Adding Hossa to the Power Play

Yesterday I took a look at how I think the top two lines might be put together. Today I’ll focus on the power play. Last season the Red Wings finished #3 overall as measured by the best Power Play success rates during the regular season. They dropped to 9th overall during the playoffs so there’s certainly some room for improvement.

First, let’s take a look at the top power play unit of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski.

The following stats are from Behind the Net.

Top Power Play Unit
Name Games PP TOI Goals/60 Asst1 Points/60 P/M-on P/M-off P/M-diff

Nick Lidstrom

 76 4.24 0.19 2.61 4.47 6.90 5.17 +1.73

Brian Rafalski

 73 3.99 1.03 0.62 3.91 7.21 4.63 +2.58

Henrik Zetterberg

 75 4.15 2.89 1.54 5.20 7.13 5.62 +1.51

Pavel Datsyuk

 82 3.95 1.48 2.22 5.74 7.60 4.41 +3.19

Tomas Holmstrom

 59 3.85 2.11 0.53 3.43 6.60 4.94 +1.66


The key stats are obviously goals, but primary assists is a good stat for the power play. The final stat shows whether the team scores more with that player on the power play than without him on the ice with the man advantage. Every single player on the top power play unit has a plus total here so the top unit is obviously in pretty decent shape. Lidstrom and Datsyuk are the key setup guys while Homer, Z and also Rafalski are the primary goal scorers. Datsyuk also gets in on the action when it comes to scoring goals.

Let’s take a look at the remaining players by TOI while on the PP last season.

2nd Power Play Unit Options
Name Games PP TOI Goals/60 Asst1 Points/60 P/M-on P/M-off P/M-diff

Nik Kronwall

 65 2.62 0.00 1.41 2.11 4.58 7.13 -2.55

Brad Stuart*

 72 2.87 0.58 1.16 2.90 5.52 5.45 +0.06

Marian Hossa*

 72 4.19 1.19 1.39 3.98 4.77 3.29 +1.48

Jiri Hudler

 81 2.60 0.57 1.71 3.70 4.84 7.22 -2.38

Johan Franzen

 72 2.51 4.31 0.33 4.98 8.62 5.17 +3.45

Valtteri Filppula

 78 1.79 1.29 1.72 3.45 4.31 6.83 -2.52

Dan Cleary

 63 2.46 1.55 1.55 4.65 5.82 6.08 -0.27

Mikael Samuelsson

 73 2.58 1.27 0.32 3.18 6.37 6.63 -0.27


* - stats are from regular season with previous team

Nik Kronwall is guaranteed to hold down one of the point slots and is a solid assist generator. In fact he was dominant during the playoffs which hopefully forebodes him really coming into his own in the NHL. Another player who really came into his own is Johan Franzen. Look at that goals/60 minutes of power play time. Homer will likely stay with the top power play unit this season but the Mule is knocking on the door and who knows how patient the big lug will be before he knocks it down and becomes a fixture alongside Pavs and Z.

My guess is Marian Hossa plays on the second power play unit. Mike Babcock could separate out Datsyuk and Zetterberg and put them on separate units but it doesn’t seem like a great use to have one of them of the ice with the man advantage as the second unit gets a small fraction of the ice time the top unit does. Could Hossa play alongside them from time to time? Sure, but Hossa could be the key to really making the second unit consistently dangerous.

So if that happens you can pencil in Kronwall, Mule and Hossa onto the second unit. The big battle will be for the second point slot and the other forward slot. Mike Babcock has used Mikael Samuelsson on the point due to the fact he’s one of the few “right shooting” players which is beneficial in theory. Brad Stuart could fill that point slot but I suspect Babcock will keep Sammy on the point.

The battle for the third forward slot will likely be waged between Dan Cleary, Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula. Kronwall will likely be the dominant assist man on this unit but it also needs another good setup man amongst the forwards. Jiri Hudler will likely get the first crack at this slot as he is a good assist generator. Filppula and Cleary aren’t far behind though and will obviously continue to get power play time.

If Hudler is going to become a longterm Red Wing it will likely be due to his performance on the second power play unit and getting the nod in shootouts. Huds will continue to get shots on the second line but right now he needs to become a dominant performer on the power play. He’ll have a great opportunity if he’s on the ice with Mule, Hossa and Kronwall.

Pittsburgh had a great power play during the playoffs, and that was due largely to pairing Sergei Gonchar with three excellent forwards and Ryan Malone. Detroit could do something similar when they really need to score goals.

Lidstrom > Gonchar
Datsyuk = Crosby [I’m being generous to Sid here]
Z > Malkin [based mostly on the playoffs]
Hossa = Hossa
Mule = Malone

Aaron Downey is due to re-up any day now by signing a one-year, two-way contract. This is a great signing. While the Red Wings will never lead the NHL [or finish in the top half for that matter] when it comes to fighting majors, you do need a guy on your team who will hold opponents accountable if they get a little carried away with physical play. The perfect example last season was when Ian Laperriere went after Nick Lidstrom when the captain was in a vulnerable position. Downey took him down and put an end to that.

He also fought Kyle McLaren early last season and after winning that fight the Red Wings rallied to knock off the Sharks. Probably more importantly, Downey was reported to be a great guy in the locker room and helped maintain a good atmosphere during the playoffs when he wasn’t contributing on the ice. And just check out these dance moves.





George Sipple reports they still have an offer extended to Darren McCarty for a two-way contract as well.

August 15th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

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Scoring Line forwards for the Red Wings? What’s the over/under on number of games until Kitna is rocking the colostomy bag?
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