The Montreal Canadiens’ power play has been notoriously underwhelming for the better part of the last decade. In fact, the 2017-2018 season was the last time the team finished the year with an over 20 PP%.
After going 0-for-7 on the man advantage against the Calgary Flames on Monday, the Habs officially sunk to the bottom of the NHL’s power play standings. To add insult to injury, the team failed to score on a four-minute 4-on-3 man advantage in overtime despite many chances.
Currently, they’re riding on a mere 14.4% success rate when playing with an extra skater, which is unacceptable by any standard.
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How is this possible when they have an elite centreman in Nick Suzuki and a showstopping sniper in Cole Caufield?
The team has only registered 13 goals on the power play this year. Suzuki has five of them, while Caufield has three. Therefore, the answer likely lies beyond the two young forwards.
One correlation many fans and analysts have drawn is that assistant coach Alex Burrows has impacted the team’s offensive production. Since being hired in February of 2021, Burrows has been in charge of Montreal’s power play strategies. In that time, the underwhelming units have only gotten worse.
Throughout their miraculous run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the Habs still showed weakness on the man advantage, averaging an 18.8 PP% in those playoffs.
Even former assistant coach Kirk Muller, who Burrows ultimately replaced, boasted better regular season numbers in his 425 games behind the Montreal bench.
Despite the lack of scoring, Montreal is still playing better than expected, with 14 wins and two overtime losses in their first 28 games. As a result, the supposed “tanking year” appears less and less likely as the team moves closer to a playoff spot.
If they want to get there, they’ll need to tighten up their special teams — one way or another.