ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals offered their first glimpse of the power play in Training Camp, practicing special teams on Saturday morning at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
Under new assistant coach Ray Bennett, who formerly ran power plays for the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche, the team kept a largely-familiar first power-play unit from last season, while the second unit features far more new figures.
First power-play unit
Second power-play unit
Last season’s power play was a major weakness for the team and arguably cost Washington a playoff spot in a tight race. The Capitals scored on just 17.8 percent of their power plays, the team’s lowest power play percentage since 2011-12 (16.7 percent), and finished the season ranked 25th in the NHL.
Not only did the Capitals replace their lead power-play coach, but they also brought on significant on-ice fire power this summer, acquiring offensive wingers Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou in part to shore up a struggling power play.
Head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters he expects both five-man groups to play significant minutes rather than relying on a strict hierarchy between the first and second units.
“We feel like we have 10, 11, 12 really good power-play players, and all deserve to have an opportunity to get out on the power play every two minutes,” Carbery said. “We feel like [we’re] going to try to create two good units that both play a minute…Ride the hot hand. Who’s done well? Sometimes it ebbs and flows with power play units, and sometimes it’s a decision based on who’s fatigued, who was just on the ice.”
While the first power-play unit remains similar to last year’s personnel, Carbery believes Bennett’s coaching can improve its performance, and the unit creates a baseline the team can adjust from.
“Entries will look different,” Carbery said. “I think Ray has different ideas. Now, it’s day one. Ray has some different ideas of, ‘Okay, I want to get a look at what it looks like.’ And then there’s some adjustments off that, some movement off that, some different rotations that he’s used in the past, whether it was with Colorado or Long Island.”
Carbery also highlighted Bennett’s expertise tweaking power plays with elite players like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
“I can’t sit here and tell you what the rotations are going to look like, but I can tell you this: Ray has a ton of experience with some really, really high-end power plays, and inevitably they go stale,” Carbery said. “So that’s where the experience of making subtle adjustments and moving some guys around and changing your entry or your attack points, moving guys, he’s got a lot of experience with that.”
The second unit features offseason acquisitions Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou plus rookies Ilya Protas and Cole Hutson, with Ryan Leonard manning Ovechkin’s traditional spot at the dot. Hutson and Jakob Chychrun will each quarterback their own unit, though Carbery believes they could play together in some circumstances.
“Not saying they both won’t be on the ice at the same time in certain moments, in certain power plays, six-on-five, because they’re elite, elite offensive players. But I do think they have some similar things where they both can run units on their own.”
If Chychrun and Hutson instead regularly shared the same unit, the Capitals would have limited options for their PP2. Rasmus Sandin, who has at times run the Capitals’ second unit, remains out of the lineup due to ACL surgery. Timothy Liljegren has power-play experience, particularly over the last few seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks, but has generally been used in a depth role.
Beyond Bennett’s body of work elsewhere, the new assistant coach brings a much-needed fresh face to the power-play helm, arriving in DC without ties to the team’s previous structures.
“Because of the recent struggles, I think him just coming in with honesty and saying, ‘Let’s take a step back and build this thing from square one,’ to me, that’s the smartest approach,” Carbery said. “You don’t have any preconceived notions: what went on last year, what went on two years ago, where Ovi played, who was out for this — wipe it away. Let’s build this thing from scratch. And that’s what his messaging was today, and that’s what we started to build today.”
In an unusual move, the team met to discuss the power play in the middle of their scheduled ice time, pausing after five-on-five drills before returning for special teams. So far, Bennett’s messaging appears to have landed in the room.
“I think it’s good sometimes, to have someone that comes in from the outside and just (tell us) what they see,” said Dylan Strome.
“You can tell his knowledge is there,” added Cole Hutson. “Can’t wait to get a chance to pick his brain this season and just hope to learn as much as I can from him and try to make him proud.”
This season’s shortened training camp gives Washington little time to test the power play, with just four preseason games before Opening Night. The Capitals will hit the road to open their preseason calendar on Sunday against the Boston Bruins.
