We are at the one-quarter mark of the season, and some prominent players haven’t figured out how to score when their team is up a man.

Much of this has to do with the team they are on. Have a look at the worst teams for power-play effectiveness: The Islanders, Golden Knights, Canadiens, Penguins, Coyotes, Devils and Flyers.

There are some pretty good fantasy players on those teams. Imagine how much more productive some players would be if they could only pick up a power-play once in a while.

Many leagues include power-play points as a category, but even if yours doesn’t, this is a statistic you should be paying attention to. Every league includes points, and power-play points can make up a large portion of a player’s point total. A poor power-play performer could mean the difference between a 60-point player and a 70-point player.

Below are 10 players who are struggling so far on the man advantage. To keep this from being a list solely of Penguins and Knights, we are going to look at a maximum of one player from each team.

10. Brady Tkachuk

After missing the first few games of the season because he didn’t have a contract, Tkachuk has been in the lineup for 16 games. In that time, he has zero power-play points. That puts him on an 82-game pace of *checks notes* zero power-play points. He’s never put up many points when his team has a man advantage, which is why he’s so low on this list, but there’s always hope that he can finally start producing. We’re at the point where maybe he should start getting fewer man-advantage minutes.

9. Keith Yandle

If Yandle wasn’t 23 games away from breaking the record for most consecutive games played, there’s a solid chance he would be a healthy scratch. At this stage of his career, Yandle is only good to help boost the power play, but he’s not able to do that this season. He hasn’t put up a power-play point since the third game of the campaign and has just two on the season. He’s been so bad that the Flyers have finally started taking him off the top power-play unit. From October 15 to November 16, Yandle averaged 3:05 a night, about 55.9 percent of Philly’s PP minutes. In the last six games, that has dropped to 1:42 per game, about 36 percent of Philly’s power-play minutes.

8. Mathew Barzal

If there’s any team that deserves a reset on this season, it’s the Islanders. They started with 13 straight road games, and then have been hit with Covid since they’ve returned home. Richard Panik was called up from the AHL and is averaging 3:08 a night with the man advantage, and Otto Koivula is slightly above two minutes per night. Barzal has one power-play point this season, which is low, but he’s he had just eight last season and 12 the year before. Fantasy general managers are optimistic that he will eventually get back to the 27 power-play points he had as a rookie in 2017-18, but at this stage, you would settle for him reaching double digits.

7. Jeff Petry

Petry is having an unquestionably awful fantasy season. I can’t recall anyone dropping so quickly in terms of fantasy production. Even Jonathan Cheechoo’s fall from grace took a couple of seasons (he scored 37 goals the year after scoring 50). Petry has gone from a must-have player who contributes in every category to one who is straight-out droppable. He was drafted in 100 per cent of Yahoo leagues, and is now owned in 57 percent. With no Shea Weber, the top power play was all Petry’s. However, he’s tied with me for power-play points this season with zero. He’s also been taken off the top unit for the past dozen games.

6. Shea Theodore

How bad is the Vegas power-play? Only one player has more than two power-play points (Alex Pietrangelo has four). Theodore is on the top unit and is on the ice for about 67 per cent of Vegas’ man-advantage time, but has two power-play points. Part of that could be chalked up to the fact that Vegas averages the fewest power-plays per game at 2.24 (the next lowest is Arizona at 2.48, while Colorado leads at 4.06). Fewer power plays mean fewer power-play minutes for Theodore, which means fewer prime scoring opportunities. Vegas somehow has an awful power play, but also not enough changes to get better.

5. Kris Letang

Letang is quietly having a productive season, with 11 points in 17 games, but he is also excellent in peripherals, with 12 PIM, 39 shots, 44 Hits and 27 blocked shots. However, he has been atrocious with the man advantage, where he has only two points. This is a player who normally paces for at least 20-plus power-play points in an 82-game season. This year, he’s pacing for 10. He’s on the ice for 75.8 percent of all of Pittsburgh’s power-play minutes, the fourth highest in the league among defensemen.

4. Kevin Fiala

Kirill Kaprizov with four power-play points could have easily taken this slot, but Fiala is slightly worse with three man-advantage points, so he gets to claim it. Fiala is a notoriously slow starter (as documented here), but has started picking it up as of late. He has 10 points in his last 10 games, but only one of those on the power play, and that was 10 games ago. The one man-advantage point is his only one in his last 18 games.

3. David Pastrnak

It wasn’t too long ago when Pastrnak was one of the best power-play producers. In 2018-19, he had 17 power-play goals and 33 power-play points in 66 games. The next season, he had 20 power-play goals and 38 power-play points in 70 games. Last year was a bit of a setback, when he had six power-play goals and 14 power-play points in 48 games. There was hope he would get back to his old ways this season, but it’s been even worse. Despite scoring a power-play goal Sunday night, Pastrnak has three on the season and a total of four PPPts in 18 games. That puts him on pace for 18.

2. Mark Scheifele

I’ve seen lots written about Blake Wheeler, but Mark Scheifele seems to be escaping some of the criticism for his slow start. In 15 games, Scheifele has only eight points, only one of which has come with the man advantage. Ouch. This is from a player who has put up an 82-game pace of 80-plus points and 20-plus power-play points for years. He’s on pace to finish with five power-play points by the end of the season.

1. Jonathan Huberdeau

The Panthers have the third-highest offense in the league at 3.67 goals per game. They also have a middle-of-the-pack power play. That’s why it’s surprising that Huberdeau has only five power-play points. Sure, that may not be as bad as many of the others on the list, but the expectations for him were huge. A year ago, he finished fifth in power-play points. The last three years in power-play points, he’s had an 82-game pace of 36, 34 and 34. This season, he’s on pace for 20, which is still decent, but nowhere near where we thought he would be.