But the Avs DO start their powerplay from behind the net. It’s one of their strengths, but opposing teams have learned that all they have to do is collapse in front of the net. It always seems liek there’s too many men in front of the net for any Av from the slot to receive a pass.

This is where the point-men should come into play, they should really be looking to receive a pass from behind the net and extend that defense. The best play is to take a pass from behind the net and immediately move it to a different spot on the ice to create a new attack point that the defense isn’t set up for. But I agree holding the puck out there may be the worst thing you can do.

First, your point men don’t establish your odd man advantage. Just because they call it “quarterbacking the powerplay” doesn’t mean the point actually sets up the scoring chances. When the puck is at the point they have two forwards up in the box mirroring the puck handler. It really does nothing to hold the puck at the point, looking for an open man. I’ve never understood what Liles or Wolski are looking for when they hold the puck out there. It’s like they are looking for an open man. This has to be one of the worst percentage plays in all of power play hockey. How many scoring chances are made by a pass coming out of the point?

Second, power play goals are power play goals because you have a man advantage. This seems relatively obvious but fundamentally the Avs aren’t finding this 2 on 1 at any part of the ice during the PP. The odd man situations are almost always created from the circles down. Scottie Bowman used to say the most effective power play was one that started from behind the net and moved out wards. He rightly describes the necessity of defensemen to turn their back to their coverages as a huge advantage for the offense. When defensemen turn their backs or have to take the puck carrier behind the net, forwards have to pinch down to cover. Detroit used to run a lot of plays below the goal line and then up to the triangle for tic tac toe scoring chances. If forwards cheated in too much they would get it out to Lidstrom for shots or pinches leading to shots/assists. When forwards didn’t cheat down they would use a triangle to get slap shots in the slot from Shannahan and Hull. Arnott used to always do this with the Power play with NJ.

My armchair coach advise is to start the power play from behind the net. The Avs have some excellent ability in that department with Stastny and Brunette. Set up guys in front of the net and slot who can one time shots like Svatos and Hejduk. Have your defensemen one time slap shots when the puck gets rotated out. Basically, I think the strategy of starting from the point and passing back and forth while it’s looking like your hunting for an open man is foolish. The point can move the play from one side of the ice to the other but it’s not for setting up scoring chances. Your 40 feet from the net and you’re covered. Where did they learn this?

Frankly I’ve never been really impressed with Granato as a coach. Maybe he’ll develop into a good one someday, but he has always seemed a a bit in over his head. I agree though, the powerplay is the biggest concern right now.

I don’t know if a new PP coach or a new quarterback will work, but the current strategy of doing nothing sure as hell isn’t working.

I’m still fighting this fucking flu today, so I wasn’t able to do a recap, but I was going to mention Leopold on the point. Whatever we’re doing on the PP is not working. I don’t see where the harm would be in trying some different point men. Leopold was awful at the beginning of the season, but has been very steady since coming back from injury #217. I’d like to see him get some quality minutes on the PP. It certainly can’t get any worse.

If something doesn’t change soon, Giguere HAS to make a move for PP help.

This next game is really a test, will Buds get the start? I certainly hope he does. I would like to see him getting at least 4 out of every 5 starts, and more like 7 out of every 8.

I was happy with Budaj in net and Skrastins getting the, er scratch. Not happy with the Stastny line though. Our best line continues to be the Guite line which is great because we finally got an energy line. However, Hejduk and Stastny are just not getting any pressure.

Leopold shows everyone in the Pepsi Center how a real defenseman handles a puck that comes out to the point. He’s aggressive across the blue line, fakes the shot and gets a good scoring opportunity. I should say everyone in the Pepsi Center but the coaching staff because on the power play he got to ride the pine while the first team PP forwards were out.

I think Budaj has been OK the last couple of games. There are things he can improve and I think he will. I’m very exited to see if he gets the start in the next game. If he does it will be the first time since a regulation loss (I’m pretty sure). If Q starts Theo, then we never graduated to a starting goaltender. It all means we just rode the hot streak.

And let’s look at the effort over this recent losing streak, Detroit could hardly be called a poor effort. LA was a poor effort. The back-to-back games against the Coyotes? I certainly thought they played fairly well New Year’s eve, and were really stopped by Bryzgolov. Last night wasn’t the best effort.

Good coaching isn’t winning every game, good coaching is handling adversity and how does a team respond to adversity. Every time the Avs have had a stretch of adversity this season, they have followed it up with a winning streak filled with impressive hockey.

And if contrarian is not falling into the “firing the head coach will fix what ails this team” trap that many fans fall into, then yes I am contrarian. I don’t think the problem is effort, or lack-thereof which is quite possibly the most unquantifiable measurement possibly made. To me the “lack of effort: argument is akin to saying “There’s something wrong, but I don’t know what it is. They must not be trying hard enough”

I think a better solution would be to bring in an assistant that has a fresh look at power-play strategy along with FG acquiring a better power-play QB. I think the problem with the team is the power-play. Before Sakic officially went down, I think it was clear that he wasn’t himself, my guess is that he was playing through hernia pain. Before the Avs can really contend for the cup they need someone who can play better at the point and draw opposing penalty killers (and even at ES) to the point to create more room for the Hejduks, Stastny’s and Smyths of the world to grab rebounds and create Havoc. Right now opposing teams know they can collapse all 4 in front of the net, let the Avs pass on the point and block any shots that come in.

Q has actually done the right thing, it’s obvious he has encouraged his D-men and point men to shoot more, and the Avs have had a ton more one-timers, but that’s just not their skillset. The Avs “offensive D-men” like Clark, Cumisky, and Liles excel at carrying the puck in the zone and creating chances off the rush. They aren’t the typical playmaking passer, like a Zubov or Lidstrom, or a cannon shot like a Blake or Souray. I don’t see anything Q can do to fix that, that’s either trade for one of those types, or wait until Sakic returns healthy to man the point. (You might be able to get away with putting Statsny out on the point, but I think that may be a waste of his talent too).

If the Avs could improve their dismal powerplay to even around 18% they would easily move back to top of the Northwest. I’m just not sure there’s much coaching can do with the current healthy players.

And Pat Burns? The same Pat Burns who underachieved with multiple Maple Leafs teams and defended his lone Stanley cup by being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round? Sounds a lot like Marc Crawford’s resumé to me