EHM The Blue Line

Well I am in the top 10 for pp oppurunities, and im 27th for pp%, and its just passed trade deadline, and am 2nd in west, id be along way ahead if i could get my pp to click. so if i let you guys know my tactics and players, could u maybe lend me a hand??

first pp line is

Michalek Thornton Cheechoo Carle Ehrhoff, at the moment its set to crisscross, crisscross, triangle then the default for the rest

second line is
Bell Marleau Bernier Murray Davison and the tactics r the same

i even tryed marleau on the thornton line, but still nothing much happened

so yeh help please, and the rest of my roster is the sharks roster as the game starts.

Thanks
Tim

What are Murray and Davison doing on the PP?

Tried Marleau on the point with the No. 1 unit?

Set who will shoot and who will pass for a better PP. Maybe tune down the tempo to normal or low, so your units will wait to devellop the best possible play before shooting. Give longer shifts to your PP units (40 or 60 seconds, i usually use 40) so they have more time to create a good play.

Always have a playmaker AND a goalscorer on each PP line. At least, someone who can create good plays and someone who can score. Fill the other spots with offensive-minded guys (ie no enforcer, nor checking forward, nor stay-at-home defensemen, etc). If you don't have many offensive talent, you should put some two-way talents on your PP units to fill the last spots.

If you still struggle with all those things, then it would be a tactic issue... Try different ones, and see what works well... I never used triangle on my PP. But i guess it can score if well used and with the right kind of players...

Hope that helps

This acctually concern boxplay... I just wondered if you change the time there to.. to 40/60 sec?

Use the diamond in yout PP. The key is to have only one or two shooters and the should be placed on each side of the point man and those are the LW and the RD. If you have a good right handed shooter you should place him as a LW and his shooting on barrage. The RD should be a left shooter and also on barrage. Notice that you don´t have to place a D-man as a RD in this system. Anyone with a good shot and the right handeness is the proper man for the job. The point man should be a good passer and also a strong defensive D-man and his settings should be more defensive. As I said earlier, set your LW and RD on shooting and barrage and the rest of the guys on passing. If you don´t have any right handed shooters to plya as a LW you can place a playmaker on that position. Otherwise you can use ure center as a playmaker (carrying the puck) but you shouldn´t have more than one playmaker. A strong center and RW with good deflection skill is also an asset in this system.

Depending on the material my PP has been as high as 24% over an whole season and never below 19.

Terva, 4 games into my second season, i already see great improvements, currently got a 27% pp going, and its the best in th league, so thankyou, i appreciate it.

Tim.

sjsharkz wrote:Terva, 4 games into my second season, i already see great improvements, currently got a 27% pp going, and its the best in th league, so thankyou, i appreciate it.

Tim.

That´s great but keep in mind that the PP usually decline just as the scoring as the season goes on.

I am little over halfway through my third season with the Canucks and my team is currently second in the west. All is well apart from one aspect of my team; the power play. I tried everything I’ve read on this site and nothing works. It is ranked 26th in the league at 13.8% despite a pretty good power play lineup including Malkin, Naslund, Havlat, Sedins, Salo, Mike Green, Ohlund, Dawes and a surprisingly useful Steve Downie (to add some grit). In total this season, I have scored only 39 goals on the power play and conceded a league leading 9 short handed goals which means I am a pathetic +30 with the man up.
One thing I have noticed is that the opposition seems to have twice as many blocked shots than I do which might have something to do with my anemic power play.

I apologize if this is in the wrong place or if there is a thread for this sort of problems.

Thank you for your help.

A lot of blocked shots would suggest they're just firing the puck at the net as often as possible. Try to tone down the shooting some (quality over quantity). I'm not a great one to talk since pp/pk are my biggest weakness.

Some people seem to have trouble with PP. So far I have not had any success with PP, despite having a high-scoring team and great PP units. I guess there's no easy answer to this one though. I reckon it's probably more of an issue of tinkering with the tactics until you find the right one.

Also, you may find the practice option for how much time you spend on PP/PK drills helpfull. It makes for quick turnarounds in that department.

Whice style do you play? I like to play umbrella-style with two players positioned at each side of the net, a point-man who is set as playmaker, and two wingers that line-up just above each faceoff-circle. An important part of this is that the wingers, or more exactly the shooters, should have their sticks pointed inwards. That goes without saying for your two players infront of the net as well.

In my current game I play with the Detroit Red Wings and have Nick Lidström as the point-man, Todd Bertuzzi and Jeremy Roenick infront of the net, and Henrik Zetterberg at the top of the right faceoff-circle and Brendan Shanahan at the top of the left faceoff-circle. My powerplay is ranked first in the NHL at 28.9% about two-thirds into the season. Sure, I have outstanding players but nonetheless, my second powerplay lineup is mainly made up of grit with Draper, Avery, and Downie alongside Datsyuk and Redden and they average about the same as the first pp-line.

I would suggest that you focus initially on improving the first line instead of trying to even it out between the two. Play Malkin, Havlat, Näslund, Green, and perhaps Daniel Sedin together and give them as much time as possible. It takes time for players to learn a new system - which of course is very authentic and makes the game so much fun to play.

Best of luck!

