The Rangers have a “1A and 1B” power play decision to make

The Rangers’ power play framework was created by David Quinn in late November of the 2019-20 season in which the second-year coach built a four-man first unit that included Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome and Tony DeAngelo on point. with the only left-hander Chris Kreider in front.

The structure has essentially stayed the same, although Adam Fox replaced DeAngelo pretty much from the start in 2020-21 and Vincent Trocheck replaced Strome two years ago.

The unit has thrived since its inception under three different coaches: Quinn, Gerard Gallant and the current occupant of the office, Peter Laviolette. The power play has climbed at a rate of 29 percent over the past four-plus months of 2019-20. The Rangers were third in the league last year with 26.4 percent. Over the past three seasons, the Blueshirts’ PP ranks fourth at 25.2 percent behind Edmonton (28.4), Tampa Bay (25.9) and Toronto (25.7).

At the start of a now 10-day camp, Laviolette discussed finding a “balance” of perhaps wanting to give other plays more time with the power play — the topic of conversation was of course Alexis Lafrenière — while recognizing the first power. The playing unit was one of the best in the league in years.

But here is an imbalance that is implanted in my brain:

Through the first six games of last year’s tournament, the Rangers were 10 of 25 on the power play — 6 of 16 against Washington and 4 of 9 against Carolina.

Over the last 10 playoff games, the Rangers have gone 2 for 25 with the power play – 1 for 10 against the Canes and 1 for 15 against the Cats.

The problem was, Laviolette didn’t make something happen and elevate Lafreniere — who, midway through the conference finals, had separated himself from every forward in the room — to the top spot. We talked about it at the time. I thought it was a mistake not to give Lafrenière more room to maneuver when he embodied the political slogan “He is fresh and everyone is tired”.

But let’s go back to Friday, when the Rangers featured two distinct units split by combinations of the top six lines. On the one hand, Kreider, Zibanejad, Reilly Smith, Fox and Filip Chytil, and on the other, Panarin, Trocheck, Lafreniere, Brennan Othmann and Zac Jones. That’s how they set up Tuesday’s game against the Islanders.

You might consider the unit with Kreider and Fox to be 1A, but would you tell Panarin and Trocheck that they are on a B unit of it? Be my guest.

This could get tricky if the Rangers choose to go that route. There will be more players in the mix who get more ice time, and there will be an alternative if a unit is shut down, but the 1-AND-ONLY PP guys over the last half-decade are going to lose time. The mentality can also change if the first unit on the move feels obligated to do so quickly before replacing it.

“I think some teams have a 1A and a 1B,” Laviolette said. “We are working on it. We’re looking at it. »

I screamed for years about the intermittent entitlement of the first and only unit essentially refusing to change even after 100 seconds of nothing. However, this was never a problem last year. The first unit essentially got all the time (and participated in 59 of the club’s 65 PPG).

Panarin played 76 percent of the team’s power play minutes, with Kreider at 75, Trocheck at 74, Zibanejad at 72.7 and Fox at 66.5 while missing 10 games. That doesn’t leave much time for others.

But then there’s this to consider: Virtually every big power play that includes multiple big-name forwards works the same way. The first unit remains in place until it scores.

Tampa Bay led the NHL with 28.6 percent power play efficiency. Nikita Kucherov accounted for 83.5 percent of the Lightning’s power play, with Brayden Point at 75.6, Steven Stamkos at 75.1, Victor Hedman at 69.3 and Nick Paul at 64.2 percent.

Edmonton was fourth with 26.3 percent. Evan Bouchard received 76.7 of the Oilers’ PP time with Leon Draisaitl at 75.3, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 73.4, Zach Hyman at 71.5 and Connor McDavid at 70.9 percent.

Colorado was fifth with 24.5 percent. Nathan MacKinnon was for 80.9 percent PP for the Avalanche while Mikko Rantanen was for 80.7 and Cale Makar was for 69.1 percent.

The exception was Carolina, which finished second at 26.9. Wes Jarvis led the Canes with 59.9 percent power play time with Sebastien Aho at 57.4 and Brett Burns at 54.4 percent.

Of course, both of their units went 2-for-21 against the Rangers in the second round.

This is a difficult question. The Rangers must diversify and distribute their wealth. But they would fix something that wasn’t broken – until it was.

Towards 1A/1B or not towards 1A/1B? That’s the question.