The Canucks power play should be better in 2017-18 than it was last season. There are several reasons for that, but one of the biggest is the addition of Sam Gagner. That is partly because of Gagner himself and partly because of who he will be, or at least should be, replacing on the power play: Brandon Sutter.
I don’t mean to harp too much on Sutter, as it’s not his fault he was put into a position for which he was ill-suited, but he fit the role like an ordinary off-the-rack suit on Erik Gudbranson. Of the 73 NHL forwards who played 200+ minutes on the power play last season, Sutter was 71st in points per 60 minutes.
Gagner isn’t what you might call a pure power play specialist — he’s never reached 20 power play points in any season — but he scored at nearly twice the rate as Sutter last season. He has put up double digits in power play points in 7 of his 10 seasons, while Sutter has reached double digits in power play points exactly once, and only just barely: he scored 10 power play points in his sophomore season in Carolina.
So how might Gagner make a difference on the Canucks’ power play? Let’s look at how he was used in Columbus to get an idea.
High slot in a 1-3-1 formation
This was Sutter’s usual place on the power play, sitting in the high slot where he could be available for shots, tips, and passing plays, while occupying a penalty killer to free up more space for the rest of the power play. The trouble was that Sutter doesn’t have a particularly quick release on his shot and is not a great puck distributor, so he could mostly be ignored by penalty killers, turning the power play into a 4-on-4 that kept the puck to the outside.
Gagner frequently played this role for Columbus, but because he has a deft touch on redirections, can release the puck quickly, and is an excellent passer, he was more effective. Just look at this pass against the Los Angeles Kings:
This blind pass to Cam Atkinson for a one-timer requires creativity and vision and his technique effectively avoids the sticks of all the Kings penalty killers. He uses this play again against the Oilers later in the season, if not quite as smoothly:
Gagner also made himself available for redirections from the slot:
This redirect from the slot goes off the post and back out to Atkinson at the back door for an assist. That’s the kind of tip that the Sedins, and their predilection for the slap pass, love to see.
This was clearly a standard element of the Columbus power play:
Once again, Gagner is in the high slot, redirecting a hard pass on net. It’s a deft tip that leads to a scramble in front, but this is actually Gagner’s goal, as the puck squeaks past Louis Domingue and in before any other Blue Jacket touches the puck. In fact, Atkinson nearly clears the puck off the goal line.
The key here is how Gagner keeps his stick open for the pass the entire time. The pass is actually a little off the mark, but Gagner adjusts nicely to send the puck on goal.
Again, Gagner in the high slot, redirecting a hard pass through Cam Talbot. This one actually goes in off Gagner’s skate, but the play is the same.
Gagner was also able to tip point shots from his position in the high slot:
This is an acrobatic tip that beats Chad Johnson cleanly, whereas on this next one, he tips the puck down to prevent Ryan Miller from controlling the rebound, instead kicking it out to Atkinson for the finish.
Gagner’s snap shot isn’t his most deadly offensive weapon, but he’s still an option to shoot from the slot:
Gagner takes advantage of some soft defending by Cam Fowler to sneak down low and get two chances to beat Jonathan Gibson.
Keeping the puck alive
The issue with Sutter on the power play wasn’t always point production, but an inability to keep the play alive in the offensive zone. In these plays, Gagner leaves the slot to keep the puck alive, leading to goals.
Gagner keeps this puck alive along the boards, makes himself available for a return pass, then finds Atkinson at the back door with a lovely cross-crease feed.
Gagner does well here to close off the boards after his initial pass is picked off following a great play at the line by Seth Jones. That leads directly to a 2-on-1 down low for the Jackets.
This assist has more to do with Atkinson’s absurd shot than Gagner’s pass, but he still does well to make himself available up high off a nearly lost puck, then quickly moving it to Atkinson once it comes to him.
Slap shots and fakes
Sutter’s main offensive weapon is his wrist shot, which is deadly accurate but requires time and space to load up, which is why it mainly sees use off the rush in odd-man situations. Gagner, on the other hand, likes to use his slap shot when he gets room and uses it effectively with the man advantage.
For his second power play goal of the season, Gagner blasts a slap shot off the rush. It’s a quick zone entry by Atkinson off a neutral zone faceoff that backs up the Dallas Stars penalty killers and gives Gagner room to fire a shot inside the far post.
At times, the Blue Jackets used Gagner at the point, where he could be a bit more of a quarterback than from the high slot and use his slap shot, or, at least, pretend to.
Gagner steps in, looking like he’s loading up his slap shot, but instead sends a surprise pass down low, leading to a pretty backdoor play. This is some excellent vision by Gagner, reading the play and recognizing that his shot would likely be blocked by a sliding Karl Alzner.
He does it again against the Coyotes, spotting Atkinson at the back door and opening up the passing lane with a fake shot that sends the defender to his knees to block it.
Gagner is back at the point, despite two defencemen on this unit, though one of them is Jack Johnson. Gagner takes the pass from Jones, then takes the space given to him by the Sabres penalty kill before blasting a slap shot short side past a screened Robin Lehner.
Faceoffs and miscellaneous
One of the roles Sutter played on the power play last season was splitting the faceoff duties with Henrik Sedin. He was very good on power play faceoffs, winning 60.7%, though Bo Horvat was the best on the Canucks at 62.5%.
Gagner isn’t at Sutter’s level on faceoffs, but he’s an option on the draws, winning 50.9% of his faceoffs with the man advantage last season. Here he picks up a secondary assist on a faceoff win back to the point.
And sometimes you just end up with an open net from a heads-up pass during a scramble. Nice quick hands by Gagner to put it in the net, though.
Gagner matched his career high with 18 goals last season, but he also had a 30-game goalless drought that he snapped with this late-game power play goal. It’s a lovely wrist shot that beats Craig Anderson five-hole from the left faceoff circle and it kicked off a 6-game point streak for Gagner.
As we can see in these videos, Gagner played two roles with the Columbus power play: in the high slot on the first unit and on the point on the second unit. The first is the most directly related to how he’ll most likely be used in Vancouver, as the redirects and puck distribution seem to make him a likely fit with the Sedin unit.
It’s also easy to envision Brock Boeser playing the role of Cam Atkinson for the Canucks, setting up at the left faceoff circle for one-timers and backdoor plays.
Of course, these are highlights: these all represents times when everything worked out the way the Blue Jackets wanted it to. You could assemble a highlight reel of Sutter’s power play points from last season and he would look pretty good. The key is really that Gagner is better at puck distribution, and that he has more than twice as many career power play goals and more than three times as many career power play points as Sutter.
