Bruins: A Failure of Power Play Principles | Ep. 90

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome.

0:00 Speaker 2: Can you start a podcast with me?

0:02 Speaker 3: Please? I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 2: I sax, sit it out in trouble.

0:14 Speaker 3: I can say this past us today.

0:20 Speaker 2: Here's a chance pop fa right down on goalie scars. Oh my wa a move by the rookie.

0:24 Speaker 3: Two on one plaster not movie with Marsh getting to it.

0:29 Speaker 2: Oil dances in padcasta hold right way corner faster Chester.

0:40 Speaker 1: What's that for?

0:51 Speaker 4: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape. We are recording this segment, which will be shared on ME twenty first with our loyal listeners and followers.

1:05 Speaker 5: I'll be your.

1:05 Speaker 4: Host tonight, Maria from Watertown. As usual, I'm joined by my lovely co host Caroline and our regular recurring guest, Professor Moe, and we are going to continue the conversations that we have started and previously shared, breaking down our analysis of the Buston Bruins team in segments that have focused on forwards, defenceman, and tonight, we are going to focus on one of the specialty teams units, which is the power Play. But before we get down to business, Hello, welcome, how's everyone doing tonight?

1:58 Speaker 1: Ah good, I've got my drink my Bruin's tape to tape sticker merch you would like a sticker Lincoln in in the notes. Uh, but yeah, it's it's May, it's spring.

2:11 Speaker 5: What can I say? It's lovely out. I have no pressure watching playoff hockey.

2:17 Speaker 3: Well, there is pressure if you're rooting against a team.

2:21 Speaker 6: Yes, I mean yeah, it's that that always happens regardless, right, you you you find a way to, you know, get engaged.

2:32 Speaker 5: Right.

2:32 Speaker 4: We all have brackets going on, most of which may have been busted with the fact that the Colorado Avalanche have been and knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But uh, yeah, it's pretty easy to root. It's easier to root against certain teams. And I think we can all agree on that there's one team in particular when you have to look at a particular series and take the lesser of two evils and root against the Toronto made beliefs. Maybe right, maybe maybe, Although I will say that Floria Panthers did play like dirty rats late in that game, so not very Again, how have you referred to it previously?

3:18 Speaker 5: Caroline?

3:20 Speaker 4: Less than honorable? They play less than honorable late late.

3:26 Speaker 5: In the game. But I know I can't bring myself to root for the Leafs.

3:31 Speaker 1: Never No, Never Leaves. This is the Never Leaves Podcast.

3:41 Speaker 1: We're never gonna like the Leafs, even if they're the last hockey.

3:45 Speaker 5: Team in town. You're never gonna like the Leafs.

3:48 Speaker 4: But be that as it may, we're gonna we're gonna talk tonight about power play and you know, the power play for many, many years, And I'll go back this twenty eleven because I still can't believe the Bruins won a Stanley Cup with the power play performing at such an anemic level like it was. It was atrocious. It was atrocious. Mo and you and I've talked a couple of times about the you know, the phrase puck moving defenceman, and I couldn't wait to never hear that terminology ever again. After two thousand and eleven, when they you know, brought in Dimitri Orlob who not I mean not all I.

4:40 Speaker 5: Call I referred to him as Crapperlay. That's his dad. He was Thomas crapper Lay.

4:46 Speaker 4: I never wanted to hear the phrase puck moving defenseman ever again. So you know, fill us in on you know, the philosophy of you know, the power play where where did you know this come from? In terms of your thought process on the breaking down and hopefully trying to help the Bruins fix fix what ails them in this regard.

5:14 Speaker 1: It's been bad since like twenty nineteen, So how do we come back?

5:17 Speaker 5: It's been bad since twenty eleven?

5:20 Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, no, basically in recent history it has always been relatively garbage.

5:28 Speaker 5: So how and why is that happening?

5:35 Speaker 3: Well, there's man, it's probably just a myriad of reasons, right, the first one being if you're in the discord, if you read our chats, I mean, I don't know if we know for sure, but whoever runs the Bruins powerplay, if it's Kelly or somebody else, they definitely don't have a have a set system, right, So, I mean the Bruins power play is just it's it's directionless. But also they don't really have a style. And I I don't know if it's been like that, you know, for a long time, but you know, you you always try to say, I mean you you try to do the power play based off of players that you have.

6:19 Speaker 3: So yeah, Don Sweeney and and Cam are to blame, but still you you need to have those guys put in the best position. So you know, thinking about these topics, thinking about these discussions, there's it's just fun to talk about and and different aspects of the game that not a lot of people are familiar with with the like the specific strategies. You know, they just kind of see five five, five against four and they just think, oh, they're going to score every time because they got an extra guy. But there's there's so many different little things that happen both on the power play and the penalty field side.

