The Confluence
Report: Penguins’ Yeo to be named Houston Aeros head coach
by Tony on 06/16/10 at 08:26 AM ET
Comments (12)
It looks like we’re gonna find out if the criticism of Mike Yeo as a result of the woeful Penguins powerplay was justified.
According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, Yeo is to be named head coach of the AHL’s Houston Aeros today.
Yeo has been a member of the Penguins coaching staff in Pittsburgh since 2005 and was one of the few holdovers of the Michel Therrien regime.
Whether he is to blame or not, the Pens’ powerplay has incredibly underperformed, as we’ll take a look at after the jump.
Despite having two of the top handful of forwards in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, despite having one of the best powerplay quarterbacks in the NHL in Sergei Gonchar, and despite having those players on the ice for the vast majority of powerplay time, the Penguins’ powerplay has been in the bottom half in powerplay percentage for the last two years.
In a strange coincidence, the Pens’ powerplay has “clicked” at an identical 17.2 percent in both the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons. That ranked in 20th in ‘08-‘09 and 19th in ‘09-‘10.
The reasons for the lack of powerplay success has been among the most popular discussion items among Penguins fans. I’ve always contended that the primary reason was systemic rather than personnel-related. In my view, the Penguins’ powerplay was nearly entirely stationary, merely passing the puck back and forth between Gonchar at center point and either Malkin or Crosby on the right half wall. The successful powerplays, for example the Flyers or Wings, constantly have their players moving, with and without the puck. That movement always creates additional passing/shooting lanes. Those lanes quickly close when you don’t move.
Now, does that make Yeo at fault? Realistically, there’s no way of knowing until the Penguins hit the ice at the Consol Energy Center in October and see what kind of set up they use with the man advantage.
Anyway, congratulations to Mike on his new position.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY The Hockey Gods are on our Side & Thanks to former Asst. GM Chuck Fletxher for Hiring The Eyebrowless Moron!!
Posted by Evilpens on 06/16/10 at 08:51 AM ET
You probably saw more Pens games than I did this year, what makes Granato so much better than Yeo as an assistant?
Posted by Leo_Racicot on 06/16/10 at 10:33 AM ET
He has a Room Temperature IQ???
He just isn’t a Good Coach, Maybe becoming a HC will help him develop, But I doubt it, He ran the PP & D Men & they were both ATROCIOUS Last season
Doesn’t it seem strange that a team that went to back to back finals didn’t have a Coach get a interview to become a HC in the NHL ??
Rick Tocchet or Adam Oates to take over ??
About Granato I have heard it said about him that he is a good Asst Coach & Not a good Head Coach & I can see what they mean, he ran the Forwards & the PK & the PK was pretty damn good with him there
Posted by Evilpens on 06/16/10 at 10:54 AM ET
Even though I’m not in the “blame Yeo” camp, it might be beneficial with some new inspiration to the coaching staff. I still contend that the players hold the primary key to an improved power play, not the eventual coach.
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 06/16/10 at 10:57 AM ET
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=531783&cmpid=pit-twt-pghpenguins
Posted by Evilpens on 06/16/10 at 11:40 AM ET
It’s a personnel thing. No coach runs a powerplay telling them to stand still and constantly pass cross-box. Does everyone not remember how the last three years the powerplay ran at around 20% for the second half of the season, and even better in the playoffs?
I see the urgency in the powerplay in the playoffs. I see a lot of puck battles lost, and poor hustle/puck retrieval during the regular season. I see Crosby being stubborn and not attacking the slot, not taking clear shots, and overpassing when he is high up on the right side wall. When he’s down low he’s controlling pucks and rebounds, and Malkin is roving and confusing the penalty kill.
The “powerplay” coach on an NHL team does not control it himself. All coaches have input, especially with a guy like Bylsma leading them. A head coach does not stand around watching a static powerplay all season and not open his mouth.
These guys (like most) need to find their rhythm, and for whatever reason, it takes them a while to really find it (they go stretches in the regular season with great numbers, but yes, it’s mostly bad numbers), but they always find it. I don’t think it’s nearly as much ‘the coach’s fault’ as most Penguins fans do. And the fault in the coaching I would put on the entire staff. They have daily/weekly meetings focusing on this stuff.
Posted by NathanBC on 06/16/10 at 12:16 PM ET
No more Whitney. No more Yeo.
Who the hell are we all going to blame the power play woes on now?!
I’m scared.
Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 06/16/10 at 12:29 PM ET
Who the hell are we all going to blame the power play woes on now?!
Riiight.
This should be fun, hah Evil?
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 06/16/10 at 01:35 PM ET
Interesting stuff.
I tend to agree more with Moq’s take (it’s more of a player thing than a coaching thing) but I do think there is some credence to the idea that the staff’s role in deciding who actually gets special teams ice time and what the approach to making the PP and/or PK effective is equally important.
Anybody have numbers on PP with and without Gonchar in the lineup these past two seasons? How about the PK with and without Staal the past two seasons? I wonder if there would be some more trends to be gathered out of that kind of assessment.
As for the D men play that Evil brings up, was there much of a philosophical shift in approach to team play (ie: puck posession -v- dump/chase/agressive forecheck) under Bylsma over this past season? How much did losing guys like Scuderi and Gill impact this?
Posted by Leo_Racicot on 06/16/10 at 01:50 PM ET
Anybody have numbers on PP with and without Gonchar in the lineup these past two seasons?
The Gonchar apologists try to use that % all the Time, But the Problem with that is that Geno has been out a lot of the time when Gonchar has Been out, so you take out your best 2 slapshots & the PP is going to be sickly
Posted by Evilpens on 06/16/10 at 03:49 PM ET
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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY The Hockey Gods are on our Side & Thanks to former Asst. GM Chuck Fletxher for Hiring The Eyebrowless Moron!!
Posted by Evilpens on 06/16/10 at 08:51 AM ET