Originally posted Jan. 31 by The Hockey News, ESPN.com, and MSN.ca. There may have been seven players ahead of San Jose’s Joe Thornton in the NHL scoring race, but heading into Tuesday’s action there was nobody ahead of him in power play production.
His 37 power play points were two ahead of the second-highest player, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, and those points constitute 59.7 per cent of Thornton’s overall production – also tops in the league.

Needless to say, you can look at this stat in two ways. Those fantasy pools that reward points on the power play will look at this number very favorably. Those pools that don’t – won’t.

Why? Because a player’s otherwise weak season is being salvaged by his production on the power play. What if the team’s power play hits a slump? What if the team’s power play quarterback sustains an injury? If a player such as Thornton is relying on the man-advantage for a larger-than-normal percentage of his points, there are too many things that could go wrong that can put a stop to it.

On the flip side of the coin, a player among the scoring leaders with a lower-than-average percentage of power play points could be looked upon as having excellent potential for improvement. After all, he may not be getting the PP time right now, but if he keeps on producing at even strength his PP time will come. When that happens, his production will increase even more.

The player with 42 points or more who has the lowest percentage of power play points is David Legwand. Of his 42 points, just seven have come on the power play. If he ever gets quality time with the man advantage, his numbers could really pop. thornton

The following table is a list of the top 10 players (with 42 points or more) in terms of power play points percentage (ESP = Even Strength Points; PwPP = Power Play Points):

RK	Player	Team	GP	P	ESP	PwPP	%
1	JOE THORNTON	SJS	50	62	25	37	59.7%
2	BRIAN ROLSTON	MIN	51	43	18	23	53.5%
3	BRENDAN SHANAHAN	NYR	50	48	20	25	52.1%
4	PATRICE BERGERON	BOS	48	48	22	25	52.1%
5	SAKU KOIVU	MTL	50	43	18	22	51.2%
6	ALEXANDER SEMIN	WSH	46	51	25	26	51.0%
7	MARC SAVARD	BOS	48	62	31	31	50.0%
8	TEEMU SELANNE	ANA	51	61	31	30	49.2%
9	PATRICK MARLEAU	SJS	50	55	28	27	49.1%
10	VYACHESLAV KOZLOV	ATL	51	50	26	24	48.0%

legwand

The following table is a list of the bottom 10 players (with 42 points or more) in terms of power play points percentage:

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RK	Player	Team	GP	P	ESP	PwPP	%
1	DAVID LEGWAND	NSH	48	45	35	7	15.6%
2	ALEX TANGUAY	CGY	48	45	34	11	24.4%
3	THOMAS VANEK	BUF	51	49	37	12	24.5%
4	DANIEL ALFREDSSON	OTT	47	49	34	13	26.5%
5	JAROME IGINLA	CGY	39	53	37	15	28.3%
6	PAUL KARIYA	NSH	51	56	40	16	28.6%
7	MARTIN ERAT	NSH	48	45	31	13	28.9%
8	ERIK COLE	CAR	52	47	32	14	29.8%
9	OLLI JOKINEN	FLA	51	52	35	16	30.8%
10	DAYMOND LANGKOW	CGY	49	52	34	16	30.8%

Farm Report: Buffalo prospect Marek Zagrapan has had a tough go of things in his rookie-pro year with Rochester. For one thing, the Americans share affiliation with both Buffalo and Florida. As such, his ice time is reduced dramatically, since there are more players to choose from. The high-scoring winger had just 10 points in his first 28 games. Things are turning around, however, as the Slovak has tallied 10 points in his past eight games, seizing a prominent role with the squad.