Toronto's Special Teams are... well... special

[Ninetyfourgoalie 168]

This may be the team's biggest weakness right now. Both the powerplay and penalty kill have been abysmal. Converting on just 12.63% of their powerplays has severely limited the amount of damage the talented offensive group has been able to put on opponents. No team has had as many powerplay opportunities as the Legion (95) yet they find themselves in the middle of the pack in terms of goals. Not acceptable. And even worse is their penalty kill. Although they have been the second least penalized team in the VHL, they have surrendered the most goals while on the penalty kill. No team should be accepting numbers like this, especially not one with hope of winning a Continental Cup.

 

What should be done about this? While changing up the lines would be the easy fix, defensive depth is a major issue. Perhaps Fjorsstrom and Poole are being overused and could use a forward to play back on defense on the powerplay. As for the penalty kill, tactics are the main issue. You see these guys out there are there is one thing on their mind - defense. There is no effort to control the puck, to perhaps kill some time with a rush followed by a dump and change or even once in a while making an effort to surprise the opponent with a shorthanded goal. The players simply need to put a priority on killing the penalty in any way possible and it doesn't always involve keeping the puck in the defensive zone and hurrying to get rid of it. 

 

Apparently my discussion last week inspired some change. I'm no expert here but something is clearly off with the Legion's special teams units and it just may be what is holding the team back right now.