#FreeWeber: The Power Play Needs Some Real Change
By Jeremy Davis
8 years agoThe Canucks are just 6 games into the 2015-16 campaign, which is far too early for any sort of crisis.
THEN WHY AM I PANICKING?
Possibly because I’m too emotionally attached and overreact to minor things, especially after losses – and extra especially after losses to the Edmonton Oilers… gross.
But at least part of my panic seems founded – the Canucks are currently 1 for 20 on the power play to start the season, and that only goal came from the second unit (if you just time travelled here from midway through the 2014-15 season, you’d think I’m a liar, but it’s true).
There are a myriad of reasons where the first unit is struggling out of the gate, but there most glaring to my eyes appears to be the notable absence of Yannick Weber.
About a month ago, in the midst of preseason, I did a player profile on Yannick Weber in which I sung his praises as a power play point shooter. I made specific reference to the fact that he should be slated to open the year in the top four and on the power play.
It’s a new season for Weber and the Canucks, and the coaching staff now knows that Weber has value at even strength, meaning he’ll start the year in the lineup and therefore quite likely on the powerplay. A full year on the first powerplay unit could not only balloon Weber’s numbers, but also allow the Sedins to maintain their man advantage dominance, despite being another year older. Weber HERO chart shows him scoring at a first pairing rate, while getting replacement level ice time. With an expanded role, let’s hope he can maintain a similar goal output – the Canucks defence core sorely needs the boost.
The Calgary series demonstrated that teams will eventually become wise to the Weber point shot and take it away, but as forwards move higher, other opportunities become available. The option of a right shot bomb on the blueline enables the Sedins to be creative and exploit other areas. This is a gift from Weber – one that left shooters like Garrison and Edler have not been able to provide.
Somehow, none of this has come to fruition. What happened?
How did Yannick Weber go from an apparent man advantage and top-four lock, to a depth defenceman needing illness or injury just to see the ice. Two weeks in, he has played all of one regular season game – a game in which he ironically led the Canucks in power play ice time with 4:00.
Well, for one, Ben Hutton has emerged as our saviour – the kid is so good he makes Luca Sbisa look adequate, not to mention that he bounced former top blueline prospect Frank Corrado right out of the organization. Impressive stuff.
For another, the spot that Weber was penciled into is currently occupied by free agent signing Matt Bartkowski, the speedy defenceman the Benning dug out of Claude Julien’s doghouse. Bartkowski has had an up and down beginning to his Canucks career – his speed allows him to skate the puck out of trouble about as often as he passes the puck into trouble.
The skating ability of Hutton and Bartkowski is certainly a welcome addition to a defence core that looked like it couldn’t skate its way out of a wet paper bag during the Calgary series in April. The Canucks top pairing of Chris Tanev and Alex Edler already had this ability, but it is now present on all three pairings, and it’s hard not to like it.
That being said, there has to be some weighing of options here. The Canucks power play is having some serious issues right now, and none of the defencemen that are dressing on a regular basis are properly equipped to give the top unit what it needs: a booming right-hand shot.
What the Sedins Need
Back in the glory days, when the Sedins were winning Art Ross trophies and multi-round playoff runs seemed like a given, the Canucks were a power play powerhouse. During the 2010-11 season, they led the league in power play conversion rate – driven mostly by the Sedins, and a multitude of right-hand shots, including Ryan Kesler, Mikael Samuelsson and of course, Sami Salo.
Here’s a list of the Canucks most efficient power play goal scorers over the last ten years. DO YOU SEE A PATTERN FORMING?
Right handed shots are important, and the coaches realize that – it’s one of the reasons why Brandon Sutter gets to play on the top unit, along with the Sedins and fellow righty Radim Vrbata. Unfortunately, they’re missing the biggest righty of all – the one on the point. And make no mistake, the Sedins want one there.
