This week we are going to look at how each team in the West is doing on the power-play so far and how each team is allocating ice time. With the players, we are going to look at the percentage of power-play time and power-play points per 60 minutes.

To put things in perspective, last season Connor McDavid was at 9.5 PPP/60, which is at the top of the pile. The best players typically come in between six and nine. Unless you are playing on the Oilers power-play, if a player's number is above 10 below it will come down to earth.

Anaheim Ducks – 4th in the NHL at 28.3 percent (31st last year at 8.9 percent)

The Ducks have improved their power-play this season, which was bound to be the case, but I'm not sure many would have had this team this high in the league at this point. Especially when Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale have not been big reasons for the success to this point. The top two units are split about 50/50 so far this year in ice time and recent games have been:

PP1: Troy Terry (43.6% PP time, 10.6 PPP/60MIN), Adam Henrique (44.1, 6.4), Sonny Milano (34.2, 11.3), Kevin Shattenkirk (44.5, 11.1), Cam Fowler (46.1, 10.7)

PP2: Trevor Zegras (50.4, 3.2), Ryan Getzlaf (57.2, 6.1), Mason McTavish (41.6, 4.3), Jakob Silfverberg (38.2, 6.6), Jamie Drysdale (48.8, 2.9)

When Rickard Rackell (58.5, 5.8) is back in the lineup expect him to replace Comtois or McTavish. Vinni Lettieri (41.3, 10.1) has also seen PP time and been productive so could be slotted in as well. Max Comtois (44.1, 0) has struggled and was a healthy scratch on Sunday night.

Interesting to note, that Zegras has yet to record a PP point in his career after 37 career games even though he has averaged above 50 percent of PP time. I had written this before the game and of course not only did Zegras get a PPP, but he had two PPG!

The team is led in PP points by Fowler and Shattenkirk with seven each, while Getzlaf leads the team in SOG with 14 in 15 games (last season in 48 games he had 13 SOG on the PP). Troy Terry leads the team with three PPG.

Arizona Coyotes – 30th at 12.5 percent (13th at 20.8)

The team traded away Oliver Ekmann-Larson (14 PPP in 2020-21) and Connor Garland (10 PPP), who were two key components of the Arizona power play last year.

The power-play units have been deployed recently as follows:

PP1: Phil Kessel (67.9, 5.3), Barrett Hayton (53.8, 0), Clayton Keller (68.5, 3.9), Shayne Gostisbehere (68.9, 5.2), Jakob Chychrun (55.4, 1.6)

PP2: Lawson Crouse (44.5, 2.0), Alex Galchenyuk (34.6, 0), Travis Boyd (4.5, 0), Loui Eriksson (14.4, 0), Cam Dineen (21.0, 0)

With recent injuries to Dmitrij Jaskin (32.4, 0), Andrew Ladd (34.9, 3.0), Christian Fischer (37.5, 0) and Nick Schmaltz (36.9, 0) the club has been forced to give players some ice time with the man-advantage that otherwise wouldn't.

Kyle Capobianco (32.9, 73.5) did get a power-play point in his one game but will struggle to get into the lineup on a nightly basis. A good sign for Chychrun is that he has seen some minutes on the first unit recently.

Gostisbehere and Kessel lead the team with four PPPs and Keller leads the team with two PPG and 11 SOG.

Calgary Flames – 10th overall at 23.4 percent (21st, 18.3)

The Flames under-performed last year with the power-play and are perhaps about where they should be this year.

The units in recent games have been:

PP1: Matthew Tkachuk (63.1, 8.8), Elias Lindholm (59.9, 10.5), Sean Monahan (58.3, 8.1), Johnny Gaudreau (61.5, 1.3), Rasmus Andersson (60.9, 6.5)

PP2: Andrew Mangiapane (35.4, 4.5), Milan Lucic (32.6, 2.4), Dillon Dube (35.2, 2.2), Mikael Backlund (35.8, 0), Noah Hanifin (35.1, 2.4)

Lindholm leads the team with eight PPPs, while Tkachuk leads with five goals and 20 SOG. The five-man unit is the same as last year, but the puck seems to be going through Lindholm more than Gaudreau who led the team with 19 PPPs last year.

Chicago Blackhawks – 16th overall at 20.0 percent (11th overall at 21.7)

The club has Jonathan Toews back in the lineup and Seth Jones as well and has managed to maintain an average power-play so far.

