Over the last handful of years, the Washington Capitals, guided by assistant coach Blaine Forsythe, have had one of the most lethal power plays in the league.
Utilizing a 1-3-1 formation and Alex Ovechkin’s rocket of a slap shot, the Capitals’ ended last season with the third best power play (23.1%).
Tuesday morning, the Capitals spent a large chunk of practice focusing on special teams and one change was immediately evident. Capitals second-line center Evgeny Kuznetsov will play in Marcus Johansson’s old spot on the team’s first power-play unit.
Here’s how the team will lineup (courtesy of Isabelle and Tarik).
The team’s second power play unit, as of now, will go without a center and look like this.
Burakovsky would take left side draws and Connolly would take right side draws. Orlov, who has one of the heaviest shots on the team, would receive Ovechkin’s spot on PP2.
Barry Trotz called the units “where we’ll try to start… it’s sort of the first idea.”
Head Coach Barry Trotz talks about the power play, shootout lineup and penalty kill units. #CapsCamp pic.twitter.com/aADJxLrW65
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 26, 2017
Over the offseason, the Capitals traded smooth-skating Marcus Johansson to the New Jersey Devils in a salary dump. While Johansson scored a career high in goals, the Swede’s biggest contributions may have come on the power play where he was one of the team’s most successful players at entering the zone with control. Johansson was also a tremendous net-front presence on the power play, fearlessly battling in front of the net for rebounds and deflections.
The team also worked on penalty kill drills. Tom Wilson was paired with Lars Eller while Jay Beagle skated with Tyler Graovac.
#Caps top PK forward tandems in today's special teams practice: 43-20 and 83-91 (Graovac).
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) September 26, 2017
The Capitals also worked on shootouts. TJ Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, and Alex Ovechkin all had attempts.
#Caps also worked on shootouts, with 77, 19, 92, 65 and 8 making attempts.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) September 26, 2017
The Capitals released video of Oshie’s attempt.
The fake clapper @TJOshie77 #CapsCamp pic.twitter.com/kQgPD3OQSX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 26, 2017