Btw, if you have any big, strong players with superb deflection attributes - put them in front of the net no matter who they are. That is one way to save cap space and still have a very competitive and successful powerplay.

I've merged the "Man Advantage Help" topic into this topic. We really didn't need that one when we already had one covering tactics questions. Rowsdower, please check for an existing topic before starting a new one in the future.

pinheirobcp wrote:Also, you may find the practice option for how much time you spend on PP/PK drills helpfull. It makes for quick turnarounds in that department.

My PP is currently set at 60%. I've even hung up posters all over the locker room saying "pass pass pass shoot" and little stick figures engaging in PP cycling.

white knight wrote:Btw, if you have any big, strong players with superb deflection attributes - put them in front of the net no matter who they are. That is one way to save cap space and still have a very competitive and successful powerplay.

I will follow this recommendation. Thank you! I have never been clear on what deflection means. Is it the ability to redirect shots into the net? You see, I used to listen to hockey in french, and so my familiarity with the english terms is not perfect.

Deflection goes up with shooting practice, so I think you are right there.

I run a similar setup as white knight. But I use the diamond formation instead. Main shooters are also LW and RD. Might also help to run different systems on PP1 and PP2. I am not sure, but I run 1-2-2 on PP2. My thinking is that the PK unit will have to adjust to a different setup and they may get caught out of position.

I think 60% PP training is probably on the high side. I've never gone over 40/30/30 (Even/PP/PK). Right now I am using (50/25/25).

Does it stop having effect above a certain percentage? I'd think that if they were training PP plays most of the time, that they'd improve at PP. But it doesn't seem that way!

I don't know if that is a cap for how many % for each training. Maybe there will be diminishing effects, maybe not. I'd think that if you are not giving your guys enough time for the other parts, however, it would affect their overall performance. I like to have even training for the most time because that should be the majority of the game.

In my experience, the practice settings only marginally play a role in the development of once players and team. However, I do believe that it is important for your young players to practice right.

If you want to play around a little bit with the practice settings I might recommend creating a certain "PP" schedule were you might put the first PP line for about a week and then switch to the second line for a week, take a break for a couple of weeks and then run it again. That might, perhaps, fasten the development of chemistry between the line-mates.

Sometimes a certain combination of players just won't click. Ask batdiddy
I'm more and more convinced of the idea that the general line tactics are not really that important. They apply to the entire unit so in order to be effective you'd need to have similar players on one line, but that goes against the idea of spreading the wealth as opposed to put all eggs in one basket. Finding the right line combinations and individual tactics are IMO the key to success on the powerplay. Practical example, you'll highly unlikely have a unit where all 5 players have a creativity and passing rating of min 17-18, so you really should not set every single player to creative passing, but that's what general line settings do at least to my understanding. Every player will try those high risk passes. I've experienced that allowing the entire unit to make more dangerous passes leads to giveaways, breakaways and eventually shorties against. But if you don't do it you are mis-using the one or two players who indeed are capable of completing those passes successfully. That's where individual tactics come into play. They seem to be a bit underrated here, at least I don't read as much about them as about line tactics, although I know most experienced players use them. Just keep the entire unit to normal or even safe and allow only your playmakers to make those dangerous passes.
This was just based on the example of passing but pretty much applies to every aspect of the game. Now if you were already doing it that way I apologize

And yes, sometimes it just might not work and you'll have to live with it. I've won cups having a PK around 80%.

Yea, I already use personal tactics as much as I can.

What I tried to do lately is, I put a PP line together of five forwards, with the two deflection guys as wingers. So far they have scored no PP goals in about six games and a great deal of PP chances. I will have to look at the game more closely and look at what's happening.

The thing about having players that have great deflection attributes at the posts is that you have to have players that can get the puck to them... But as mentioned by Danny earlier: some guys just won't click. But still, I think that it all has to do with knowledge and security. Give them time and they will most likely produce and if they don't try another tactic and see if that tactic suits them better.

This is from the guide:

"To have the same tactical instructions for each type of line, ensure that the box labelled ‘Use Unit Tactics’ located in the Advanced Options section of this screen is unticked. The sections labelled Tactical Settings and Tactical Systems as well as the ‘Defensive Systems’ option (located in the Advanced Options section) control the tactical instructions. Use the drop-down box located at the top right of the screen to switch between each type of line (mentioned above).

To use different tactical instructions for each unit, click on the ‘Use Unit Tactics’ box. The tactical instructions displayed on this page are then disabled because unit tactics are set on the Unit Tactics screen. Enabling this option changes the name of the Tactics screen to Team Tactics and also the View Units screen to Unit Tactics. "

My question is: If the box for 'use unit tactics' is not ticked, and everything is set to normal, does that include power play and penalty kill?

1- PASTE THEM INTO THE ICE
2- Three.
3- If you mean defense, none. If you mean aggressive forecheck, all three.
4-
Line 1- Three very fast offensive players: one sniper, one general and one two-way forward.
Line 2- Three young guys: one two-way forward and two skilled mentally strong forwards.
Line 3- One skilled enforcer, one untested but excellent two-way forward and one utility veteran.
5- Hit the Lindros out of 'em until they're scared of stepping on the ice, then shoot their goalie out of existence.
(please note that this strategy will not work very well unless you have either a disciplined team or a fast team)