Recent units have been:

PP1: Jonathan Toews (69.8, 1.8), Patrick Kane (81.7, 6.7), Alex Debrincat (75.0, 3.4), Kirby Dach (40.8, 3.1), Seth Jones (78.0, 4.9)

PP2: Dominik Kubalik (45.9, 4.1), Ryan Carpenter (21.4, 3.6), Philipp Kurashev (24.9, 5.5), Dylan Strome (17.5, 8.1), Erik Gustafsson (22.5, 3.0)

Dach was moved to the top unit but will need to produce to stay there, otherwise, any one of Kubalik, Kurashev or Strome could see time there. When he returns from injury, Tyler Johnson (52.3, 4.1) might slot in as well.

Patrick Kane and Seth Jones lead the team with six PPP each, while Debrincat leads with three PPG. Kane leads with 22 SOG.

Colorado Avalanche – 26th overall at 15.2 percent (8th at 22.7)

With all of the injuries to Colorado's top players this year it is not overly surprising that they have struggled a little on the power-play. As they become healthy they should rise up the rankings.

Here are their units from recent games:

PP1: Mikko Rantanen (59.0, 3.5), Gabriel Landeskog (61.1, 2.8), Nazem Kadri (44.7, 5.1), Andre Burakovsky (46.6, 1.7), Cale Makar (62.7, 4.4)

PP2: Valeri Nichushkin (33.9, 8.4), Alex Newhook (33.0, 8.6), Tyson Jost (23.3, 0), Devon Toews (37.3, 6.9), Samuel Girard (37.3, 2.4)

Nathan MacKinnon (56.3, 3.9) is out of the lineup for another 2-3 weeks while J.T. Compher (56.7, 5.3) will miss about a week.

Compher leads the team with four PPP, two PPG, while Rantanen leads the team with 13 SOG.

Dallas Stars – 3rd overall at 29.4 percent (5th overall at 23.6)

Last season, Joe Pavelski led the team with 13 PPG and 21 PPP while Roope Hintz had 18 PPP in 41 games and John Klingberg had 17 PPP.

This year, the power-play has been even better and in recent games has lined up as:

PP1: Tyler Seguin (56.0, 6.2), Denis Gurianov (43.3, 2.7), Jamie Benn (51.8, 2.2), Ryan Suter (49.7, 9.3), Miro Heiskanen (50.0, 13.8)

PP2: Joe Pavelski (52.2, 11.0), Roope Hintz (45.0, 5.1), Jason Robertson (56.6, 12.7), Alexander Radulov (51.3, 9.0), John Klingberg (53.2, 0)

With the healthy returns of Radulov and Seguin and the addition of Suter, it has given the Stars two very good PP units.

Heiskanen leads the team with six PPP and Pavelski leads with three PPG, while Seguin leads with eight SOG.

Edmonton Oilers – 1st overall at 41.9 percent (1st overall at 27.6)

I didn't think the Oilers' power-play could improve over last year, but here we are at a staggering 41.9 percent. One for three on the power-play on Sunday night brought their percentage down from 42.5.

The top unit plays the vast majority of the power-play but here are the two units in recent games:

PP1: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (87.8, 12.6), Connor McDavid (89.4, 14.6), Leon Draisaitl (89.6, 12.3), Zach Hyman (53.9, 9.3), Tyson Barrie (77.1, 3.9)

PP2: Jesse Puljujarvi (38.8, 7.8), Kailer Yamamoto (2.7, 0), Warren Foegele (8.7, 11.5), Darnell Nurse (22.6, 17.8), Evan Bouchard (10.5, 19.1)

Zack Kassian (8.2, 17.5) is out for a few more games and when back could replace Yamamoto or Foegele on the second unit.

Connor McDavid leads the team with 13 PPP (37 last year). Draisaitl leads the team in PPG with seven (15 last year) and SOG with 20.

Los Angeles Kings – 18th overall at 18.2 percent (19th overall at 18.9 percent)

The Kings are pretty much spot on where they were last year in terms of power-play production.

With Drew Doughty (56.4, 13.8) out of the lineup for 6-8 weeks and Viktor Arvidsson (58.7, 2.3) the team might struggle to maintain their ranking.