6:53 Speaker 3: So just what I'm talking about.

6:54 Speaker 5: It see in Layman's terms, how you know someone who's a novice to watching the sport of hockey would come to that conclusion where you've got five professional guys on the ice with only four on the other side, and how it can look so disjointed and like you said, you know, doesn't seem to have a plan. And you know, they've made attempts at different variations where you know, we've seen instances where they've had five forwards out there at the risk of you know, having David Pasternak at the point, and the risk reward quite often was treacherous, right because shorthanded goals galore we've had, you know, scenarios of shorthanded goals galore's.

7:47 Speaker 5: But I think you know, from a Bruin's perspective, we've always had talented players manning the power play units, in particular, unit number one, your prime unit. And I guess you know. My question to you.

8:08 Speaker 4: Is is is it a combination for the lack of success based on coaching, for the stubbornness of players who are set in there in their ways in terms of you know, how they want to set up a play or not set up a play.

8:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, and before.

8:32 Speaker 1: Mo before you go in that direction, because that's a really good question, because we want to make sure that new fans of hockey even know what is going on. Can you kind of like couch it in the context of what's even actually supposed to be happening, right, Like, what what is even supposed to happen because obviously we know what we see out there is not what should be happening, right, Like, you're not supposed to be allowing shorthanded goals like we've meen especially this, so you know, you talked about fans that's a bad thing that.

9:11 Speaker 5: Your team is giving up a shorty. That's a bad thing.

9:14 Speaker 1: Right, So, you know you talked about there being no style. What is a power play style? What is supposed to be happening? What are the what are the jobs of the players that are out there? And then how or why are the Bruins so bad at doing those particular jobs?

9:35 Speaker 3: All right, well, let me see if I can remember all those points from the beginning.

9:40 Speaker 5: What was the power.

9:43 Speaker 4: Well, first answer for dummies, power play for for dummies, I'm I'm and I'm referring to myself.

9:51 Speaker 3: All right, So to answer your first question, Maria, when it comes to basically like what's been happening and why the Brows power play has probably slowly gotten worse over the last year year and a half. I look back to like you guys said, I mean, you had Bergeron, you had Marshand, You had two guys who that was kind of their bread and butter was the special team's play. Marshan would always hit Bergeron in the bumper and Berzron just knew how to take that, take that pass and just rip it on net and score.

10:22 Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's kind of how they won the game seven against Vancouver, was you know, that was one of the plays they did the bumper play, So I think the Bruins have kind of fallen in love with that, and then once those guys left, especially Bergeron, they just continued to try to hammer that home. Where I think we saw like Coil trying to do that, maybe Zaka in the bumper and it's just guys that can't fill that role because a Coyle never shoots, so he's just gonna get the pucket from the slot and try to pass it and Naka no, and Zaka can't shoot, you know, so.

10:59 Speaker 5: When he goes high and wide right.

11:02 Speaker 3: Right right, And so you couple that again with the beginning of the year where your only real target was Posternok and he looked hurt, and I mean, I think all the sports are he was probably hurt pretty significantly in the beginning where he would just kind of stand and you know, off to the side on the dot prepare for the one timer. And everybody knew that, so they just defended. Then they had nobody else that really had anything going, so their power play just they just didn't didn't go anywhere.

11:35 Speaker 3: So there's there's different strategies, there's there's different roles on the power play. When you think about it, The biggest term that everybody loves to talk about but never explain is the power play quarterback.

11:49 Speaker 5: Quarterback.

11:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, so everybody's like, you know, what the heck is the quarterback doing in a hockey game?

11:56 Speaker 3: Throwing the puck from behind the net down to the uppisde blue line. So basically, if you think about it in terms of a quarterback, it's it's going to be typically your your top defenceman whose job is to be I mean, for lack of a better term, is to be that quarterback and and someone that dictates the play. Since they're up at the blue line, they can see everything developed and they can you know, their job is to create that place based off the offensive zone. If they see the other team is it's kind of off to one side, they can get the pucket and move over to the opposite side quickly where there's space.

12:39 Speaker 3: Their job also is keep the puck in at the blue line. That's one of the deficiencies that LORIAI has in his game. But I was doing some research and McAvoy is apparently very good at it.

12:54 Speaker 1: So then.

13:00 Speaker 3: They lie there. There was actually I think it was a couple of years ago, there was some stats out there and where is it he was like fourth or fifth in keeping the puck in the zone.

13:15 Speaker 5: I believe it in past years. I believe it.

