Why Isn't Zeev Buium Quarterbacking the Wild's Power Play More Often?

I'm a big fan of Zeev.  The guy has crazy skill.  I'm glad he is getting over 18 minutes a night of TOI.  I also think it is good for him to watch others run the PP sometimes so he can see the difference.  He is learning at a rapid pace.  I would expect him to be the mainstay for the PP by the end of the year and well in to our future.

I have to say that having Buium meshing with the top unit, which is still a work in progress is more important. Hynes loses sight of the long term goals of the team to a very short sighted next game up. You want the players to have that mentality, but coaches simply can't.

If this team is going to be successful, especially in the post season, they've got to get the new guys acclimated. This is a completely necessary step in any rebuilding/retooling or whatever you want to call it. The new guys need to have significant roles where they are not just "them" but are contributing to the teams' success. 

Buium QBs a PP very well. I can understand if the penalty was obtained during his shift where he'd been out awhile, but, otherwise, this unit needs to be in top form by April. That doesn't come from playing 3 weeks together in March. 

I realize we've got to get to the playoffs to make a deep run, and Hynes needs to run his bench on gameday more of a win the day than long term. But he does need to stick with the long term planning which is what all teams have to do when the new guys arrive. March should be where we introduce some new blood we've just acquired into the lineup. In that instance, the meshing of the kids should already be complete.

8 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Buium QBs a PP very well. I can understand if the penalty was obtained during his shift where he'd been out awhile, but, otherwise, this unit needs to be in top form by April. That doesn't come from playing 3 weeks together in March. 

I think some patience can be reasonable. This season has a very specific break in February, and the Wild have 24 games remaining when they come back.

Buium has seen some time on the PP1, and he'd still have over 25% of the season if Hynes decided to put him back on that unit once they return.

I agree he's their best option there, but I also wonder if there is some value in having him on PP2, which might otherwise be seriously lacking in playmaking.

When PP1 gets shut down, having that playmaking on PP2 has been useful in some games. I know the flip side is that PP1 might not get shut down with him, but as long has he's being used on PP1 or PP2, he can have a positive impact.

My biggest frustration with the power play is the zone entry play when Zeev isn't on the ice.  Since, we loose a lot of face offs we end up needing to regroup and then try to gain the offensive zone, which takes precious time.  

Against Calgary and Vancouver, Faber made some really bad passes on the break out that made us look like a troop of monkeys trying to hump a football.  Actually, the monkeys would be more entertaining.  A couple of power play goals versus Calgary would've won that game in my opinion and we had 8 minutes of power play time in the first period.  To Faber's credit he cleaned this up against Seattle. 

What I'm seeing with Buium is a much cleaner zone entry thus leading to more offensive zone time.  Zeev adds the coast to coast ability that teams have to account for which opens up more room on the entry.  It seems to me with Faber and Spurgeon we end up ringing the puck around the boards to get established on the power play.  I would say we are actually good at this, but it takes precious time to set up and sometimes we have to win a puck battle to actually get set up.  

Once we get established,  Spurge, Zeev and Faber do move the puck around adequately, but I think Spurgeon takes too many wide open shots from the blue line with no traffic.  The one thing I thought that Goligoski was next level at was knowing when to shoot on the power play.  He accounted for a lot of scoring by knowing when to shoot.  I think Zeev does this better than Faber and Faber better than Spurgeon.  

We scored one goal in three of the last four games, and five goals total, without the empty netters.  Seems to me we should be playing our best power play unit to score more goals.  Unless we are trying to tank?

45 minutes ago, AKwildkraken said:

Faber made some really bad passes on the break out that made us look like a troop of monkeys trying to hump a football.

Faber’s consistent inability to execute the neutral zone drop pass as the pp group is moving up ice is perplexing

Hynes has trust issues with young players.

PP1 is struggling to not only enter the zone but maintain the zone.  It makes them impatient and ultimately taking low % shots.  Winning some FO's would help too.  

I think Heinz is trying to bring a little less chaos to PP1 by playing Faber and Spurge.  I don't know if I agree with it, but I think I get it.  

So 3 Power Play goals in the last 27 attempts would seem to point to some type of deficiency. My guess is the Wild have become predictable. I think that’s common but not making an adjustment faster isn’t. I don’t know if ZB is the change that can make the difference but something has to change. 

2 hours ago, AKwildkraken said:

My biggest frustration with the power play is the zone entry play when Zeev isn't on the ice.  Since, we loose a lot of face offs we end up needing to regroup and then try to gain the offensive zone, which takes precious time.  

Against Calgary and Vancouver, Faber made some really bad passes on the break out that made us look like a troop of monkeys trying to hump a football.  Actually, the monkeys would be more entertaining.  A couple of power play goals versus Calgary would've won that game in my opinion and we had 8 minutes of power play time in the first period.  To Faber's credit he cleaned this up against Seattle. 