Some recent deployments of the power-play units were:

PP1: Anze Kopitar (61.6, 6.4), Adrian Kempe (48.3, 2.7), Alex Iafallo (50.1, 2.6), Dustin Brown (58.0, 0), Kale Clague (57.8, 5.9)

PP2: Rasmus Kupari (21.2, 6.3), Arthur Kaliyev (35.2, 5.8), Phillip Danault (31.2, 2.1), Andreas Athanasiou (33.8, 6.1), Matt Roy (33.8, 3.9)

Kopitar leads the team with six PPP and three PPG and 13 SOG.

Minnesota Wild – 19th overall at 18.2 percent (24th at 17.6 percent)

The power-play is marginally better than last season when Kevin Fiala led the team with 14 PPP and Kirill Kaprizov led the team with eight PPG.

The units have recently been:

PP1: Mats Zuccarello (62.3, 7.1), Kirill Kaprizov (69.0, 3.7), Kevin Fiala (66.6, 3.8), Joel Eriksson-Ek (62.7, 4.1), Jared Spurgeon (65.7, 2.6)

PP2: Ryan Hartman (32.2, 2.6), Frederick Gaudreau (36.0, 2.4), Marcus Foligno (37.2, 6.8), Matt Dumba (33.0, 5.1), Alex Goligoski (25.7, 4.0)

Zuccarello leads the team with four PPP, while Eriksson-Ek leads with three PPG and Kaprizov leads with 15 SOG.

Nashville Predators – 5th overall at 26.8 percent (23rd overall at 17.6 percent)

The Predators have vastly improved their power-play from last season as Matt Duchene has returned to form and they have added rookie Philip Tomasino to the mix.

Recent deployments from Nashville have been:

PP1: Eeli Tolvanen (41.5, 4.5), Ryan Johansen (56.2, 4.9), Mikael Granlund (57.5, 6.4), Matt Duchene (57.2, 8.1), Roman Josi (61.8, 12.0)

PP2: Yakov Trenin (5.8, 0), Philip Tomasino (32.3, 10.3), Thomas Novak (37.2, 9.0), Luke Kunin (29.0, 3.2), Mattias Ekholm (26.9, 0)

Injured players Filip Forsberg (55.9, 4.8) and Nick Cousins (37.8, 5.3) will slot themselves back into either unit upon their returns.

Josi leads the team in PPG with four and PPP with eight while Duchene leads the team in SOG with 13.

San Jose Sharks – 11th overall at 22.5 percent (29th overall at 14.1 percent)

The Sharks under-performed last season and are back to a level you would expect with players like Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Logan Couture on the team.

Recent units on the power-play are a little all over the map because of the Covid protocols and injuries:

PP1: Timo Meier (47.9, 5.1), Jonathan Dahlen (47.8, 2.1), Logan Couture (51.8, 1.9), Nick Bonino (50.1, 0), Brent Burns (57.0, 4.9)

PP2: Jasper Weatherby (42.1, 4.4), Kevin Labanc (49.2, 9.9), Tomas Hertl (48.1, 5.8), Alexander Barabanov (45.5, 7.9), Erik Karlsson (44.6, 15.1)

Karlsson leads the team with five PPPs, while Meier and Labanc lead the team with two PPG and Burns and Meier share the lead with 11 SOG.

Ice time for both units has been pretty even, but it looks like the second unit is out-scoring the first unit to this point.

Seattle Kraken – 31st overall at 10.9 percent

The Kraken power-play has not been very good so far, but it is to be expected a little bit when you have players coming to an expansion team with only a few having extensive time on the power-play in the NHL.

Unit deployment for Seattle has been:

PP1: Alex Wennberg (45.5, 4.8), Marcus Johansson (62.2, 10.5), Jordan Eberle (60.8, 3.6), Jared McCann (56.2, 4.1), Mark Giordano (63.4, 2.3)

PP2: Jaden Schwartz (52.9, 0), Ryan Donato (41.3, 0), Joonas Donskoi (42.4, 1.7), Morgan Geekie (35.5, 0), Vince Dunn (36.1, 0)

Yanni Gourde (52.5, 1.8) missed the last game but should be back on the top unit when he returns to the lineup.

Eberle and Wennberg lead the team with three PPPs, while McCann leads with two PPG and Giordano has eight SOG.

St. Louis Blues – 2nd overall at 32.4, percent (6th overall at 23.2 percent)

The Blues are off to a great start this year with the man advantage and if not for the Oilers would have the best PP in the NHL.