13:17 Speaker 1: Last year was could not have possibly been one of those here.

13:22 Speaker 4: No, no, because there was a decision made early, you know, the early stages of the season to take Charlie McAvoy off of the role as the quarterback of the power play, and it was being handed over to Hampus Lindholme. So that was short lived because the same game that that was handed over to him, those reins were handed over is when.

13:50 Speaker 5: He got injured. So there went that experiment, right.

13:57 Speaker 3: So and then if you think about it, right, if the puck gets knocked all the way down, their job is to retrieve the pucket and set up the play, the breakout and the transition game. So typically that's that's going to be your best defenseman, your your best skating defenceman. So guys that kind of stand out with those stats are going to be like your Kale mccars. You've got Jake Sanderson, Quinn Hughes, and the one guy I gotta on the see Boston side last year is Shane Gostiscare, So he's he's up there with with power play points.

14:29 Speaker 5: So he's been he's been a steady, steady Eddy for quite some time.

14:34 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and look Victor Headman, who used to be really really good, but it's kind of slowed down a little bit. So. So thinking about.

14:42 Speaker 1: Our previous episode about defenceman, right, we kind of categorize three different kinds of defensemen. We have our your offensive defenseman, who really is the strongest offensively.

14:53 Speaker 5: And maybe is a little bit weaker defensively.

14:57 Speaker 1: You've got your two way player who's really kind of like that you orn who can do both, and then your defensive defenseman, who's really that solid old timey blue liner. What would be Are you thinking the defensive defenseman or the two way player is like your ideal because Charlie McAvoy is really like a two way, right. We talked about him being the two way and he's really great, But Hampus would also be really good. I would say he's probably somewhere in between. If it's you know, a spectrum the two way player and the offensive player.

15:30 Speaker 1: Like what, first of all, why do you have a defenseman as part of your power play, right? Because some teams don't do that. A lot of teams when they're on the power play, they switch it up and all of a sudden they choose to put four forwards out there and one defenseman, And.

15:48 Speaker 5: Then others like the Kings or the Toronto.

15:52 Speaker 1: Maple Leafs choose to go with five forwards right up, right right up? Ye?

15:57 Speaker 5: Why why one versus the other? Is one better than the other?

16:02 Speaker 1: And you know, we kind of talked a little bit about what that defenseman should be doing, But is.

16:09 Speaker 5: There an ideal optimal makeup?

16:16 Speaker 3: Yeah, again, I think it kind of depends upon the game situation. Right, if you're down, if it's late, you're probably gonna be a little bit more aggressive and put five forwards out there. Also, if it's a five on three, even at some point in the game, maybe you put all five forwards. So in my mind, you know, the reason why you would put the defenseman out there is just in case they do get a one on one or a two on one. I mean, I don't think any of us want to see pasta back on defense on a two on one and so and most of the time NHL teams have that player who you know is a better skating defenseman, can pass, can shoot, can can do it and can at least play on the power play, right, So it's gonna also depend what skills that defenseman has and and what is it the other team?

17:08 Speaker 3: What what's the team trying to do. Are they trying to passle on the perimeter, Well, then you probably want like a hampuslint home guy who could take the puck, pass it and and make Chris passes. If you're trying to do a crash the net approach where you got too forwards down deep, then maybe you want to Mason Lorii who shoot get the bucks through. Or back in the day, if you had a Chara, you just rip it and you know, grip it the point you just last. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think that's why you see like Roman Yosi back when he was really great, he would just get the pug and just rip a slapper and you know they would they would fight for the rebounds or they would screen and go in.

17:48 Speaker 3: So it it all kind of depends what that team is is trying to do. And you know, you got Cale mccarr who can pretty much do everything. So fortunately not every team has that. So but then again, I mean, you know, the five forwards definitely give you more skill, more you know, higher end talent, and and probably a little bit better chemistry because their job is just to focus on offense. But again, you're you're sacrificing that. I guess that that that opportunity to go the other way and give up a prime scoring chance.

18:21 Speaker 3: So it's it's kind of a push, push and pull, give and take. You know, there's there's pros and cons to everything.

18:28 Speaker 5: Mm hmm.

18:29 Speaker 4: I'm curious, Mo, did you in in you know, getting ready to have this conversation with us, did you have a look to see how many shorthanded goals the Bruins actually allowed this season? Because I'm venturing to guests and educated guests would be they would be right at the top of the league.

18:53 Speaker 5: I actually giving up.

18:57 Speaker 3: I don't see that stat I thought they led though, right.

19:00 Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure that they did. So what would cause.

19:07 Speaker 1: In a bad power play?

