I was off last week, but we are back for a grand tour of power-plays. We touched on players with increased power-play roles a few weeks ago here, but this week (and for a couple of weeks) we are going to be focusing on power-play quarterbacks. We had quite a few pre-season questions, plus now some injuries and a few surprises so it is worth running through the data we have and do a status check.

This week on Frozen Tool Forensics: Around The League in 31 Power-Plays (Part One).

A couple of quick process comments. For this series, we will again be looking at the report for time on ice. At the top of the reports page we can also filter to run reports by position and by doing so in this case we will only be looking at defensemen. Once we export the report we can filter by the team and then sort of percent of the power-play. Again, using the percent can help us figure out how players are being deployed compared to their peers and can give us an idea about potential future trends.

The report I am using is for the last week, and it was run on Wednesday (so missed a couple of Wednesday night games, but I will update in the comments as necessary) and was written on Thursday without the benefit of Thursday night games.

We are going to do a quick round-the-league format so I will post the data from each team and comment as needed. For a team like Washington for example there isn't a lot to say. We thought it would be a lot of John Carlson in the pre-season, and it turns out that is what is happening. Other teams are far more interesting so have more detail.

And now on to the teams (in reverse alphabetical order. Because why not?).

Winnipeg

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
JOSH MORRISSEY	WPG	65.4	2:33
NEAL PIONK	WPG	35.7	1:24
NATHAN BEAULIEU	WPG	10.7	0:25

This situation has been addressed by many writers already. Josh Morrisey still seems a lock for the first unit and a larger share of the time, leaving Neal Pionk (and managers who drafted him) a bit disappointed. Fortunately, Pionk is still producing with nine assists in twelve games. The addition of Pierre Luc-Dubois hasn't shaken things up too much as he is relegated to the second unit.

Washington

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI	GP
JOHN CARLSON	WSH	69.6	2:55	2
ZDENO CHARA	WSH	30.4	1:17	2
DMITRY ORLOV	WSH	1.2	0:03	2

Nothing to see here. The only comment I would make is that when he was healthy Justin Schultz was getting a significant chunk of time along with John Carlson. He has been out since Jan 28th, so we will see what happens upon his return.

Vegas

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
SHEA THEODORE	VGK	62.7	2:20
ALEC MARTINEZ	VGK	37.3	1:23
ZACH WHITECLOUD	VGK	0.6	0:01

With Alex Pietrangelo injured Shea Theodore has been running with the top unit to good success. Unfortunately, he is now reportedly injured, leaving the third period against Anaheim on 2/9. No word yet on the extent of the injury. Also, on 2/9 Pietrangelo, was taken off the COVID protocol list and returned Thursday night. When both were healthy, Pietrangelo was getting the prime deployment.

Vancouver

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
QUINN HUGHES	VAN	77.4	4:41
TYLER MYERS	VAN	23.9	1:27
NATE SCHMIDT	VAN	22.3	1:21

The only surprise here is a name not on the list. Alex Edler has gone from power-house power play and peripheral monster to not getting power-play time at all. His top spot was usurped by Quinn Hughes last season and now all of the secondary time is going to Tyler Myers and Nate Schmidt.

Toronto

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
MORGAN RIELLY	TOR	74.4	4:26
TJ BRODIE	TOR	9.4	0:34
ZACH BOGOSIAN	TOR	7.5	0:27

Again, not much to see here. Morgan Rielly was expected to inherit without Tyson Barrie in the picture anymore and he has it.

📢 advertisement:

Tampa Bay

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
VICTOR HEDMAN	T.B	62.1	3:54
MIKHAIL SERGACHEV	T.B	41.5	2:37
JAN RUTTA	T.B	2.9	0:11

See: Toronto and swap in Victor Hedman. Mikhail Sergachev has been getting some decent deployment, but Hedman still takes the cake with six power-play points and twelve total points in eleven games.

St. Louis

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
TOREY KRUG	STL	54	3:32
VINCE DUNN	STL	39.4	2:34
JUSTIN FAULK	STL	26.6	1:44

News alert in St. Louis. While Torey Krug has been getting most of the power-play time to date Justin Faulk is stepping into a bigger role. In fact, on 2/8 the top power-play appeared to be Mike Hoffman, Ryan O'Reilly, David Perron, Oscar Sundqvist and…. Justin Faulk. The other unit was made up of Jayden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Kyrou, Vince Dunn, and Torey Krug. It looks like the Blues are trying a more balanced unit approach, which isn't great news for Blues owners if it means they spread the time out. The Faulk unit got the majority of the time in the 2/8 game, but we will need a few more games to see if that trend continues.

San Jose

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
ERIK KARLSSON	S.J	61.8	2:28
BRENT BURNS	S.J	59.6	2:23
MARIO FERRARO	S.J	37.5	1:30

Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson have been running the top unit to no one's surprise. On the rare occasions that they leave the ice Mario Ferraro and occasionally Radek Simek are getting the remainder. On 2/9 that was 17 percent of the total time.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh didn't have a power play in the time frame of the report so there is not a lot of specific data to report. Pierre-Oliver Joseph was briefly valuable as both Kris Letang and John Marino were temporarily injured. As of 2/10, the practice lines indicate Letang back on the top unit and Joseph and Marino on the second unit.

Philadelphia

Name	Team	%PP	PPTOI
IVAN PROVOROV	PHI	55.4	3:42
SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE	PHI	44.8	3:00
ERIK GUSTAFSSON	PHI	43.6	2:55
TRAVIS SANHEIM	PHI	4.8	0:18

Power-play time has been split pretty well between Philly's top three of Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Erik Gustafsson. In their most recent game (2/7) it was Gustafsson that got the most time, playing as the lone point man. Provorov and Gostisbehere shared time on what could have been a 1A sort of unit. It appears as though they ran a couple of looks in that game with Claude Giroux, and Kevin Hayes on both units. James Van Riemsdyk and Jakob Voracek rounded out one unit (with Gustafsson) and Travis Konecny the other (with Gostisbehere and Provorov). It was only the second game in the season where Gustafsson saw over 50% of the power-play deployment. Typically Provorov has been getting the slightly larger share of time.

That is all for this week. Thanks for reading.

Stay safe out there.

Want more tool talk? Check out these recent Frozen Tool Forensics Posts.