Fixing the Montreal Canadiens power play is a matter of mentality
By Omar L
Unit 1
Assuming the Montreal Canadiens do not make any changes to the units before the next game, here is what the team’s power play looks like.
Unit 1: Max Domi, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, and Shea Weber.
Unit 2: Andrew Shaw, Kenny Agostino, Tomas Tatar, David Schlemko, and Jeff Petry.
That top unit looks pretty decent on paper, doesn’t it? Three playmakers, a player who can take a beating in the crease and fight for deflections followed by a rock one-timer option. The second unit doesn’t look as strong, but Petry’s mobility, Tatar’s shot, and Agostino’s vision are strengths.
Some have held the issue of the PP execution at the hands of the formation on the first unit. Weber has usually been the point man along the blueline to distribute the puck or wait for the one-timer pass. Now the Habs have Drouin as the guy, who is the right move in my opinion.
The 23-year-old’s vision and passing were two of the things that made him a likely candidate. Additionally, in the moments when the opposition clears the puck, Drouin’s skating allows him to evade sticks and wait for the rest of his unit to enter the zone before he makes his way to the point.
The Weber play is instead set up from the right circle, again, another move that makes sense considering he shoots right. Kotkaniemi and Gallagher taking the middle of the ice speak to their ability to recover the puck either from failed shot attempts or rebounds. Domi on the right is a shot option from the right circle, as well as, the centre portion of the distribution line connecting between Drouin at the blueline or Kotkaniemi down low from behind the net.