Red Wing's PP System Analysis

Exactly one month ago I broke down how the Red Wing's PP was able to stay competitive without a right handed shooter. While most fans assume that the skill of the Red Wings should result in PP goals, the pieces simply do not fit together like the elite units in the NHL. In addition, with a full season to study coaches smarter than myself were able to determine how to shut down the Wings. I showed you how it works, now I'll show you what the opposition is doing to shut them down.

First lets take a look at how things look when it is going right. First some screenshots from my breakdown of last season.

Here we see Z attacking from the opposite side. He gets a step on the defender which gives him the chance to shoot through a great screen, go for the pass into the slot, or theoretically hit the weak side defender streaking to the backdoor.

Now from the other side we see Datsyuk gets a step on the defender which allows him to attack the slot, opening up a shooting lane as well as a great passing lane to Kronwall backdoor.

Now a little more recently, lets look at Nyquist's goal from Tuesday night against Boston.

Same set up as usual, Kronwall walks to the middle forcing Marchand to respect him as a shooting threat. Pay close attention to the left side where we see Franzen ended up taking out a Bruin defender after taking a cross check in the back.

Now with Marchand caught up high and the defender having just gotten up, Nyquist has room to skate into the slot.

Nyquist gets a good shooting lane and snipes over Tuukka's blocker. Notice he has a screen from Franzen, Helm could settle higher in the slot as a passing option and Z is sliding in backdoor for another passing option.

Now lets see what the Leafs learned and how they shut the Wing's skilled players down last night.

 Zetterberg gets the puck up high again, but observe that the Leaf's top forward did not fully commit to Kronwall and is still in position to defend against Z.

With the forward protecting the center of the rink Z is forced to his backhand. This is the real key to defending the Wing's PP. Since he is left handed, Z is looking to get into the slot so he can put the puck on his forehand and make a play. Now having been forced out of the slot Z has no good options.

1. & 2. Kronwall and Nyquist are not even in the screen and any pass to them would require Z to force a backhand across the ice an through defenders.
3. Franzen has some space in the high slot, but he would have to turn and shoot giving the D time to converge.
4. Helm is in the corner as an outlet but the D can easily get to the near post if he tries to attack the net.
5. On his backhand from the half wall Reimer is more than happy to let Z take a shot from there

Eventually Z is forced down into the corner where he passes down to Helm who is no threat to anyone and the Red Wings are forced to reset and try again.

How do they fix it? As long as the opposition's top forward is able to defend the high slot, the Red Wings will struggle to score off the current set up. Over the course of the early four games the Red Wing's best chances have mostly come through unstructured play. When the defense is forced to scramble the Wings are able to take advantage of their elite passing and vision to create opportunities.
The sad reality is the Wings do not have the personnel necessary to set up and blast one-timers towards the net a la Philly or Washington. Thus the best chance for the Red Wings is to create some organized chaos in their PP. Lets go back to Z's position on the half-wall.



From this position he does have a pretty easy pass to Franzen in the high slot. While Franzen is no threat to score from this position, he can make a touch pass back to Kronwall at the point. If done quickly, the high Leaf forward will be unable to recover and Kronwall will find himself with some excellent options.

1. If the other Leafs forward switches to take away the shooting lane Kronwall will be able to hit Nyquist coming in from the backside who will have space to make a play.
2. If the forward refuses to leave Nyquist then Kronwall will be free to take a shot on net, ideally with Helm screening in front.
3. If by some miracle the high Leaf forward is able to recover, Z can set up for a one-timer opportunity.

As currently constructed the Wings will struggle to create offense on the PP. Without a R-handed shooter providing the threat of a one-time shot the defense is able to focus on only one side of the ice. Without this option the Wings need to use continual movement as well as passes in and out of the slot to force the defense into switches, creating passing lanes and shooting opportunities. It may not look pretty and it might drive the fans crazy but a little chaos is the best chance the Wings have of returning to an elite PP unit.