Article content continued

More of this, more of the same, won’t change a thing. Fingers crossed, or not.

This quote from from Williecomes off as pie in the sky stuff.

“(But) I believe the power play will come. Forty games in, maybe we should do something else on it. But I believe in that unit. I like the guys and we’ll find a way. We’ll work through it.”

BEST MAPS

Brandon Sutter’s shot attempt map at evens.

This Sutter, sure likes shooting from the right side.

He has one of the best shots on the team. As I saw someone tweet tonight, his shot is legit.

There is but one issue. The Canucks have made no use of it on the power play. There is literally no reason to have him on the ice. You can keep saying “right shot right shot” al you want, he’s not getting it off.

Part of that is he’s played either exclusively on the left side or net front . One is the side he’s least comfortable shooting from. The other isn’t taking advantage of his shot at all.

If you are going to use him, why not use him on the side he’s most comfortable shooting from.

Everyone is so locked on Henrik playing the wall on the right side. He can, and has, played the left side too.

Something has to change.

This shot map may be the most damning of them all.

Sutter has been taking 26% of the unblocked shot attempts but none of that is happening where his shot would be effective.

In fact, there’s nothing happening at all on the left side of the ice.

The Canucks appear to have two plays. One is Baertschi closing in on the backdoor. The other is Stecher shoots, get on the rebound.

The Sedins, combined, are taking just 20% of the unblocked shots. Even if you do believe they are a great combination, on your power play, they’re doing nothing. They are the Sedins and 80% of the unblocked shot attempts when they’re on the ice are not coming from them.

The heat map here strongly suggest this power play is designed to run through the point shot, in this case Stecher.

He’s 22 and never had success in the NHL on a power play.

Ye, he’s been taking a crazy 34% of PP1’s unblocked shot attempts.

What is going on here?