Rangers Experiment With Power Play Unit Consisting Of Only Forwards

With Adam Fox landing on injured reserve, the New York Rangers are without their quarterback on the power play. 

As a result, Peter Laviolette experimented with a unique power play setup during Thursday’s practice. 

He rolled out an all-forward first power play unit consisting of Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière. 

J.T. Miller was sick and not at practice, but he should replace one of these forwards once he returns.

It’s uncommon to have five forwards on one power play unit. Laviolette is open to new ideas given that Fox will miss at least a few games. 

“There’s been a lot of teams that have used five forwards before,” Laviolette said. “Just getting a look at it to see what that looks like.”

Laviolette feels comfortable potentially adapting to this new strategy partly due to how confident he is in Zibanejad to play Fox’s position on the man advantage.

“I feel like Mika is a guy who can read positions and read that spot to manage that,” Laviolette said. 

If Laviolette does decide to place five forwards on the power play, it would certainly be a drastic, yet potentially necessary change. 

Aside from Fox, the Rangers don’t have a defenseman who specializes in this role and five forwards could make their power play more explosive from an offensive standpoint. 

Keep your eyes out for the Rangers’ power play on Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.