The story of a lackadaisical power play unit

Sometimes when you’re trying to build something and the structure isn’t level, it might be best to tear it all down and start from scratch.

Saturday evening, the Canadian completed his preparatory schedule without having scored a single goal in 30 attempts on the power play. They are the only team in the NHL that has failed to score with a man advantage during camp.

Some will argue that the four main members of the CH power play unit (Mike Matheson, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky) only played two of the team’s six games. On the other hand, several other organizations also spared their stars and that did not prevent them from scoring. We could also add that Martin St-Louis’ men have faced very few competitive teams in recent weeks.

This chronic inability to score goals in favorable circumstances is not new. The difficulties of training camp are only the logical extension of a streak of failure that has lasted for several years. And one thing leading to another, this means that the Canadian finds himself in a very particular situation.

In the history of the team, never has this unit been scrutinized so intensely before the first puck drop of the regular season is taken.

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The Canadiens’ management has repeatedly indicated that the objective of the new season is to stay in the picture . This means that Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes expect to see the CH enter the group of teams fighting for a playoff spot, and stay there long enough to play meaningful games in the latter portion of the schedule.

After three miserable seasons, the team’s fans are obviously drinking in these words.

On the other hand, to deliver the goods, Martin St-Louis’ men must score 30 to 35 more goals than last season while allowing 30 to 35 fewer goals.

However, one of the ways to score these additional goals (and amass more points in the standings) is to improve the poor performance of the power play unit. The correlation between the success rate of this special unit and a team’s participation in the playoffs is very high.

Alexandre Burrows having left his position as assistant coach at the end of the 2023-2024 season, Martin St-Louis insisted on personally taking control of the five-man attack.

This decision demonstrates the importance this aspect of the game has for the team’s progress. This decision is also consistent since St-Louis was a great power play specialist when he played. No fewer than 317 of the 1,033 points he scored during his career were obtained in this game situation.

That said, the curiosity of supporters and observers is also irremediably piqued.

Since St-Louis inherited the head coaching position in February 2022, reconstruction requires, ranking points or any other performance measure have never been a priority. This will therefore be the first time that we will be able to truly quantify an aspect of his work.

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Many people believe that Martin St-Louis’ task with this unit will come down to imagining new tactical schemes or refining the roles of certain players.

But when we look at the bigger picture, we realize that the coach’s task will be much heavier than that. Beyond the tactical changes, the CH’s five-man attack unit will have to improve its work habits to progress.

Last season, the Canadian benefited from the 10th highest total of advantage opportunities in the NHL (252) but he only scored 44 goals. This gave him a success rate of 17.5% and 27th place in the league.

However, several other statistics suggest that the members of this unit did not deploy sufficient levels of intensity and thoroughness to achieve greater success. Here are some of them:

• The CH’s power play unit was also undisciplined. She ranked 27th in terms of the number of penalty minutes taken (45) in a one-man surplus situation. This generally denotes a lack of effort to recover lost pucks, complete tucks, or win one-on-one battles.

• The CH numerical advantage unit also appeared 25th in the NHL in terms of the number of rebounds recovered (34) in front of the opposing nets. This generally reflects a lack of commitment and willingness to get to the area where it hurts in order to score. For example, the Florida Panthers (2nd across the league) grabbed 63 rebounds in front of the opposing net.

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In short, several data indicate that the Canadian’s numerical advantage unit does not have extraordinary DNA in terms of work habits. It’s all the more surprising that the CH is not banking on superstars like the Edmonton Oilers, the Colorado Avalanche or the Tampa Bay Lightning to make the red light shine.

However, these disappointing statistics may have much more to do with the fact that, due to a lack of qualified candidates to form a second unit (due to a lack of depth and numerous injuries), the members of the first unit power play players spent way too much time on the ice last season.

For example, Mike Matheson played 280 minutes on the power play. It was the fourth highest total in the league. It was also 226 minutes more than Justin Barron, the second most used defender by Martin St-Louis in this situation.

Seen from this angle, the idea of ​​concocting two units (one driven by Matheson and the other by Lane Hutson) for the new season seems better justified. Provided that playing time is well distributed and that both groups work better and more intensely when an opponent finds themselves in the dungeon.

That said, it won’t be easy to undo the bad work habits that have taken root in previous seasons within this unit.

Martin St-Louis has a lot of work ahead of him. On the other hand, the supporters seem to have less patience in them.