Team has component parts to have potent power play, but how will they line-up?
There's every reason to believe the Vancouver Canucks will have a potent power play next season. With Elias Pettersson, JT Miller and Quinn Hughes, the pieces are in place for the Canucks to torch opponents when working with the man-advantage. But, in addition to those core pieces, the team will head into the 2023-24 campaign with holes to fill on the top power play unit.
Andrei Kuzmenko notched a team-high 14 of his 39 goals on the power play. So it stands to reason that he'll once again find himself at the net front working with Pettersson, Miller and Hughes. From there, though, things get a little murkier for the Canucks.
Maybe the Canucks will simply run things back with Anthony Beauvillier in the bumper spot. However, Beauviller netted just three power play goals in the 33 games he played after being acquired from the New York Islanders. So he wasn't exactly a replacement for Bo Horvat and the 11 power play goals he scored prior to being dealt away.
Elias Pettersson scored just six times with the man-advantage last season and it would make so much sense for the Canucks to get the puck in the hands of their most-talented player more often. And it would likely help the overall performance of the group if Pettersson had touches closer to the opposition net. However, with Pettersson set-up to take advantage of his elite one-time weapon and force defences to shade to his side to create open ice and passing lanes elsewhere, he's likely to remain positioned on the right-half wall. As a left-handed shooter, though, it's tougher for Pettersson to feather passes to the inside off his back-hand especially if the player in the bumper is also left-handed.
That's why the Canucks, for years, have run their power play through JT Miller and Quinn Hughes on the left-side of the ice. Last season, the team's first option was often Miller looking off defenders and sliding pucks to the interior for Horvat to convert. With Horvat no longer in the equation, perhaps it's time to try Miller as the man in the middle with Pettersson operating in the left face-off circle. It neutralizes his one-time option, but it provides him more opportunities to see the ice and make plays.
Alternatively, Brock Boeser, a right-hander, could find himself on the left flank as a one-time option able to slide the puck back to Quinn Hughes if shooting opportunities do not exist. Or maybe, Hughes, himself, will shade to the left half-boards and take advantage of his ample playmaking gifts rather than setting up at the top of the umbrella.
It's possible the Canucks will go off the board and give Ilya Mikheyev or Dakota Joshua an opportunity to work with the first unit. Joshua profiles as a net-front presence who can effectively use his size to win puck-retrieval battles to keep plays alive. However, does he possess the soft-hands necessary to be effective deflecting pucks and finding rebounds through traffic?
Hughes led all Canucks with 34 power play points last season followed by Miler with 30, Pettersson and 25 and Kuzmenko with 19. If the Canucks run a first power play with Pettersson, Miller, Hughes, Kuzmenko and Boeser or Beauvillier, the top end ought to have elite-level firepower. The options for an effective second power play, however, seem limited.
Filip Hronek will surely quarterback the second unit. After that, the concerns begin at centre. Will the club need to rely on Teddy Blueger -- who has never recorded a power play point let alone scored a power play goal in 268 career NHL games -- to win whatever face-offs are required? If they don't run with Blueger, the second unit will likely operate without a natural centre. Perhaps, that's where Sheldon Dries and his six power play goals from last season enters the equation. But will Dries be an every night player for the Canucks next season? Obviously he needs to be in the line-up to be a power play option.
Conor Garland likely finds himself as part of the second unit. However, Garland has just three power play goals in his two seasons with the Canucks. So he doesn't profile as a huge power play threat. That leaves Boeser or Beauvillier, Mikheyev, Joshua and possibly a darkhorse like Vasily Podkolzin unless the Canucks operate a second set with three forwards and add Christian Wolanin or Akito Hirose as an additional defensemen.
The Canucks power play converted at 22.7% and finished 11th in the NHL last season. It was also tied for 11th in total goals scored producing 62 times with the man-advantage. Horvat accounted for 11 of those markers and was tied with JT Miller for second on the hockey club. So that loss will surely be felt. In a perfect world, Pettersson (6) and Hughes (2) will pick up some of the slack.
With Jason King relieved of his power play coaching duties after last season, change is certainly on its way next season. Rick Tocchet will likely take on more of a leadership role and is expected to turn to Daniel and Henrik Sedin for additional guidance. It's also believed the team's leadership group -- Pettersson, Hughes and Miller -- will have some say in the way the club operates with the man-advantage.
Perhaps best case scenario is that the Canucks have such a lethal first unit that it doesn't really matter who gets the nod for mop-up duty on the second power play.