Turning the Power Back On

Good news from training camp today - Hanlon has put together what he believes will be a productive and skilled power play unit, with Ovie, Zednik, and Semin up front and Zubrus and Pothier on the blueline. Wow. That's some serious firepower, with guys that are not only able to shoot the puck but also muscle through a shorthanded defense - I love it.

For an encore? The second power play unit consisting of Beech, Pettinger, Clark, Clymer and Green - a little grittier, but Clark and Pettinger are great at mucking it up in front of the net, Beech appears to be developing his playmaking skills, and Clymer and Green both have good strong shots from the point. The insertion of Beech on this line seems to be a pretty good sign that he will be sticking around, at least for the time being - way to go, Kris!

Overall these units sound pretty strong to me. To be fair, though, I'm pretty easy to please after last season. Hell, I'll settle for the occasional goal on a 2-man advantage, let alone a 5-on-4. Time and time again I watched them fail to capitalize on the other teams mistakes. And spare me the lip service that 5-on-3 goals are often harder to get. Are they 100% guaranteed goals? Obviously not, but the fact remains that you have two more players on the ice than the other team and that has to come with certain advantages. I'm just sayin'.

I am optimistic, though - these power-play units already seem much more intimidating on paper than the real thing looked on ice all last season, so that's something. We'll know for sure on Wednesday when the Bolts come to town - Tortorella's club traditionally is more disciplined than most but it is still the new NHL (can I still call it that?) and the power play will definitely be a factor.