Some NHL stars were excellent at 5-on-5 play, but this story from THN's exclusive Archive profiled a trio of players who were big-time producers with the man advantage.
Vol. 39, Issue 21, Feb. 21, 1986Some NHLers thrive when the game is played at 5-on-5, while others develop into special teams experts. In this story from THN’s exclusive Archive, we spotlight a few special teams specialists for your reading pleasure.
(And this is your daily reminder – you unlock full access to our 76-year Archive by subscribing to the magazine.)
In this cover story from our Feb. 21, 1986 edition – Vol. 39, Issue 21 – THN writer Dave Molinari focused on a trio of elite special-team players – Jean-Francois Sauve of the Quebec Nordiques and Pelle Eklund and Tim Kerr of the Philadelphia Flyers.
At the time the story was published, Sauve had amassed 46 points by the NHL all-star break – and a whopping 40 of them came on the power play. Similarly, Eklund had generated 39 points by the break, and 33 came with the man advantage. And Kerr had scored 39 goals by the all-star break, with 25 of them coming on the power play. Each of the three players gave his team a distinct edge on special teams, and their coaches did not want them to go about their business without praise for their work.
“In junior, I’d say he was the best passer I had ever seen,” Penguins center John Chabot said of Sauve.
“(Sauve) has very great vision and an offensive mind that’s very unusual.” Nords coach Michel Bergeron added. “He has talent and skills that you just don’t learn…Probably, in hockey, he is the equivalent of the best pinch hitter in baseball.”
Meanwhile, Eklund summed up his power play talents by telling Molinari, “My best skills are my skating and my passing, and seeing what’s going on…That’s why I’m successful on the power play.”
Finally, Chabot was frank when discussing how to stop Kerr from scoring.
“The best thing you can do is just hold onto his stick when he gets near the net,” Chabot said.
Sauve was slight of stature at 5-foot-6, and while his power play skills were elite, the truth about his ability to play in a big man’s NHL was spelled out by his coach.
“If he would not be used as a specialist on power plays,” Bergeron said of Sauve, “he probably would not be in the NHL.”
THE NHL’S POWER AND GLORY
By Dave Molinari
Vol. 39, Issue 21, Feb. 21, 1986
They are members of a most elite strike force, specialists who analyze situations faster than most computers can do long division, mercenaries who can dissect a defense with the cool precision of a neurosurgeon.
Their playing time is light, the physical and mental demands of their role heavy.
They must focus their attention and react with the speed of a nerve impulse, or risk squandering an opportunity that might never return — all while someone is apt to be jabbing at them with a hockey stick.
At stake is often nothing less than a game, occasionally a game which can determine the outcome of a team’s entire season.
Such is life in the National Hockey League’s fastest lane — the power play.
Many of the league’s most accomplished scorers — Glenn Anderson, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux and Mats Naslund prominent among them — are most awesomely effective on the power play, having scored at least a third of their goals while their team had a man advantage.
But for those players, power plays simply magnify the brilliance of their impeccable skills.
There are, however, a precious few players whose statistical prowess — to say nothing of their continued employment — hinges on their ability to extract maximum value from every power play their team receives.
And while every team has players who prosper on the power play, few have developed the role of power-play specialist like Jean-Francois Sauve of Quebec and Pelle Eklund of Philadelphia.
Of Sauve’s 46 points at the all-star break, 40 had come on the power play — 12 of his 15 goals and 28 of his 31 assists.
Take Sauve off the power play and his point total is dwarfed by that of some goalies. Leave him there, and opponents are often up to their hip pads in nervous perspiration.
“I played against Jean-Francois in junior, too, and he was always an excellent power-play man,” said John Chabot, a Pittsburgh Penguin center and penalty killer.
“In junior, I’d say he was the best passer I had ever seen.”
There are those who would contend such an evaluation has retained a considerable degree of accuracy.
“He has very great vision and an offensive mind that’s very unusual.” Quebec coach Michel Bergeron said. “He has talent and skills that you just don’t learn.”
Sauve, however, generously attributes much of his ice time — and success — on the power play to the skills of teammates such as Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny, along with Bergeron’s plethora of man-advantage strategies.
“I am used so much (on the power play) probably because, when I’m there, it takes pressure off Stastny and Goulet,” Sauve said. “We’re moving all the time, we’re never at the same position. And we never do the same play twice, always try something new. Bergeron uses five good players who complement each other.”
But his coach reserved some of his most lavish compliments for Sauve.
“Probably, in hockey, he is the equivalent of the best pinch hitter in baseball,” Bergeron said.
“I don’t know any others like him, who can stay on the bench for 12 or 15 minutes, then jump on the ice and be hot like he played the last shift.”
There is at least one other, however, and he has spent his first winter in North America on the Flyers’ payroll.
Eklund had 39 points at the break, 33 of which resulted from power plays. That includes seven of nine goals and 26 of 30 assists.
“My best skills are my skating and my passing, and seeing what’s going on,” said Eklund, who ironically suffered through a nine-game power-play drought but was due to break out in a big way. “That’s why I’m successful on the power play.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt Eklund’s point total that he usually is in the company of Flyer right winger Tim Kerr, who almost certainly will set an NHL record for power-play goals this year.
In fact, exactly half of Eklund’s 26 power-play assists at the break came on goals scored by Kerr.
Kerr, the most prolific power-play scorer in the NHL today, had scored fully 25 of his 39 goals at the all-star break on the power play, three fewer than the record of 28 set by Phil Esposito and tied by Mike Bossy.
Kerr’s modus operandi is a paragon of simplicity. He merely positions his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame near the net, then waits for either a teammate or circumstance to place the puck on his stick.
“The best thing you can do is just hold onto his stick when he gets near the net,” Chabot said.
That’s because moving him with anything less than a court order is like trying to elbow the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art off its foundation.
“He’s so strong, there’s no way you can move him,” Chabot said. “You can’t take him and push him away, because he’s just like a Phil Esposito…even stronger than that.”
Kerr, a tower of strength on the power play, has been somewhat weaker without the Flyers enjoying a man advantage. In fact, at one point this season he went 12 games without an even strength goal.
Conventional wisdom holds the Flyers are limiting Eklund to service on the power play in an effort to familiarize him with their system before fully integrating him into it.
But while Eklund professes to understand the Flyers’ motive, he finds his truncated duties to be less comfortable than a pair of new skates.
“It’s a little bit different,” Eklund said. “Before, I always played a lot — and on the power play, too.
“Now, we have one shift and then come out to play the power play. That’s hard. It’s not like what I’m used to.”
Conversely, running the power play is a role which Sauve has come to accept and, to a degree, appreciate.
“I’ve been used as a specialist the last couple of years. I understand my role, and I am happy with it.
“Not only am I used to it. but it’s probably better for me. It’s better for me to have a few quality shifts than to play all the time.”
The basic tenets of survival in the NHL dictate Sauve might not last more than a handful of games if he were compelled to take a regular shift.
He stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 175 pounds — roughly the same dimensions as one of Kerr’s legs. The restrictions imposed by his size limit his playing time and, consequently, his opportunity to fully display his impeccable skills.
“If he had been three inches taller,” Bergeron said, “he would be an incredible player.”
And so the abilities which enable him to methodically dissect opponents’ penalty-killing units might be all that stand between Sauve and gainful employment in an office or auto assembly plant.
“If he would not be used as a specialist on power plays,” Bergeron said, “he probably would not be in the NHL.”
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