Not-so-special special units: Slafkovsky is part of the solution

That’s how the CH’s current season is going: steady wins against clubs outside the playoffs, almost certain defeats against powerful teams…

But there are patterns and problems around this team that date back much further, and I’m referring of course to the deficient special units.

Fortunately, part of the solution already seems to be on the horizon…

The numerical advantage

Although he wasn’t the main culprit when he joined the club at the age of 20 in 2018-2019, Nick Suzuki quickly became the leader of a poor power play. For a number of years now, he has shared the headline of this too-often pitiful power play with Cole Caufield.

Over the past few years, Suzuki has been the one in charge of zone entries on the first unit, and more often than not, he’s been the brains behind that unit along the right wall.

Caufield, a PP regular since his arrival in 2021, plays the role of maverick (too often static and predictable) on the left flank without too much success.

Before them, we relied on Shea Weber’s big, hard-hitting shot. Even Jeff Petry has had his moments of “glory”…

Race results over the last 5-6 years?

2018-2019 : ^30e (13,25%)
2019-2020 : ^24e (15,15%)
2020-2021 : ^17e (19,21%)
2021-2022 : ^31e (13,71%)
2022-2023 : ^29e (16,03%)
2023-2024 : ^23e (17,78%)

Average ranking: ^26th

If you want to focus on the post-Weber era, Suzuki is a good hockey player, solid on his skates, good hands, capable of trickery, good passer, good shot.

But does he have the ideal speed, creativity and range to regularly make zone entries with ease and efficiency, a crucial phase of the power play?

No.

Take a look at McDavid, MacKinnon, Malkin (in his prime), Nylander and company for further proof.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is it ideal to place a right-handed shooter on the right wall?

No, no and no.

See the likes of Kucherov, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Pettersson, Matthews, Nelson, Bratt and the Kane of yesteryear to better appreciate the advantage of left-handed shooters from this position.

Others will also remember the Artist, Alex Kovalev, circa 2007-2008…

What’s more, right now 10 of the top 11 powerplays rely on a left-handed player on the right flank on the power play!

Artemi Panarin is the only exception with the Rangers, and look who surrounds him in the Big Apple: Fox, Zibenajad, Kreider and Trochek!

I’m well aware that Suzuki isn’t as well surrounded as Panarin.

But I also know that he’ll never have the talent of the Russian superstar.

In short, after all these lean years, it’s MOST TIME to review Suzuki’s role on the power play.

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Here comes Slafkovsky!

When the Habs drafted Slafkovsky first overall in 2022, one of the reasons was that, beyond his imposing size, they saw in him a player capable of assuming two key roles on the power play: carrying the puck and eventually patrolling the right wall as a left-handed player.

For the first time in his young career, Slafkovsky found himself on the right side of the first power-play unit last Monday against the Kraken, and the results were not long in coming.

His presence and excellent puck protection on that flank allowed Suzuki to close in on Caufield down the left side of the zone, making it much easier for them to exchange the puck and create plays like this one:

The more we feed Slafkovsky on the right flank, the more we free up Suzuki, Caufield in front of the net, the more they’ll be able to work their magic…

Completely forgotten on the right side because of the Caufield-Suzuki duo on the left, that’s when Slafkovsky could benefit from cross passes that will suspend everyone.

In the same vein, I think the left-handed Matheson at the point would do well to pass the disc to the Slovak more often, the movement to the right being more natural and fluid than to the left in Caufield…

And, by the way, apart from having missed a few chances himself, am I the only one who thinks that Slaf should normally have 5-6 more passes on the counter this year? How many golden opportunities have Anderson, Caufield and Suzuki missed on his clever set-ups this season?

It’s safe to say that, statistically speaking, the 20 has been abnormally unlucky since the start of the year.

Eventually, the law of averages will kick in, and we’ll see the offensive blossoming of the first pick of 2022.

In short, offensively, all he has to do is continue to grow in confidence.

The numerical disadvantage

Martin St-Louis recently emphasized his power winger’s defensive qualities, even before his solid first-team performance against the Kraken.

