Number Crunch: Can Horvat fix Isles’ anemic power play?
On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, former Maple Leafs analyst Cam Charron joined hosts Matt Larkin and Steven Ellis to discuss how Bo Horvat will fit in with his new Islanders teammates, if the Isles can make a late charge into the playoffs, and whether Jesse Puljujarvi has a future in Edmonton.
Matt Larkin: Of course, we’ve got to talk about the Bo Horvat trade, and I’d love to get your perspective on it. There’s so many angles you can approach it from. What do you think he brings to the New York Islanders right now as an acquisition?
Cam Charron: Well, the first thing that came to mind when Bo Horvat went to the Islanders was “why does this make sense for them?” You had a nice piece on Daily Faceoff on why it might have been the right move at the wrong time for the Islanders. The Islanders are a very good 5-on-5 team; they’re a very good penalty-killing team. The problem is that their power play has been very, very bad.
Look at the gap between the Islanders and the rest of the teams in the east fighting for that wildcard spot, they’re just a much better five-on-five team, their penalty kill’s been good, up there with Washington. Their power play is just so bad, it doesn’t really make sense with the pieces that they have. Anders Lee is a very strong net front guy, Matt Barzal is a very strong playmaker, Noah Dobson is a very good power play quarterback at the point. One problem that they have is that Brock Nelson’s shooting this year has completely fallen off, as has Anders Lee’s. They’re taking a lot more shots from players that aren’t as good as taking shots; they have the most shots per 60 from defensemen out of any team in the league. 26 percent of their shots on the power play have come from defensemen, that’s the fifth-most, so it’s a lot of perimeter efforts.
One thing that Bo Horvat does, he’s very good at getting open from the slot, very good at not just creating shots from the middle for himself, but also at drawing defenders and opening up that net front. Hopefully, when we see Matt Barzal on the left flank, his shooter’s side, and Nelson on the right flank, his shooter’s side, we can see Barzal set up Horvat, incredibly good for Vancouver for so many years in that bumper spot, and also open up that seam pass for Nelson and Lee in front of the net.
Does this make New York a playoff team? They have a lot of good things for them going forward if this move can help the power play, sure. Is selling the future to become a playoff team what they need? Well that’s another question altogether. They still have three games left against the Penguins, they still have three left against the Capitals, they still have two games left against the Sabres. They’re very much in control of their own destiny despite the recent losing streak. I like that they made this move early, it’s definitely going to make the Eastern Conference playoff race interesting. We haven’t seen that in a while.
Steven Ellis: So you’re not sure if they’re making the playoffs, do you feel like this is kind of a reach by Lou [Lamoriello]?
Cam Charron: I worked under Lou for three years, he’s kind of a surprising person, he makes moves that you don’t really expect and sometimes they work out. I thought in our situation it was too early to swing on a goaltender when he traded for Frederik Andersen for the Maple Leafs, and that turned out to be the right move at the right time. The way he works is not very conventional thinking despite how long he’s been in the game. He is going to take a few wild swings that sometimes work out for him. This one is very interesting because it does at the very least make his team better and fill a very necessary need for him going toward the end of the year. Whether he sees this team as an actual contender is a question for his coaching staff and analysts. For him maybe this is just the time to make a move. ‘We don’t have a really good future, we don’t have a lot of prospects, we don’t have a lot of draft picks, let’s just put our chips in and we’ll win a few rounds and catch lightning in a bottle with a hot goalie. We have one of the top goalies in the NHL.’ How good they are defensively? How good they are 5-on-5? How good their penalty kill is? They could be a tough out in the playoffs if they’re able to make it. I don’t think they’re good enough yet, but this is a team that’s close. They’ve made themselves a lot better, and in the future, they’re going to have Barzal and Horvat as a one-two down the middle if they can resign Horvat before the off-season.
Matt Larkin: Cam before I let you go, just very quickly, are you a believer in Jesse Puljujarvi, yay or nay?
Cam Charron: If you asked me four months ago I would have said yay, but I just don’t know if the offense is there for me. I love those speedy puck hounds who get the puck on dump ins and throw them to the front of the net. I just don’t know if his teammates trust him enough, they don’t really set him up anymore. He just doesn’t finish wonderful passes from McDavid, which is the reason why they don’t play together anymore. On McDavid’s line his points weren’t great but McDavid scored more goals at five-on-five with Puljujarvi on the line than without, but the fit isn’t really working in Edmonton anymore. He’s moved down the lineup and I think it’s time for him to find new teammates who trust him more or a new team that can use his talents a little bit better.
You can watch the full episode here…