New York Islanders: The Importance of the Power Play

The success of special teams can make or break an organization in the NHL and have proven to be the latter for the New York Islanders for the last few seasons. In order to reach their full potential and be a true contender, the team must revitalize their power play.

It cannot be stressed enough how important special teams are in the modern NHL. This has been a department that the New York Islanders have been struggling in for several years. Although their penalty kill has often topped the league average, the team’s power play is a serious concern.

For the past three seasons, the Islanders power play has struggled to crack the top half of the league’s rankings. Falling just below the NHL average in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons and then crumbling completely in the year to follow.

In the 2016-2017 season, the team’s power play ranked as 28^th league-wide with only a 15% success rate. It was clear to see the flaws in their strategy. Players would often either get trapped in the corners and have the puck stripped from them or would get boxed out and be forced to pass only along the blue line, hoping for anything resembling a clear shooting lane.

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Without any actual opportunities to shoot, the Islanders’ power play floundered. However, with new additions to the team and players league-wide still adjusting to the referees’ strict whistles, the New York Islanders will have ample chances to exercise their power play units.

New Additions

As fans saw in the preseason, the first power play unit will most like be as follows:

This is where the new members of the team, both veteran, and rookie, become absolutely essential. With other puck moving forwards, Jordan Eberle and Mathew Barzal on PP1, it’s less likely for the Islanders to get pinned in spots where they have no angle or passing options.

We’ve already seen this new power play begin to take shape in the preseason, scoring several PPGs, among which was Barzal’s highlight reel-worthy goal against the New Jersey Devils on September 25^th.

Throughout the preseason, we’ve seen other rookie faces on the power play, including those of Josh Ho-Sang and Ryan Pulock. Every Islanders fan that has ever seen him play has sung Ho-Sang’s praises and there is no reason to doubt that he would be a valuable piece of the special teams this upcoming season.

Having struggled this preseason, Ryan Pulock is questionable for the opening night roster but his presence on a power play is undeniable. His cannon of a shot from nearly the blue line will always be useful to the Islanders in extra-man situations and when he does become a roster-regular, he would be a strong candidate to fill the Leddy position on the second power-play unit.

Refs Cracking Down

It’s hard to miss the uptick in power plays there’s been in the 2017-2018 preseason. What is and isn’t considered a slash has been redefined and faceoff violations have become a menace. There have been games where teams have sat in the box a combined 15 times. Although players will adjust and these inflated numbers will eventually fall, this adjustment period may be critical.

There have been games where teams have sat in the box a combined 15 times. Although players will adjust and these inflated numbers will eventually fall, this adjustment period may be critical.

The Islanders penalty kill has never raised much concern, if the team is not able to optimize on these many power play opportunities, they will have been wasted. Extra chances only make it even more important to be able to convert while playing 5-on-4 hockey.

Next: Casey Cizikas 2017-2018 Season Preview

Missing the playoffs by one point last season was a heartbreaker, especially following the run after the firing of Jack Capuano but optimizing the use of special teams could be the key to successful a playoff push in the upcoming season. It is becoming more and more vital for the New York Islanders to be able to convert with the man advantage.