19:12 Speaker 5: What would cause that kind of statistic to go haywire?

19:19 Speaker 1: You know, in the case of the Bruins or any team, you know, for somebody who may be listening, who is just learning, you know, just tuning in to learn about power play, Why does my team give up so many shorthanded goals? What is happening, Why cannot keep it in what happens?

19:39 Speaker 3: Yep, so, Maria, they the Bruins are tied with Tampa Bay for the most of thirteen.

19:46 Speaker 5: They really good power play?

19:48 Speaker 3: How many thirteen short handed goals? Yeah, so that's what happens at goal difference.

19:57 Speaker 4: And you know, we we can we can delve into this a little bit more because we hear a lot of conversation about how momentum can swing when you have opportunities like this, or you are presented with the powerplay opportunity right where even if you don't score, but you have created some momentum and no offenshives don'ts. But by the same token, when you give up a shorthanded goal, that too can swing the momentum pendulum in the opposite direction. So you know, in your ideal scenario, in your ideal scenario, what might be your potential remedies for the Bruins.

20:51 Speaker 5: I think it's too stagnant and slow, like no speed.

20:59 Speaker 3: Even on And.

21:01 Speaker 1: Is it the lack of movement in the offensive zone that is contributing in their case to these either failed power plays or shorts.

21:12 Speaker 3: All right, I got to try to remember all that now, so.

21:16 Speaker 5: Why are they bad at this why do they stuck at this small?

21:21 Speaker 3: I think they give up a lot of shorthanded opportunities for a couple of reasons. If I go back and think about the games, there seem to have been a lot of kind of short, short odd man rushes I'm shorthanded, where Louri just was not able to keep the puck hand, the puck would bounce off his stick, he couldn't control it. The other team would get on him, and you either have to take a penalty or they'd go in the other way. And I think, then what the risk you run is you have four forwards out there, right, so you still need at least one of those forwards to play higher in the offensive zone.

22:00 Speaker 3: And so because Ria the Brud's power play was slow and stood around, when the puck went to the corner, you would see guys chasing it and that guy high would try to pinch the puck would get past him, and then you'd have the other team go in the other way, and that would give up opportunities. So I think if you're able to have a philosophy of you can be fast in different ways. You can either keep your feet moving and you know. I mean, you've you've got ovechkind, you've got you've got pasta who kind of stand in their spot, which is fine.

22:37 Speaker 3: But what you need to do is, I mean the idea of a power play is to create many two on one situations because you always have that advantage. So what we were always taught is you always wanted to pass the puck, draw the other team kind of over to one side, so then you kind of get the other guy drifting over and then you're able to pass to the guy high pass over and either get a shot, get the guy to the bumper, or you can create kind of little little like mini like two on ones that way. Or you'll see you'll see Florida do a great job where they have a philosophy of it's always I don't know if they dump in chase, but they always for check.

23:13 Speaker 3: They always play behind the net. They're one of the teams that actually does things differently and so it's harder to defend because they don't see it. So again, you can be fast by passing the puck, drawing the other team in passing quickly, you can keep your feet moving, you can go It's it goes back to that that comment of being basically you have to be smart off the puck because that's where the majority of the game happens. So you always saw it with Bergeron in his IQ is he would always kind of be in the right place because he could move to open ice.

23:46 Speaker 3: He kept a movie. He wasn't stationary. So I think one of the other things why Boston sucks and they look slow is I think it was Colorado who started it or that who in my mind I think started that years ago. Was You'll see a guy taking the puck out of their own zone, flying up at the blue line, turn around and pass the puck back to the defenseman who's basically like going about five miles an hour, and you're like, what the hell are you doing?

24:16 Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, but interesting? Yeah, And now you've just slowed things down to a.

24:26 Speaker 3: Fan still, and you've given the other team the ability to stack the blue lines, and now you're.

24:31 Speaker 4: Set themselves up and be ready for whatever you might be contemplating next.

24:37 Speaker 3: Right, And I get it if you're dropping the puck back to like Koe mccar or like a Quinn Hughes, but you're dropping it to Macavoyd like it's okay, but it's.

24:47 Speaker 1: It's not you know, right, those guys are next level, their next level, Like he's fine, he's an excellent defenceman, but they're just next level, right.

24:56 Speaker 3: And then what you see is you'll see the guys either have to dump the puck because there's nothing else to do. You'll see them try to make a move and they'll give the puck up and it gets dumbed. Do they go the other way or it results in the off sides or it just nothing happens. And I think that's why we saw the power play just be so stagnant and one of the things that kind of pissed me off early in the year. And I don't know if I'm like breaming this or what, but they seem to have had a strategy where like the forward not on the power play, but even strength.

