This article is part of our The Man Advantage series.
If the 2018-19 season ended today, the Lightning, Jets, Panthers, Bruins and Penguins will have the top-five power plays in the cap era, with the Avalanche coming close at seventh. This may not be surprising given the level of talent in the league and the NHL's obsession with making goalie equipment smaller, but it is curious there's such a sudden explosion of record-setting efficiency. If the trend is league-wide it won't be much of a story, but if the disparity between the haves and have-nots widens, it's a potential wrinkle in an already fickle fantasy hockey market.
HOT POWER PLAYS
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks were languishing at the start of the season with an abysmal power play that had no excuse being so ineffective with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on its roster, but there are signs they're turning it around. For Toews, five of his last seven points have been scored on the power play, and for Kane, it's four of his last seven. Thanks to them, their power play has climbed to 24th, and though they've gotten lucky in the process of scoring some of those points, it's also thanks to some personnel moves. Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat, once a dynamic duo in the OHL, have joined Toews and Kane on the top power-play unit, and together the two duos have made each other more effective. The Blackhawks are 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) in their last five games and seem to have settled on those four forwards
If the 2018-19 season ended today, the Lightning, Jets, Panthers, Bruins and Penguins will have the top-five power plays in the cap era, with the Avalanche coming close at seventh. This may not be surprising given the level of talent in the league and the NHL's obsession with making goalie equipment smaller, but it is curious there's such a sudden explosion of record-setting efficiency. If the trend is league-wide it won't be much of a story, but if the disparity between the haves and have-nots widens, it's a potential wrinkle in an already fickle fantasy hockey market.
HOT POWER PLAYS
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks were languishing at the start of the season with an abysmal power play that had no excuse being so ineffective with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on its roster, but there are signs they're turning it around. For Toews, five of his last seven points have been scored on the power play, and for Kane, it's four of his last seven. Thanks to them, their power play has climbed to 24th, and though they've gotten lucky in the process of scoring some of those points, it's also thanks to some personnel moves. Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat, once a dynamic duo in the OHL, have joined Toews and Kane on the top power-play unit, and together the two duos have made each other more effective. The Blackhawks are 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) in their last five games and seem to have settled on those four forwards to play on their top unit.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens are 10-for-22 during their eight-game winning streak, a big reason why they've managed to jump right back into contender status following a poor stretch during which Jim Rutherford looked like he might be making sweeping changes. They were 4-for-4 against the Blues last Saturday and have now scored on the power play in five consecutive games, and their second unit has been pretty productive as well with Tanner Pearson getting his first two power-play points of the season and Marcus Pettersson finding a nice role after getting traded from the Ducks. Olli Maatta's also getting some PP PT, but his offensive ceiling is limited and given his more important role on the PK, his spot likely will be taken by Justin Schultz, who is practicing and set to return soon from injury.
Tampa Bay Lightning
I could spew out about a hundred stats that show how dominant the Lightning's power play has been this season, but there's one thing I'd like to point out that's pretty darn cool. Most teams' power plays are successful because they generate a lot of chances from the slot. If you look at the Leafs' eighth-ranked PP on HockeyViz, there's a Muk-like glob of deep purple right there, and it shows they're very effective at generating scoring chances from that area. That makes sense, since John Tavares and Auston Matthews do most of their damage in-close, Nazem Kadri is effective in front of the net and the Leafs are first in the league with 79 shots from high-danger areas on the power play, according to Corsica. The Lightning's top-ranked power play, however, ranks 23rd in this category with 46 shots, even though a lot of the other top power-play units (Jets, Sharks, Avs) also rank in the top-10.
But if you look at scoring chances from medium-danger areas – roughly the face-off dots and the high slot – here's where the Lightning blow everyone away. They have 91 shots from this area, 22 more than the next team and finish at a 24.2 percent rate, which is better than half the teams from high-danger areas. Why? Because Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos are arguably the best lefty-righty, 1-2 punch the league has ever seen, and they're so good at scoring from the face-off dots the Lightning just don't have any rebounds to pick up from the slot or have any reason to venture there. Stamkos and Kucherov have scored five power-play points apiece since the holiday break during which the Lightning are 6-for-15.
COLD POWER PLAYS
Columbus Blue Jackets
This is the second time the BJ's have appeared on this list even though they've been winning games in spite of a terrible power play. They've gone 0-for-8 in their last five games and their paltry 12.9 percent efficiency ranks last in the league. In a season in which most teams are establishing high-water marks with the man advantage, the Blue Jackets are historically bad, and at this pace are set to finish with one of the 10 worst power plays in the cap era. What's odd is that the BJ's have been here before – during the 2008-09 season, Ken Hitchcock's stingy defense carried the league's worst power play into the playoffs with 41 wins and Rick Nash scored just six of his 40 goals with the man advantage. John Tortorella's squad is on pace for 48 wins and Artemi Panarin has just six PPP this season, which is 13 percent of his overall output and much lower than his career average of 24 percent. The BJ's just don't generate many high-quality chances and they're simply better at scoring at even strength. It doesn't help that both Alex Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand have failed to take the next step, and it seems that neither will be turning the corner anytime soon.
Toronto Maple Leafs
I know I just praised the Leafs for generating a lot of good scoring chances from the right areas, but fact is fact: The Leafs are 0-for-6 in 2019, and going back further are just 1-for-10 in their past five games on the power play. Going through a dry spell is pretty common, but to draw just 10 opportunities is pretty weak; it's even lower than their season average of 2.66 power plays per game, which is tied for 29th in the league. Opponents are careful to not let the Leafs go on the power play, but despite having players who are good at drawing penalties, such as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, this has become a feature of Mike Babcock's Leafs over the past season and half, where they don't get a lot of power-play opportunities despite being pretty effective at converting them.
Vegas Golden Knights
It's as if scoring on the power play is some sort of jinx. After converting on their lone chance in an overtime loss to the Kings two weeks ago, the Knights have won five consecutive games but are 0-for-14 on the power play in that span, dropping their efficiency to 17th in the league and continuing to confound observers. The consensus during their slow start was that the shine has worn off and the Knights were coming back to reality after an impressive inaugural season, yet they've gone on a tear with 11 wins in 17 games since December and now rank fourth in the league. Brandon Pirri, who was so effective scoring goals during his seven-game stint, was demoted, and Ryan Reaves, who scored 31 goals in 498 career games coming into the season, has three power-play goals, tied with Max Pacioretty for fourth on the team. The Knights are truly doing things their own unique way, though Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault remain their two key guys and power-play specialist Brad Hunt has also been effective. Do keep an eye out for Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny, however, the veteran duo that anchors the second unit, because if the Knights' power play turns around it's probably because they've started to score as well.