What I'm seeing with Buium is a much cleaner zone entry thus leading to more offensive zone time.  Zeev adds the coast to coast ability that teams have to account for which opens up more room on the entry.  It seems to me with Faber and Spurgeon we end up ringing the puck around the boards to get established on the power play.  I would say we are actually good at this, but it takes precious time to set up and sometimes we have to win a puck battle to actually get set up.  

Once we get established,  Spurge, Zeev and Faber do move the puck around adequately, but I think Spurgeon takes too many wide open shots from the blue line with no traffic.  The one thing I thought that Goligoski was next level at was knowing when to shoot on the power play.  He accounted for a lot of scoring by knowing when to shoot.  I think Zeev does this better than Faber and Faber better than Spurgeon.  

We scored one goal in three of the last four games, and five goals total, without the empty netters.  Seems to me we should be playing our best power play unit to score more goals.  Unless we are trying to tank?

what about moving MJ to PP1....he is by far the best at getting the puck into the zone. it's a nightmare watching PP1 unit try that multiple time and waste a minute just to get situated. MJ could help. I suppose he could then be replaced upon entry but that's risky....but then once he gets there his role diminishes....

but perhaps we could try him in PP1 and use him with Kap Boldy Zeev/Faber and Ek...at least until Zuccy is back. 

what's worse - watching PP1 try to gain zone for a minute and run out of energy when they finally do or give them a chance with the puck in the zone almost immediately but not have the most ideal man advantage with MJ over say Zuccy?

PP1’s problem is they are looking for the perfect pass or setting KK or MB up for a one timer.  Just like the other day Mats Z is alone on the goalie where he would have likely scored but opted for a pass over to KK with a poor angle and 4 other players. Result, play broken up and no shot. 
 

it’s easy to fix. Shoot the F’ing puck!!!!  Most PKs break down when they have to scramble which is why goals are scored on the entry and after rebounds. Both circumstance result in people out of position and leveraging the extra man as a way to score goals. 
 

The Wilds PP only works if the puck moves faster around the perimeter. We are not good enough to do that. Besides, that usually results in KK making a stupid pass between his legs or behind his back. 
 

if they don’t adapt a shooting mentality they will never be better than 15%. Like the Great One says, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. 

3 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

what about moving MJ to PP1....he is by far the best at getting the puck into the zone.

I think KK and Boldy might disagree.  Nojo does use his speed to gain the zone but normally does the same thing with the puck, which is make a short pass to the guy standing at the blue line.

I think Zeev fit demoted because he isn't playing within the system that we so predictablely use.

13 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

When PP1 gets shut down, having that playmaking on PP2 has been useful in some games. I know the flip side is that PP1 might not get shut down with him, but as long has he's being used on PP1 or PP2, he can have a positive impact.

Valid points but it isn't that he is or isn't on PP1 or PP2.  The biggest issue is that they can't win a faceoff to save their life.  When you get out competed on the dot for 75 of the 82 regular season games it is a problem and it doesn't matter who is on what PP unit when they spend the entire shift chasing the puck around.  

Now that’s funny (because it’s true). “In its place, an appetite for John Hynes’s still-beating heart burns in the pit of your stomach.

17 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

So 3 Power Play goals in the last 27 attempts would seem to point to some type of deficiency. My guess is the Wild have become predictable. I think that’s common but not making an adjustment faster isn’t. I don’t know if ZB is the change that can make the difference but something has to change. 

I didn't get to this point specifically in the article, but one advantage to replacing Buium with one of Spurgeon/Faber is that it makes the PP less predictable. Different players have different tendencies, and the change in handedness from Zeev (lefty) to Faber/Spurgeon (righty) opens different passing lanes. 

They will bounce back -- stretches like this force Hynes into the film room to respond, and they will start to convert again. 

14 hours ago, AKwildkraken said:

I think KK and Boldy might disagree.  Nojo does use his speed to gain the zone but normally does the same thing with the puck, which is make a short pass to the guy standing at the blue line.

I think Zeev fit demoted because he isn't playing within the system that we so predictablely use.

Right, it’s just MJ is elite at entering the zone, otherwise PP1 unit skill is wasted on trying to set up - very sad looking PP lately 

I’m actually more confident in PP2 unit snd that’s a credit to MJ

22 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

When PP1 gets shut down, having that playmaking on PP2 has been useful in some games. I know the flip side is that PP1 might not get shut down with him, but as long has he's being used on PP1 or PP2, he can have a positive impact.

I think the thing that really bothers me is seeing so much redundance in the abilities. For instance, we've got this drop the puck all the time to come in with speed, when Buium can take care of that. But, no, the coaches have fallen in love with the drop pass and sometimes even double that up. 

