be a factor as they know their role is to play the back end of the power play and to just get shots on the net. Kevin Hayes, Joel Farabee, Cam Atkinson, Ryan Ellis, and Provorov showed their mettle on Saturday when they finally broke the team’s 2 for 29 slump. It was an example of a simple play by Hayes, who dropped the puck to Provorov at the point, waiting to unleash a slap-shot. Overcomplications are going to lead to ineffective power plays and we’re witnessing it on a nightly basis.
If the Flyers get back to basics, utilize their x-factors, and put their best players on the ice, the power play is going to reap the rewards and the slumping offense will be reawakened. It is no surprise or coincidence that 20 goals in their last 10 games has gone hand in hand with a 3-for-31 power play.
