How much lower can it get for fantasy hockey fans? A team that has Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, and Patrik Elias cannot even score a single Power Play goal. Imagine the horror for an owner of these players right now just for a second. Yes it is the preseason but even the Nashville Predators ended their man advantage drought last night. Surely, this drought cannot continue into the regular season, right? Well one may be wrong. For some reason whatever Adam Oates is cooking up is not working at all.
Tentatively the breakdown of shame is as follows.
- Game 1 @ PHI 0-3
- Game 2: @ NYR 0-4
- Game 3: Vs. NYR 0-4 (4 PPG’s given up)
- Game 4 Vs. PHI 0-4 (so far)
So that is 0 for 15 for the fans keeping count. That was at 9pm ET press time. Then it FINALLY happened. Travis Zajac scored a Power Play goal at 14:40 of the third to tie the game tonight at 2 then Ilya Kovalchuk won it with 2:41 left. Still 1-16 on the man advantage is nothing to be proud of. The Devils did at least get a win tonight.
The strangest thing about spacing on the Power Play is the following. There really is a finite amount of space for it to work and just that little bit less or more makes a huge difference. When Parise and Kovalchuk are on the man advantage along with Travis Zajac, I noticed several moments where their spacing is just off. Its not by much but that extra foot or two makes a pass just hair off or a one timer go just wide. Put these guys in an even strength situation, and they generate more scoring chances than on the extra man. Yes I understand that it is only the preseason but clearly the Devils still have an “outage” on the man advantage.
How will Adam Oates correct this? Fans and fantasy hockey fans…this will take time. There will be times where this seems to be completely a thing of the past and then times where it goes on for games on end it seems. That can be the problem with a line full of chemistry like Parise, Zajac, and Kovalchuk. If their two players on the blueline are just a little bit off, it throws a major dilemma into the whole equation. It would be like if the Beatles really had a fifth member and he was just a bit off on that first beat everytime.
When we talked to Tom Chorske a few weeks back, we learned just how odd Power Play chemistry can be. It really is different compared to even strenth and even linemate chemistry in some ways. Yes, it can also dramatically affect your fantasy hockey team like no one’s business. Now it is like saying remember when Mike Yeo was a good Power Play coach? I know, I know Pittsburgh fans. Burn me at the stake! However, for as good a faceoff man and man advantage specialist that Adam Oates was, the success will not translate overnight and sometimes it does not at all.
The chemistry that is a man advantage unit can really have gigantic ramifications for your fantasy team. Keep an eye out for it as you never know when you might need it to claim total victory.