When the lane opens up for Buium, often times he'll enter the zone by himself and have nobody going with him. Sometimes the drop pass works, but other times, if you do it EVERY TIME, teams plan for it. I would think you'd catch them off guard by switching it up more, but if you do, the players need to be set for that too. They aren't. 

On PP2, Johansson is the one with that speed up the ice skill, and Faber can do it too, but right now we are down a couple of players there. I think Rossi could also do it. 

What I noticed inside the zone was that Buium kept everything moving at a good pace, but when it comes to Spurgeon, he settles everything down to a crawl, and the players don't interchange positions enough. Faber is somewhere in between there, but just does not handle the puck the same as Buium. 

On a positive note, while Buium seems unique to our defensive corps in this area, the Wild have given up the blue line and he's been back to defend. This area has looked way better for Buium, and he has broken up the plays with his skating and stick very well. To put it another way, he is far more interested in doing that than Addison every was. 

I do think that Buium is holding himself back a little. He's got a lot more ability to do more, but the team isn't ready for that yet. This is where I think this PP1 can actually move up a level. But, for it to work all 5 players (really 7 if you include subs) need to know how each like to play, and that simply takes a bunch of reps. I remember hearing stories of how San Jose used to practice an hour after practice just on PP stuff, and they had an outstanding PP. 

8 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Valid points but it isn't that he is or isn't on PP1 or PP2.  The biggest issue is that they can't win a faceoff to save their life.  When you get out competed on the dot for 75 of the 82 regular season games it is a problem and it doesn't matter who is on what PP unit when they spend the entire shift chasing the puck around.  

This is an area Yurov needs dramatic improvement, but that's not shocking for someone that is still gaining experience at C and in the NHL. Hartman isn't particularly strong there either.

Eriksson Ek and Sturm have been solid most nights. Rossi is okay, and Ben Jones is good at them, but obviously doesn't play power play.

If the Wild get all of their centers healthy, they might move closer to average. To this point in the season, they've won roughly 27 per night while opponents won 30.

We'd certainly like to see the Wild win more, but if they continue winning 47%+, that's not too far from average. Obviously frustrating when they cannot get the offensive zone setup to create shots on the power play, so I understand.

Toronto, Ottawa, and the NYRangers are the top 3 faceoff teams, and all of them are outside of the East's playoff picture currently. Nashville is also top 6 in faceoffs, and next to last in the West, so as important as it is, it's not the most important thing. Just not being terrible at faceoffs might be good enough.

For Yurov, it might need to be an offseason focus, but hopefully the Wild do improve on faceoffs throughout the season.

4 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

For Yurov, it might need to be an offseason focus, but hopefully the Wild do improve on faceoffs throughout the season

I still don't know why they don't bring back Koivu for training in this specific area. Surely he could run some clinics on it, and should be doing it regularly with our guys in the A. He was pretty good at the skill.

In looking at it, most of the younger guys seem to have 1 faceoff move on each side of the ice. The older guys have more as they learn, but teaching this at a younger age makes sense. Looking at the guy in front of you, how are you going to beat him? 

The other thing is a contested face off where you get a win because of a teammate's hustle. I'd like to see a differential of clean wins.

On the PP 1BB has a good point, but I think our best draw man on the PP is probably Boldy. Using him more might be a better plan. 

Re koivu coming back: I’ll guess there’s no love lost between koivu and Guerin given how koivu was unceremoniously excused from his services here at the end.  And the wet blanket that is koivu + thin skinned tough guy that is Guerin aren’t likely to make amends in this lifetime

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

still don't know why they don't bring back Koivu for training in this specific area. Surely he could run some clinics on it.

I believe he's coaching in Finland and enjoying time with his wife(married in 2024). No idea if he wants to come back to the US. He sold his MN home.

19 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I believe he's coaching in Finland and enjoying time with his wife(married in 2024). No idea if he wants to come back to the US. He sold his MN home.

That makes more sense, for some reason I thought he was still in the area and had a home there.

3 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

I’m actually more confident in PP2 unit snd that’s a credit to MJ

I feel the same way at times.

10 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

For Yurov, it might need to be an offseason focus, but hopefully the Wild do improve on faceoffs throughout the season.

I don't think demanding a 50% draw rate is too much to ask.  After all every night the other team seems to be able to be above 50%.  3 to 5 draw wins a night above the other team would equate to about 30 to 50 goals a year.  

Case in point as I'm listening to the Wild game against Dallas.  Defensive zone draw on the power play, the Stars win it clean and Heiskenan scores a short handed goal. 

13 minutes ago, 1Brotherbill said:

I don't think demanding a 50% draw rate is too much to ask.  After all every night the other team seems to be able to be above 50%.  3 to 5 draw wins a night above the other team would equate to about 30 to 50 goals a year.  

Case in point as I'm listening to the Wild game against Dallas.  Defensive zone draw on the power play, the Stars win it clean and Heiskenan scores a short handed goal. 

And we get one back off of a face-off draw win.