25:29 Speaker 3: But you could use this philosophy with is being quick, but if you're quick with the puck, that's almost more deadly than you know, skating straight ahead speed. So what they'd do is they'd have the forward the wing blu line. They'd have the center kind of cut back around skating full speed. Defenseman will hit the forward. The forward would back pass a little bit to the center who's got a full head of steam, and the defence then is kind of caught between does he keep backing up to give that forward now he's got all the time in the world, or do you back up and you know, let the fully blow past you.

26:03 Speaker 3: So it was it was great to see, and then they just got rid of it for some unknown reason. So I think the best way to fix this team is you've got to get rid of the assistant coaches.

26:19 Speaker 5: I was going to go there because we've used the word philosophy. We've used the word philosophy here.

26:25 Speaker 3: It all starts.

26:26 Speaker 5: Yeah, But I mean there's clearly a disconnect. Either what is what is being.

26:34 Speaker 4: Potentially coached is not resonating, or it is not being coached because you don't have a system for this specialty team unit that is putting the players in a position to succeed. Because I can't believe that it's for a lack of talent. No, you know, I know we have no Burge run anymore, and I know we have no crazy anymore. But you know, we still have a pasta. We still had a brad marshand, we still had a Charlie Coyle. We still had an Elias Linda, and we still had a Pavo Zaka. I still had you know, a Charlie Mackavoyd.

27:16 Speaker 4: So when when you have to look and you know, look at the blame pie, who gets the bigger slice of the blame pie.

27:25 Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean you've got talented enough players where those talented players just aren't put in that position or aren't given either free reign to do what they want, or they just don't have the right set play. So I think it has to start and stop almost with the coaching. I mean when I think about it, when when Monty first came in, why the Bruins were so effective and why they had the best season is they had a different philosophy where it was engaged the defenseman engaged four people, you know, speed transition game and no one could defend it.

28:03 Speaker 3: And they had a team built perfect for that strategy. I mean you had Taylor Hall and on the third line like it was. It was perfect. So it it definitely all starts with philosophy, and you really have to create a team either that matches your coaches philosophy or get players that match the coach's philosophy. So it's and right now, it's it's just like we put whatever we think because you know, there's there's no cohesion, So it's it's it's an interesting thing. And for this Bruins team, I don't even know how you raft a power play or or what style you would play.

28:48 Speaker 3: I mean it might be kind of fun to put I mean, maybe put Zadora off back there and just let him rip one timers, just crash the net and see what happens. I mean, he.

29:02 Speaker 5: Does have some skill. We saw it.

29:05 Speaker 4: We saw it late in the in the season where he would and you know, maybe on a couple of occasions he might have picked the wrong opportunity to rush the plot in because he's not the most fleet of foot. However, I'd be down with that because I don't think you can look this. This team's got a lot of things that need fixing. Yeah, that need fixing.

29:35 Speaker 5: But you know, at some point you've got to be able to have your specialty teams units working at a much higher degree than what we saw this past season.

29:51 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we were basically forced to last in power play, you know, Flyers, Islanders and worse, Oh my god.

30:02 Speaker 4: And again don't like in your and again this sounds like, you know, I'm being disrespectful, and I don't mean it in that.

30:10 Speaker 5: Manner, but when you're grouped.

30:14 Speaker 4: In that same group, you're you're not having a good time.

30:19 Speaker 5: You're not having a good time.

30:21 Speaker 3: I would say, when the Sabers and the Sharks and the Blackhawks are well above you, you're probably not doing.

30:29 Speaker 7: So good right well, you know, I think for for looking to next season, you know, I I've learned a lot from you Mo in our discord group, which everybody who listens should totally.

30:47 Speaker 5: Join just to listen or read.

30:50 Speaker 1: You don't have to be a super expert on place and everything like Mo.

30:56 Speaker 5: Yeah, just.

30:59 Speaker 1: I've learned it. And I've been a lifelong hockey fan, and I think, you know, I think the it's not the be all, end all solution, but quite frankly, I think some of the solutions are very very simple because what I've become really attuned to in the last season is the fact that this team, this Boston Bruins team as it has existed at least in the last couple of seasons, has failed to do two things.

31:30 Speaker 5: One moved their feet.

31:33 Speaker 1: You know. One of the comments like and I think Mo, you really started this in the discord, and I think everybody who participate in the game day conversation has started to pay attention to this and look for this, which is what those five players on the ice and see how much not just the puck passing that happens, but the physical moving and kind of almost like turning the waters around that area. So you're not just trying to kind of, you know, confuse the opponent with your passing, but you're confusing the opponent while simultaneously moving.

