I cheated on this one. I wrote this article for myself, first, to create a new playbook for my team. But because I love sharing my work, I have also decided to show all of you why the Vancouver Canucks had success on the power play last season.
In this article, we will break down seven power play tendencies from the Canucks last season. Travis Green’s team finished the season fourth in the league with a 24.2% success rate, with assistant coach Newell Brown in charge of the power play.
1. Inside the Blue Line, Dot to Wall
If you attended the Virtual Hockey Summit, you know what I’m talking about here. If not, take a look at the flankers getting inside the blue line, dot to wall.
The Canucks are able to create time and space for themselves. It is hard for the penalty killer to chase high. After, it’s only a matter of what you want to do from there, an option, attacking downhill on the outside of the dots.
2. Far Post
I thought the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were the first teams to do this, but I was wrong. The Canucks use this option extremely well.
When they are going downhill, instead of keeping a player at the net-front position, that player gets open at the far post. Look how much space and confusion they can create because of this.
3. Goal Line Option
Going downhill is one thing, but you don’t always have the seam pass open and you don’t always want to bring the puck back up top for the power play quarterback. This is when we see the Canucks use an option on the goal line.
Usually we will see this option when the flanker is on their strong side. With that option, from the goal line, you can pass to the weak side flanker or, the bumper can slide in the open spot and it’s a quick bang-bang play.
4. No Net-Front Presence
This one looks like the goal line presence and the far post option. What I’m trying to show here is a lot of NHL teams, including the Canucks, every once in a while don’t have a player in front of the net. You know for sure that every penalty killing system will have a defenceman standing there.
What if you move your net-front guy around and make him available for an option?
5. Power Play Breakout Leading to Chances Off the Rush
One thing I noticed with Vancouver was how many chances they are able to create from their breakout. When you are playing 5v5 and have an odd-man rush, you try to attack off the rush rather than trying to setup in the offensive zone and wait.
So why do we see some teams on the power play not attacking off the rush if it’s a 3v2 or 4v3?
Look at both waves from the Canucks, attacking and creating so many chances and goals off the rush.
6. The L Pattern
One thing that the Canucks do very well is creating space for themselves. I’ve talked about getting inside the blue line, dot to wall. But on this one, look at what can happen after a scramble in the corner or, if you go downhill and don’t like the option in front of you.
They will bring the puck from low to high and cross-ice right away. It’s the L pattern.
Getting away from the pressure down low and bringing the puck on the opposite side where there is less pressure. From here, you can attack right away with everyone crashing the net from the corner.
7. Double Screen
Another tendency I’ve noticed is with the net-front player. When the Canucks are attacking downhill, they have the far post option, the goal line option, or sometimes they play it back to the point man.
Most of the time when the defenceman touches the puck, the Canucks have at least one player in front of the net and sometimes even the bumper in the shooting lane too. They are able to create a double screen for the point shot from the middle of the ice.