Here are their current units:

PP1: Vladimir Tarasenko (65.1, 6.7), Brandon Saad (43.5, 0), David Perron, 67.5, 8.0), Ryan O'Reilly (63.6, 2.3), Justin Faulk (40.9, 5.3)

PP2: Jordan Kyrou (33.7, 19.3), Robert Thomas (37.0, 11.7), James Neal (33.0, 6.8), Pavel Buchnevich (46.2, 9.3), Colton Parayko (16.1, 6.7)

Torey Krug (72.0, 9.4) and Brayden Schenn (57.5, 5.9) are injured or on the Covid list, but the Blues are still rolling without them.

Kyrou leads the team with five PPPs, while Perron leads with three PPG and Buchnevich leads with nine SOG.

Vancouver Canucks – 25th overall at 15.3 percent (25th overall at 17.4 percent)

On a night, where the Canucks lost 5-1 to Anaheim and what might precipitate the firing of either Travis Green or Jim Benning (or both),  their special teams have been a big reason for where they sit.

What is disturbing for the Canucks is that the PP1 unit of Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Quinn Hughes is the same PP1 unit from 2019-20. That season the team was fourth overall with a 23.4 percentage while being second in the league in drawing penalties. The past two seasons they have struggled.

Here are their current units:

PP1: Brock Boeser (66.7, 2.4), Bo Horvat (70.1, 1.7), J.T. Miller (72.5, 5.1), Elias Pettersson (74.1, 4.1), Quinn Hughes (69.6, 5.6)

PP2: Vasily Podkolzin (5.5, 0), Nils Hoglander (25.2, 2.4), Conor Garland (34.1, 1.8), Tanner Pearson (27.4, 0), Oliver Ekmann-Larson (41.0, 1.5)

Alex Chiasson (48.8, 5.0) has been an option on the power-play as well and has replaced Boeser on the first unit at times. Unfortunately, he doesn't offer enough at even-strength to stay in the lineup on a regular basis.

Miller and Hughes lead the team with six PPP and Miller, Pettersson and Chiasson all share the lead with two PPG, with Pettersson leading with 18 SOG.

Vegas Golden Knights – 27th overall at 14.7 percent (22nd overall at 17.8 percent)

With the talent that Vegas has, they should have a better power-play than they had last year and have this year. Perhaps Jack Eichel will make a difference in three months?

Here are the latest units that the Golden Knights have put out:

PP1: Nicholas Roy (46.1, 0), Reilly Smith (51.3, 4.5), Jonathan Marchessault (54.8, 4.2), Alex Pietrangelo (66.0, 7.0), Dylan Coghlin (32.1,7.9)

PP2: Mark Stone (84.2, 0), Chandler Stephenson (55.7, 4.1), Keegan Kolesar (26.3, 0), Evgenii Dadonov (59.4, 1.9), Shea Theodore (65.2, 3.5)

Alec Martinez (29.9, 0), William Karlsson (59.8, 0), Max Pacioretty (37.7, 0) and Nolan Patrick (36.3, 0) are all out injured.

Dylan Coghlin sees some duty on PP2, but the team used Theodore without Pietrangelo on one unit and Coghlin with Pietrangelo on PP1. I'm not sure how often they will elect to do that, but it is something to keep an eye on for Coghlin.

Winnipeg Jets – 8th overall at 23.7 percent (7th overall at 23.0 percent)

The Jets continue to roll along with one of the better power-play units in the league.

The units are:

PP1: Riley Nash (28.8, 0), Nikolaj Ehlers (55.6, 1.8), Andrew Copp (53.5, 3.7), Kyle Connor (63.2, 7.9), Neal Pionk (53.5, 7.5)

PP2: Blake Wheeler (54.2, 3.1), Mark Scheifele (51.7, 3.2), Pierre-Luc Dubois (46.9, 6.4), Nate Schmidt (46.8, 10.7), Josh Morrissey (35.9, 8.3)

The Jets have spread out the talent so that both units can score. Paul Stastny (51.8, 4.8) is out with an injury, but will more than likely slot in for Nash when he returns.

Connor and Schmidt lead the team with five PPP, while Morrissey leads with three PPG, with Ehlers, Pionk and Connor all having nine SOG.

Just going through this process, I'm seeing a few more teams revert a little to two defensemen on the power-play, especially on the PP2.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.