32:12 Speaker 1: And very rarely did we see good movement. And that's something that I've definitely learned from you to pay attention to and look at. And I think first order of business is, you know, institute like bring that in. There's gotta be more movement. And the number one reason why not, just because you want to constantly keep your opponent in you know, confusion, so to speak. If you screw up your feet.

32:42 Speaker 5: Which are already in motional are a.

32:44 Speaker 1: Lot easier to keep moving and move in the other direction as opposed to when you are standing still.

32:50 Speaker 5: The most difficult.

32:54 Speaker 1: You know, way to get to another place is if is coming from a stand still, right, And so I think that also contributed to a lot of the shorthanded goals. The other huge thing with the departure of Patrice Bergeron, we did.

33:12 Speaker 5: Get this with James van Riemsdyke.

33:15 Speaker 1: I liked him because he liked Bergeron occupied that bumper spot, right that spot right in front of the net, just below the you know, just below the slot where you have somebody where their job is, you know, deflections and screens and just being right there. So that way when you had people just take shots, just take the shots, you've got also somebody right there for the rebounds. And zero people occupied that role last season this past season.

33:51 Speaker 5: Zero.

33:52 Speaker 4: Well, I think Eliah Slndholme was you know, mental right and again, but they didn't put him.

34:01 Speaker 1: There then no, literally nobody was ever so physically there is what what is the you know is again, are we talking about inept coaching or a lack of stubbornness or unbillingness or the player out of position or was the coach saying, eh, well, gotta.

34:22 Speaker 5: Players, Yeah, it's.

34:27 Speaker 3: It's it's it's so tough though, because.

34:33 Speaker 1: Plus you've got the shorthanded goals situation issue, which is

34:39 Speaker 1: again the Bruins were spoiled in having someone like Patrice Bergeron, who was that again two hundred foot player who he centered the wings and he centered the defenceman. Right, So if you screwed up right and the puck goes out of his own, you not only have your denman who can go after the puck to try and salvage the situation, but you had someone like Patrice Bergeron who could hustle back there and serve as that second defenseman.

35:12 Speaker 5: Essentially.

35:13 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, for sure, yep, they don't have a true center, like they just don't have one right now, right, No, I.

35:22 Speaker 3: Mean Lindholm was was kind of brought in to be that guy. I like him on the power Play, especially because he does seem to win win those draws, which is critical. I mean, you need you need to win that face off in order to you know, to get that get that momentum going for you.

35:41 Speaker 4: I think does seem to be adverse to like, you know, setting up in Mark Riki's office either you know, and and kind of getting getting in there either you know, to to create a screen or to cause you know, to be maybe the potential to you know, to tip in a shot. But it just you know, the the sample size was so so small, and you know, and and you know, I don't know about the rest of you, but my my hope is that when there is a new coach put in place, that this coach will be afforded the opportunity to choose his own coaching staff and develop his own philosophies in terms of you know, five.

36:33 Speaker 5: On five play, power play.

36:37 Speaker 3: And penalty Yep. Yeah, So I think the biggest the biggest problem for me is is having Zaka in the bumper. I think we've we've seen it too many times where shots just go over the net, they go wide, And I'm okay with Zaka being out there, but in my mind, he's more of a setup guy, where I'd rather have him like dow Low on the side of the net and then go in for the rebounds because he's got good hands, you know, he should be able to tap in a rebound or grab the puck, move it back up high and and see what happens.

37:12 Speaker 3: But I think moving forward, I think the Bruins have to get rid of the bumper power play. They basically just have to trap that and and just assume it doesn't exist and it's it's dead, and go on and and really play to the strength of your players. So if you've got like a fabian life cyle out there that you know, you know, if he makes the team next year, stick him down low and and just let him play. If we have met Patra out there next year, maybe have him high so he can you know, read the play and pass or use skating uh to open up a shot lane.

37:49 Speaker 3: Gotta love parents, Doug Barkain. So it's split, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

37:57 Speaker 1: Why don't we Why don't we do quick We could take a quick break from our sponsors and then we can talk a little bit more about who should.

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40:25 Speaker 5: Ro Yes, yeah, you're you're the coach, all right. We are giving you the We're making you the power play coach.

40:36 Speaker 1: What do you do with Mason Lowray? Yeah?

40:39 Speaker 3: Makeup a forward.

40:42 Speaker 5: I had to do that, right, you had to do that? Now? It was yeah, picking on him a little bit, how what?

