Short-handed goals against and power play efficiency

Which guys were on both the PP and the PK? There seems a bit of defensive irresponsibility there. How much of that was personnel issues and how much was the coaching system, I wonder? And did the SHGA situation get better after Roli got here? Boucher would have had to adjust his system to the strengths and weaknesses of the players he had, to some extent at least. What personnel changes do y’all think we’ll see on the PP unit this year and what effect might those have?

(Nashville’s jump doesn’t surprise me at all given the disparity between the Preds offense and defense. The Preds PK was ranked pretty high, if I recall correctly, and Ryan Suter anchors the power play.)

but it’s not the strength we expect from the power play. Hopefully this is addressed in the offseason.

I would like to see the instances in which the Bolts gave up a SHG. My guess is it’s not systemic, like consistently bad positioning, given the coaching staff and their propencity to fix errors.

What’s interesting to me is to note the Bolts were second to last in SHGA/PP. Only Dallas (.0490 SHG/PP) gave up more than the Bolts (.0476 SHG/PP), and Buffalo was slightly better (.0465 SHG/PP). Only Colorado was the only team not already listed to have given up more than .035 SHG/PP (.0415 SHG/PP).

Could some of this be explained by Boucher’s addition of another forward on the blueline? Perhaps, but at the very least, I think this topic could be very interesting to examine.

And yes, it should hurt a PP if you give up a lot of shorties. And the PK should be credited with shorties scored. It just seems logical to me.

But I think one of the best measures of special teams is looking at the total of the percentage’s. I know we didn’t see many (1 or 2?) SHG for the Bolts last season, so keep the 83.8% PK and add the 15.8% adjusted PP, and we see 99.6%, which is very good. Maybe adding the 1 or 2 SHG that goes up to 100%, which I’ve heard refered to as “great”

And let’s remember, the PP was far better in the playoffs than in the regular season, and I think that counts more.

Getting psyched for the season!

One of the things that made the Bolts powerplay so effective last year also made it vulnerable to allowing shorthanded goals. That was having Stamkos and St. Louis on the point and at times Kubina. Most of the other teams that allowed a lot of SHG had the same issue. In Dallas it was Richards on the point, in Buffalo Vanek. I think our SHGA numbers improved once we got Bergeron and Brewer playing some on the PP, and the addition of Gilroy may help too. It would be great if they could figure a way to keep Stamkos and St. Louis off the points and still have an effective powerplay.

A guy over at On the Forecheck looked at the numbers and suggested that (at least to some extent) might reflect shots taken during the power play. I looked briefly at some numbers myself (stop giggling!) and it looked like that might be a factor, but certainly not the only factor. It’s something to keep in mind, though.

The overall offense gained by this power play far outweighs the defensive lapses. It may cost the team in specific situations but in general, playing the way we have been has helped.