A quick glance at raw power play ice time for the Vancouver Canucks last season reveals a few unseemly truths. After the big four, Andrei Kuzmenko logged the fifth most ice time with the man advantage while Pius Suter was eighth on the team, Ilya Mikheyev ninth and Sam Lafferty was 12th – somehow skating more than 30 minutes at five on four last season. Three of those four are no longer in the mix and with the upgrades the Canucks have made over the summer and with some internal growth, it’s possible the fourth won’t be part of the power play picture. But that will be up to the coaches who will have considerably better second unit options heading into the 2024-25 National Hockey League season.
For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll assume Jake DeBrusk will be given the first shot at skating with Quinn Hughes, JT Miller, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser on what should be a strong quintet. The Canucks need to figure out where things went stale for the power play down the stretch and into the playoffs, but the component parts remain for that to be an explosive group.
However, in the event the first unit struggles, Rick Tocchet should feel more comfortable this season turning to his second power play unit. The potential exists for the Canucks to ice three 20-goal scorers, a potential 50-point defenceman and a big-bodied net-front presence. On the surface, the Canucks’ second unit looks like it should be able to generate when presented with the opportunity.
Conor Garland, Nils Höglander, and Daniel Sprong have all scored 20 at least once in their careers, while Filip Hronek had a career-high 48 points last season, and Dakota Joshua scored 18 times in just 63 games. So there is enough offensive talent on the roster for the Canucks to ice a potent second power play grouping. But it must be noted that most of the offensive production from the players mentioned came at even strength last season. So it remains to be seen if that can translate into success with the man-advantage.
That group also lacks a natural centre which isn’t a huge concern because often the second unit starts on the fly. In the event the Canucks need a pivot to take a power play draw, Suter can slot in for one of the wingers. Or the Canucks may value Suter’s playmaking and the fact he’s a left-hand shot and want him to be a fixture on the second unit.
At times last season, Conor Garland joined the top unit, but served primarily as a decoy on the left half wall. Not much of a power play shooting threat, Garland seems like he would be better utilized closer to the net to help on scrambles and rebounds and to aid in puck retrievals.
Sprong is more of a pure shooter, although he has just 14 career power play goals – and six of those came two seasons ago in Seattle. He has reached double digits in power play points in each of the last season seasons so he has found a way to contribute.
Höglander scored 24 times last year without a power play goal. In fact, he didn’t have a power play point. So while he represents the idea of offence, he has yet to find his role or show that he can produce while operating with the man-advantage.
The beauty of the Canucks off-season moves is that the team has options beyond the ones stated above. Perhaps DeBrusk doesn’t work the way the Canucks had hoped with the first unit and maybe Dakota Joshua gets a chance in that slot. Then DeBrusk could drop down and feature on the second unit.
What about Danton Heinen sliding in and getting some power play looks? The Langley native has scored a dozen power play goals over the course of his career and once registered 12 power play points in his second season in the league. The Canucks may value his veteran presence on that second unit at some stage of the season.
Lower in the lineup but possibly worth a look, Keifer Sherwood doesn’t profile as a power play contributor. But scratch the surface a little deeper and you’ll find a player that scored 13 goals and added 13 assists with the man-advantage as part of a 36 goal/75 point season in the American Hockey League in 2021-22. If the Canucks are looking for a guy that can get to the net and pay the price to stay there, Sherwood might, on occasion, offer a different skill set.
The focus, as it should be, for the Canucks is to get the top unit back on track so that it can do most of the heavy lifting on the power play. But when called upon, the second unit offers Rick Tocchet plenty of options and looks like it has potential to make much more of an impact than the collection of players who didn’t measure up last season.
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