Last season, Yannick Weber led all defencemen in Goal per 60 minutes on the powerplay, according to war-on-ice.com – well ahead of bigger names like P.K. Subban, Zdeno Chara, Sami Vatanen, or Johnny Boychuk. Even at even strength, he proved to be a reliable point producer. As mentioned in the Weber profile, he has scored goals at a first pairing rate over the past three seasons while receiving replacement level ice time.
What the Sedins Want
Head coach Willie Desjardins is insisting that he believes Edler to be a better option. “I think Hank and Danny interact with Edler very well,” Desjardins told the media as they prodded him about Weber’s absence. “I think they can get on the same page really quick.”
I understand that Edler leads the breakout, and that his ability to do so is superior to Weber’s, but I’m personally pretty convinced that the benefit of Weber’s point shot is greater that any detriment brought on by having Weber lead the breakout. Desjardins even said that having Weber in the lineup wouldn’t guarantee that he’d replace Edler on the top unit – an odd statement considering Weber led the ice in power play ice time in the single game he played this season.
It strikes me as plausible that nobody knows the Sedins better than they know themselves. For that reason, when they speak of what they feel works best for them on the power play, I tend to see that as something that should be pursued.
During training camp, the twins made plenty of references to their preference for playing with right-handed shooters. This snippet from the Provies following the game against St. Louis last Friday quotes Henrik Sedin during the pre-season.
“To have a righty back there opens up everything for us,” Daniel said back in training camp. “For us, it’d be best to have three righties out there. But at least two.
“When you have the one-timer up top they have to respect it opens up room for us down low to make plays.”
Weber’s shot demands respect from penalty killers, and his handedness allows him to get shots off much quicker than Alex Edler ever could. It causes defenders to scramble back and forth between the slot and the point much quicker than they would if a lefty had to take the pass and turn his body in order to shoot.
The second part of that quote is extremely important. Not only is Weber’s shot extremely dangerous, but the threat of having it forces defending wingers to float higher up in the zone in order to cut off potential passes from Henrik Sedin. When the point shot is eventually blocked, it opens up plays down low for the Sedins and Vrbata to work their magic.
The Sedins are currently making down low plays, and they’re coming close to goals. But without the threat of the point shot, the penalty killers are sagging into the slot and making things unnecessarily difficult for the Sedins to make net front plays.
In short, not only does a right handed point shot make the point more dangerous, it also makes the Sedins more dangerous below the dots. This is what we call a win-win.
Including Weber on the top unit does not necessarily require removing Alex Edler, though this would mean using three forwards and two defencemen. The obvious choice is to keep the Sedins and Vrbata, having Daniel rotate between the right side wall (with Henrik) and the net front. Willie tends to like more net front presence than this, and four forwards seems to be a necessity for him.
While Edler would still be useful on breakouts and set ups, his offensive zone use is limited. Henrik or Daniel should be feeding Weber passes from the right side, leaving Edler on the left side wall, mostly for puck movement purposes, or to take the occasional one-timer from Vrbata on the far side if the unit rotates.
In any case, there are multiple possibilities that could, and should be, explored as the power play continues to sputter. Above all, though, the Sedins saying that having three right shots on the top unit is ideal is pretty telling, and something that needs to be explored.
Do the Right Thing
If the numbers are telling you that right handed shots work better, and your currently-slumping star point producers are telling you that right handed shots work better, it might be time to bring in a right-handed defenceman on the power play – and no, Tanev doesn’t count.
In fact, when your power play is converting one in 20 chances, I would just give the Sedins whatever the hell they want. They want to eat ice cream sandwiches while they’re working the man advantage? MAKE IT HAPPEN.
If this week has taught us anything, it’s that we Canadians are ready for something different. We’ve tried the older, safer route on the point, and it’s just not getting us anywhere. We need to push the envelope. We need to try something new and exciting, which at the same time reminds us of glory days past. I implore Mr. Desjardins to rejuvenate the power play with the power of Yannick Weber. Canuck fans are ready for #realchange.
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