proves the sucker punch point… I srsly wish the league reviewed this (like the whole Weller issue last year) and gives Mr. Walker more than the refs did.

You have a good team, we shouldn’t hate you for that… this lil pic thang… will probably earn you more than a couple of enemies tho.

but with coaching that serves a purpose. I’ve been a Wayne apologist for a long time, but I am really starting to feel that his constant line changing in search of instant chemistry is killing our team. Just when a line might be starting to learn something about itself, they’re back in the random line generator (“SandyZamboni” is what my wife and I have dubbed this potential iPhone application) and it’s back to square one. Just think of how many times we’ve seen the young players look like they will have a promising breakout only to either (i) have a player go offside in anticipation of a dump or pass; (ii) have a player make a pass to a spot either in front of the net or into one of the circles only to have nobody there and the pass goes right to the other team; or (iii) two players collide or come close to doing so because they are trying to get to the same space. This is what happens when players don’t play together all the time, they don’t know where their linemates will be. One of the reasons that the Sedins are so dominant together (by far not the only one, but a big one) is that they’ve been playing together since they were little kids and know where the other one will be. You don’t often see Daniel make a pass to where he thinks Henrik will be and Henrik is nowhere to be found…

The other thing is the power play. (I know Tyson Nash was harping on our PK as well, but I actually think that has generally been doing ok…I’d like to see them be more aggressive in challenging the puck-holder, but all things considered, our PK usually is not bad) The power play is absurdly bad…no ifs, ands or buts. They don’t seem to have any clue who the play should move through, what type of shot they are looking to create, who is the screen in front of the net, or anything. I find it so hard to understand how a team coached by Gretzky, the master of seeing the ice, can be so incapable of putting a unit on the ice with a plan. Now, I think part of it is that when the team practices its power play, it does so against it’s own PK unit, which is passive. And you’ll notice that our power play is much more effective against teams that don’t pressure the puck-holder as much, but try and block shots and get sticks in passing lanes across the ice (making the team work to the outside). Once a team pressures the puck holder, most of our players panic and don’t move the puck to the open player in an expedient manner. That’s really the key – quick passes that are on target. Our power play has 2 other general weaknesses: (i) it relies too heavily on cycling the puck in the corners which allows the defense to overload that side and make it hard to get back in front of the net for close range shots; and (ii) we lack puck handlers who can come into the zone confidently and set up shop. Watch a Flyers game and see Richards, Carter, Gagne, Briere and Timonen bring a puck into the zone to set up the power play…or watch the Caps do it with Ovechkin, Green, Backstrom or Semin. It’s a lot easier to make those quick crisp passes, if you don’t have to grind for the puck after a dump in like we are constantly doing.

Now, I’m sure all of this is easier said than done…and I have never played competitive ice hockey, so I don’t really have the experience to say the coaches are coaching things wrong…but I’ve watched a lot of hockey over my 28 years and these are the things that lead to a better offense…and I don’t watch enough Chicago games to know for sure, but I’m guessing that Quenneville is using the same lines all the time and has a much better plan on the power play.