Powerplay Units: Is there debate?

IMO, there's only debate on whether or not Kovalev is on PP1 - however, in a surprising trend, there seems to be a lot of people who want Gonchar and Karlsson split up - to which I say, madness.

Unit 1:

Alfredsson - Spezza - Kovalev
Gonchar - Karlsson

Unit 2:
Michalek - Fisher - Regin/Foligno
Campoli - Kuba

That's how I see it.

I'm one of those mad dudes

That's basically my view as well. The issue with PP2 as it stands is that Michalek has been at his best in front of the net, and Fish and Foligno are both more crash/be around the net types than play-makers.

It might be valuable to have Kovalev on the second unit because no one currently on there can run a powerplay, apart maybe from Regin (I have no idea).

I'd go:

PP1

Regin - Spezza - Alfredsson
Gonchar - Kuba

PP2

Michalek - Fisher - Kovalev
Campoli - Karlsson

I'm telling you, your 1st PP unit won't work as expected if there's nobody in front of the net. I can't see Spezza doing that...
Karlsson and Gonchar's cannons will be wasted if the goalies can see them. There won't even be guys popping rebounds in...

AS i said in the other thread, I'd go umbrella. one D, 4 forwards.

Here's mine:

PP1

Spezza-Michalek-Kovalev
Karlsson-Gonchar

PP2

Regin-Fisher-Alfredsson
Campoli Kuba


Alfie and Kovalev are interchangeable. Don't split up Karlsson and Gonchar, the second PP unit does not have nearly as much impact as the first unit.

Gonchar will make magic happen with Kovalev. Can't split up those two, which means Kovalev has to be on the top unit -- of course all of this is to start; if it doesn't work it doesn't work. Question is, will Karlsson learn better from sitting in the classroom (i.e. on the 2nd unit) or out in the field?

P.S. I'm not against putting Spezza on unit 2 because in the past he and Kovalev did not produce any magic.

marakh wrote:I'm telling you, your 1st PP unit won't work as expected if there's nobody in front of the net. I can't see Spezza doing that...
Karlsson and Gonchar's cannons will be wasted if the goalies can see them. There won't even be guys popping rebounds in...

AS i said in the other thread, I'd go umbrella. one D, 4 forwards.

See, this I can understand - and I had some issues with putting Kovalev up there. Maybe move Kovalev to unit 2 and put Fisher up there with Spezza and Alfie for net presence.

Gonchar can play all 2 minutes, so he'd still get to play with Kovalev. I don't know what to say though, to me Kovalev has to prove that he belongs on the coveted PP 1.

But again, my stance personally, is that you can change anything (including Alfie to PP2), except for Spezza, Gonchar and Karlsson. Finally in Ottawa - we have an electric PP again - like the days of 06/07 and on.

I'd like to see Neil on the PP... him and maybe Donovan

DirtyDave wrote:I'd like to see Neil on the PP... him and maybe Donovan

Pure WIN!!!!

SpezDispenser wrote:

marakh wrote:I'm telling you, your 1st PP unit won't work as expected if there's nobody in front of the net. I can't see Spezza doing that...
Karlsson and Gonchar's cannons will be wasted if the goalies can see them. There won't even be guys popping rebounds in...

AS i said in the other thread, I'd go umbrella. one D, 4 forwards.

See, this I can understand - and I had some issues with putting Kovalev up there. Maybe move Kovalev to unit 2 and put Fisher up there with Spezza and Alfie for net presence.

Gonchar can play all 2 minutes, so he'd still get to play with Kovalev. I don't know what to say though, to me Kovalev has to prove that he belongs on the coveted PP 1.

But again, my stance personally, is that you can change anything (including Alfie to PP2), except for Spezza, Gonchar and Karlsson. Finally in Ottawa - we have an electric PP again - like the days of 06/07 and on.

Bottom line is that whatever's working will stick. As soon as you've got chemistry between Gonchar and Kovalev, he'll stick. If it's just not working, sub in "Door #2?. We've got the cast to run around 20% but it'll take until the season gets going before we'll know.
...And THEN once teams adjust, so will we.

I see them starting with Spez, Alfie, Kovalev but if a body needs to crash the net on a team with a top goalie...insert Milan or Fish. In which case Alfie goes to the point and Karlsson sits?

As you say BigRig, whatever works. Remind me of this 20 games into the year and we'll see if Karlsson has been moved to PP2. I cannot see it personally. Gonchar and Karlsson were born to play together, I'm SO excited.

SpezDispenser wrote:As you say BigRig, whatever works. Remind me of this 20 games into the year and we'll see if Karlsson has been moved to PP2. I cannot see it personally. Gonchar and Karlsson were born to play together, I'm SO excited.

Actually, they were born like 20 years apart, so.......

SpezDispenser wrote:As you say BigRig, whatever works. Remind me of this 20 games into the year and we'll see if Karlsson has been moved to PP2. I cannot see it personally. Gonchar and Karlsson were born to play together, I'm SO excited.

If anything, Karlsson won't NEED to be out there for full powerplays like last year. That confirms that the PP has improved dramatically on the back end before the puck has even dropped.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:As you say BigRig, whatever works. Remind me of this 20 games into the year and we'll see if Karlsson has been moved to PP2. I cannot see it personally. Gonchar and Karlsson were born to play together, I'm SO excited.

If anything, Karlsson won't NEED to be out there for full powerplays like last year. That confirms that the PP has improved dramatically on the back end before the puck has even dropped.

Karlsson is our trump card this season. If he plays anything at all like he did down the stretch (and I don't see any reason why he won't) I think he'll outpoint Gonchar.