40:47 Speaker 4: But in his defense, you know, he he was put in a role that he likely didn't expect to be put in because of the injuries to hampuslund Home and Charlie McAvoy and and while he might have gotten you know, some looks at some point, if those two guys had been healthy, I'm not sure that he would have been

41:11 Speaker 4: he would have been anointed this as early as this season to be for power play quarterbacks. So, you know, with with all guys being healthy, let's let's start because I, I, again I've said this before, think that you build a team from the back end forward. So let's start with who who's your quarterback for unit number one?

41:37 Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think I would probably I would try something a little bit out of bounds. And it all depends who comes back and if they sign any free agents, but I think I would probably put Lori and lind Holme out there on the top. Power play. You have Lindholm as your guy that's out high, whose job is to kind of go boards to boards, keep the puck in be that odd be that high release valve in case someone gets pressured. And then I would let Laurai just kind of skate around. He's got no set position on the ice.

42:16 Speaker 3: His job is to just kind of create havoc uses skating. He's got great stick handling, he's you know, you guys see him in the warm ups. His his control is incredible and and his shot is really good since I mean he played forward growing up. So I think I would I would grab those two guys. I think Pasta and Geeky have to be out there together, just because Geeky's one timer has developed into a real good weapon. And if you've got both Pasta and Geeky out there, then it's it's pretty where's the play?

42:56 Speaker 3: And then that's where you've got Lai, who's job is to almost draw players with him. So if you're skating slowly around the net, you're going to get the attention of that forward, which makes Geeky open for a split second, or it makes you know. We'll get into it later. But you know, penalty kill is all about stick position. If you go to an area that is more high danger that they're gonna you know, your job as a penalty killer is to defend that pass, so you open the pass to the other way. So little things like that, and then I would say, I would say, whoever's probably better down low with the board play.

43:39 Speaker 3: So it was obviously never Trent Frederick put in there. Thank God we don't have to deal with him.

43:44 Speaker 1: I know I.

43:48 Speaker 3: Had to so you've got it would almost be like I think Matthew K. Chuck on Florida. Who's who's really good down low behind you know, behind the net on the boards. So I don't know if that's a guy like lind Home. I know that's why I maybe you hate to say it, but a guy like Bennett would maybe be a good guy down low that could you know, I know, but at least still injure Toronto goalies for us.

44:16 Speaker 3: But you know, maybe you've got Zaka down there who you know, does have hands, can't pass, or or lind Holm. I don't know if middle stat will develop into something. And then what you do on the second power play is I you know, uh, it all depends how many forward you have. If you put li Cele out there, maybe McAvoy, I mean McAvoy is a decent passer, He does have decent vision, and he skates well.

44:44 Speaker 5: So I've got the door of a shot on that second unit.

44:49 Speaker 3: I was thinking that too. I mean Zadora does does skate well. He's a big, huge dude, so I mean he can move well. I just worry sometime I don't know if his decision making is is yeah, which is why maybe, Yeah, which is why maybe if you have you know, if if Yoki Haru is bad or where they have someone else, you know, play with him that you know actually is more of a puck mover, then maybe Zadora's job is just to kind of be like a Charra on the power play and just grip it and just fire it and get a bunch of big bodies if you've got guys like middle stat out there, you know, and and hope they kind of fight for the puck in front, and then my cell just kind of stays off to the side.

45:39 Speaker 3: Hope the puck comes to me, just rip it in. So but I think the Bruins gotta get got to get away from the bumper it's and they got to get rid of that.

45:49 Speaker 4: Back pass, right And the definition of madness is, you know, seemingly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

46:03 Speaker 1: So and how many times have we seen that go disastrously wrong? Yes, because of the path, you know, and what if you're thinking about the first and second unit, you know, I've definitely heard I mean I don't necessarily pay attention to, you know, the clock in terms of how long someone is out there for for the special teams. But ideally, let's let's assume that you know, the power play is not successful and you're talking about your two minutes whatever, ye are you? What's the what's the breakdown in terms of the amount of time that you're having your first unit out there versus your second unit?

46:45 Speaker 5: Is there question?

46:48 Speaker 1: Is there what kind of difference is there between the first unit and that second unit? Besides obviously you you know, it might be exhausting to.

46:57 Speaker 5: Have something that's.

46:59 Speaker 1: Insane, But then we hear all the time about how Pasta's out there for two minutes, so like is he just out there? And then everyone else is switching up, like what's going on?

47:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, that that's what it looks like, mostly because Pasta is post stationary off to the side. Will Vetchkins always out there?

47:14 Speaker 5: Yeah, no, Vegans, the power play doesn't. You're right, You're right, You're right, And to be honest.

47:21 Speaker 3: I probably okay if Pasta's out there, you know, for for two minutes. But yeah, like, is there actually.

