Flames need to get their disastrous power play on track
Though the Calgary Flames have been playing some better hockey as of late, they remain far from perfect.
There are always a number of ways in which any team believes they can improve, and for the Flames, their main area to work on is obvious. Anyone who has watched this team on a consistent basis this season would tell you it’s their power play.
Through 22 games thus far, the Flames’ work on the man advantage has been abysmal. They’ve found themselves up a man 71 times this season, and converted on just eight of those opportunities. That gives them a success rate of just 11.3%, which ranks 27th in the league.
The power play struggles are nothing new for the Flames, who converted on just 19.8% of the time when up a man a season ago. The hope was that bringing in Marc Savard, a top-tiered offensive talent in his playing days, would help turn that part of the Flames’ game around. Instead, it’s looking even worse.
The coaching staff has been doing everything they can as of late to try and get their power play going. Noah Hanifin has taken over as the quarterback on the first unit, while Rasmus Andersson isn’t currently seeing any power play time at all. The jury is still out on whether this is the right decision, though it’s only fair to give it a few more games before making a judgement one way or the other.
Another potential solution may be removing Jonathan Huberdeau from the first unit entirely. While his game has shown some signs of life recently, his performance on the power play since arriving with the Flames has been horrendous. He looks far from the playmaker he was on the man advantage during his time with the Florida Panthers, and is at times hurting that part of the Flames game more than helping it.
The next opportunity to see if replacing Andersson for Hanifin may be the solution will come tomorrow night, as the Flames are set to welcome the Dallas Stars to town. Puck drop is set for 7 pm MT.
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