The Rangers' power play framework was created by David Quinn in late November of the 2019-20 season, at which point the second-year coach introduced Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome, and Tony DeAngelo. We built a first unit featuring four right-handed players. There is one left-hander in front of him, Chris Kreider.
That structure remains essentially unchanged, even though Adam Fox replaced DeAngelo almost from the beginning of the 2020-21 season and Vincent Trocheck replaced Strome two years ago.
The unit has grown since its inception under three different coaches: Quinn, Gerald Gallant, and current office official Peter Laviolette. Over the last four months of 2019-2020, the power play surged at a rate of 29 percent. The Rangers were third in the league last year with a percentage of 26.4%. Over the past three seasons, the Blueshirts have ranked fourth in ppg at 25.2 percent, behind Edmonton (28.4), Tampa Bay (25.9) and Toronto (25.7).
At the start of camp, 10 days into the game, Laviolette said he wanted to find a “balance” to give the guy an advantage, acknowledging his initial strength but perhaps giving him more time for other plays. We discussed — the subject of the conversation was of course Alexis Lafreniere — a playing unit that has been one of the best in the league for many years.
But the imbalance planted in my brain is:
In the first six games of last year's tournament, the Rangers were 10 of 25 on the power play, 6 of 16 against Washington and 4 of 9 against Carolina.
In the final 10 games of the playoffs, the Rangers had the man advantage in 2 of 25 games, 1 of 10 against the Canes and 1 of 15 against the Cats.
The problem was that Laviolette didn't shake it up and promote Lafreniere, who had been separated from all the forwards in the room by the middle of the conference finals, to the first unit. We talked about it then. I thought it was a mistake not to give Lafreniere, the embodiment of the political slogan “He's fresh, everyone else is tired,” room for further candidacy.
But let's fast forward to Friday, when the Rangers presented two different units separated by top-six line combinations. One unit included Kreider, Zibanejad, Riley Smith, Fox and Filip Chytil, while the other included Panarin, Trocheck, Lafreniere, Brennan Osman and Zach Jones. That's how they set it up against the Islanders on Tuesday.
You might think of a unit with Kreider and Fox as 1A, but would you like to tell Panarin and Trocheck that they are the B of this unit? Be my guest.
This could be a tough one if the Rangers choose to go this route. More players will get added ice time and there will be alternatives if one shuts down, but the players who have been in PP 1-AND-ONLY for the last five years will lose time. Dew. If your first unit feels pressure to get the job done quickly before being replaced, your mindset may change.
“I think some teams have a 1A and a 1B,” Laviolette said. “We're trying to get through it. We're looking at it.”
I've been screaming for years about the intermittent right of my first and only unit to basically refuse to change even after 100 seconds of nothing. But last year, that wasn't an issue. The first unit was used essentially all the time (and used in 59 of the club's 65 PPGs).
Panarin played 76 percent of the team's power play minutes, while Kreider played 75 minutes, Trocheck 74 minutes, Zibanejad 72.7 minutes and Fox 66.5 minutes while missing 10 games. This leaves me with less time to spend on other people.
But here's something to consider. Basically, all large power plays involving multiple strong forwards work the same way. The first unit continues until it scores.
Tampa Bay led the NHL in power play efficiency at 28.6 percent. Nikita Kucherov accounted for 83.5 percent of the Lightning's man advantage, followed by Brayden Point at 75.6 percent, Steven Stamkos at 75.1 percent, Victor Hedman at 69.3 percent and Nick Paul at 64.2 percent.
Edmonton was fourth at 26.3 per cent. Evan Bouchard gets 76.7% of the Oilers' PP time, Leon Draisaitl 75.3%, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 73.4%, Zach Hyman 71.5%, and Connor McDavid 70.9%. It was.
Colorado was fifth at 24.5%. For the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon had 80.9 percent of the points, Mikko Rantanen had 80.7 percent, and Cale Makar had 69.1 percent.
The exception was Carolina, which came in second with a score of 26.9. Wes Jarvis led the Canes with 59.9 percent of power play time, followed by Sebastian Aho with 57.4 percent and Brett Burns with 54.4 percent.
Of course, their two units went 2-for-21 against the Rangers in the second round.
This is a big deal. Rangers need to diversify and spread out their wealth. But they will fix what isn't broken until it breaks.
To join 1A/1B or not to join 1A/1B? That's the question.