In addition to making visible progress since the Moon with the puck, the latter is starting to look more and more like a dominant player without the puck.

Good anticipation of the game, excellent retreat, good positioning, good balance between cunning and aggressiveness, good stick, fast, long-range, etc.

Yet, sadly, the Tricolore is getting even more out of the game this season short-handed than on the power play.

And, as with the latter phase of the game, the problems aren’t new. They began the day after the Stanley Cup Final in the fall of 2021 (yes, that fairly recent historical event actually happened!).

2023-2024 : ^29e (73.40%)
2022-2023 : ^29e (72,73%)
2021-2022 : ^27e (75,46%)

Many will have forgotten, but with Price, Danault, Lehkonen, Weber, Edmundson, Chiarot, Petry and company, the Tricolore finished first in the playoffs in 2021 with an efficiency percentage of over 91.8%…

Of course, effectiveness down low seems to depend more on the right tactical scheme than on individuals. To this end, the CH has been trying to implement (with very mixed success) the “diamond” formation since the start of the season, a formation supposed to allow a little more aggressiveness on the disc carrier and be more effective at cutting off transverse passing lines.

However, we also read in this article by Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Presse, that you have to play with passion and pride to dominate in this phase of the game.

Here comes Slafkovsky again!

In addition to the defensive skills we’ve just recognized, you can feel the passion and pride in the Slovak’s defensive efforts every time he jumps on the ice.

Everyone’s a bit all over the place on the PK this year, but let’s just say that “passion”, “pride”, and even if I’m not the biggest fan of blocked shots at all costs, a certain sense of sacrifice, are ingredients missing from the forwards designated for the short-handed this season…

Slaf ‘s increasingly obvious desire to make a difference every time he steps on the ice would probably also transcend in this phase of the game. And with his frame, reach and mobility, he’d cover a lot of ground between the point man and the wingers…

It’s probably not for tomorrow morning, or even this season, that he’ll be given these tricky assignments, but it’ll come soon enough.

A workhorse needs to work to be at his best…

Slafkovsky, now the ultimate all-round player, would then be guaranteed to play around 20 minutes a game.

Just what you’d expect from a first overall pick.

Increasingly dominant on 5-on-5s, a key player on the PP and eventually on the PK, this package would begin to resemble that of his legendary compatriot Marian Hossa…

Extension

Speaking of audacious comparables, some have practically declared me ripe for the asylum following my text last week in which, in a projection table including comparables, I dared to place the name of Ryan Getzlaf alongside that of Kirby Dach.

Many people seem to have forgotten that Getzlaf’s early career was very similar to Dach’s, even though in some respects, it’s fair to say that Dach has so far had absolutely nothing to envy Getzlaf.

Indeed, Getzlaf, 19th overall in 2003, played his first NHL season at 21, compared with 18 for Dach, 3rd overall in 2019 (behind J. Hughes and Kappo Kakko).

Dach, in his age-21 season, had shown almost exactly the same statistics as the former Ducks glory with 38 points in 58. Getzlaf had made 39 in 57, all in a powerful, heavy style, quite similar…

If you increase the coefficient of difficulty with a rule of three, over 82 games that would have been 53 points. Still only 21…

How many would Dach have made this year at 22?

Is it crazy to think that he would have surpassed Getzalf’s 58 points at the same age?

For what it’s worth, he had 2 in 2 games and had probably become, in the opinion of a majority of commentators, the CH’s best forward…

I think a lot of people must have idealized Getzlaf as a player, turned him into some kind of larger-than-life archetype.

Yet, without taking anything away from him, from a strictly offensive point of view, in addition to having presented a profile very similar to Dach’s in junior, Getzlaf only managed to maintain an average of one point per game in 7 of the 17 seasons he played. He also broke the 80-point mark only three times…

If he can end up avoiding the infirmary, is this an unthinkable career for Dach who, at 22, has absolutely nothing to envy the big man from Saskatchewan?

But you can continue to think that you can’t compare apples to apples if you like. That’s your most legitimate right!

So long!