47:27 Speaker 5: A difference between these two groups.

47:30 Speaker 3: It'd be an interesting thing to look at. But I mean, typically your your power play one is going to be the guys that start right they they start the power play because you got the offensive zone draw, so you want your best players. They're the guys that could start the momentum. And then you'll always see if the puck gets banked down, probably thirty forty five seconds, you're gonna send your second unit out there, and then you know, you might see the power play one go back out there. But you would think power play one plays, you know, thirty forty five seconds, second power play unit, and if he plays thirty, then you could put your top power play guys back out there, and then when it goes five on five, you're probably gonna put your third line.

48:13 Speaker 3: You know, maybe the you'll you'll often see kind of like weird line combinations after a power play because it's just guys kind of like just jumped together that never really played together, just because I said, so many people going back and court. Yeah, so it's I again, it probably depends on the coach's philosophy as well, and how how much of a difference there is between your power plays based off of talent, and honestly, probably how the game's momentum is going. I mean, we've seen games where pasta doesn't look all that great, so we probably don't want them out there.

48:48 Speaker 1: Right, So, and it seemed like last season, for at least a stretch, the power play two unit was doing better, was more successful, whether they were their feet were moving a lot more, they looked better, they had more chances and opportunities, or they quite literally scored more frequently. So like, then, why were they a second unit? Why didn't they then become kind of the first unit? Or is it somewhat arbitrary?

49:18 Speaker 4: Well, let me throw a monkey wrench into that question. Could any of that have to do with the fact that you know, when you put your first unit out there, you're getting the others team's number one PK unit, And then you throw your second unit out there, and you're, presumably if they have the opportunity to change, you're getting the second PK unit of the other team, which maybe doesn't have the same skill level.

49:46 Speaker 5: And I wonder if that has something.

49:48 Speaker 3: To do with Yeah, could be yeah, And I think early on, didn't we see like Hostelic and those guys, at least it was even strengthened, and the fourth line was the basically the top line right right right, because you had Nostelic who moved his feet shot in on the fore check. You had Beacher who looked like he was skating, had some confidence in his games. So I think it's all it's kind of how the season goes, how the game goes, and like you said, your top power play goes against the top penalty killers.

50:19 Speaker 3: I mean, a power play is not going to look great against further on a marshand, you know, but you you put you know, I don't know who else is out there, but you got it's like Frederick and Coyle. Maybe you're going to do a little bit better. So it's it's, it's, it's it's it's the greatest part of the game because you get these little mini matchups that just anything can happen. And that's why I'm a firm believer that special teams wins the Cup. Like you need that momentum, you you need it, so it's just you gotta have it.

50:55 Speaker 4: Except in twenty eleven, although I will say ruins goaltending and defensive skills and their penalty kill units were.

51:10 Speaker 1: A battle of philosophies overall right here, or I talk about the PK in our next episode, in our next episode.

51:20 Speaker 4: But mo, this has been very, very insightful, very educational. I think we can all agree that, if you know, if we want things to change, because I myself cannot stand when I see hockey players not moving their feet. Nothing, nothing good ever happens in a hockey game when you don't move your feet. And so you know, to me, the way that it's been coached has got to change. It absolutely pass to change, because if you're moving forward with you know, a different roster and a retool and a rebuild, right, you've got to You've got to work on every aspect of rebuilding your game, and and and these these units can be the make or break of a game, and they can be the identity of your team.

52:34 Speaker 4: And there have been passed Bruins teams that had very specific and distinct identity and known for their defensive structure, suffocating other teams when their power play units, the other team's power play units were on the ice. And I would love to see that come back in some way, shape or form.

53:01 Speaker 5: I don't know how you all feel about that, but mm hmmmm hmm, yep.

53:07 Speaker 4: Maybe I'm preached into the choir, but you are. I know, I got to preach to to Donnie Boy. But yeah, they don't like to answer too many questions, so I don't think we'll ever get the opportunity to do so.

53:21 Speaker 3: So, but.

53:24 Speaker 5: Thank you.

53:25 Speaker 4: I hope you all enjoyed this. I hope you all learned something. Moe has put a good deal of time, effort, and energy into these segments and we greatly greatly appreciate it.

53:41 Speaker 3: Yeah, I app Yeah. No.

53:46 Speaker 5: We love having you follow us on on x, on Instagram, substack, Please join our discord group, rate and review us, and thank you all for for listening.

54:01 Speaker 3: Yeah.

54:01 Speaker 5: Thanks is always Mo.

54:04 Speaker 3: You're welcome. Go bees.

54:05 Speaker 1: You want to say it, and it's always go bees, go Ba