Why Jokiharju could be the answer for Blackhawks struggling power play
Twelve games into his professional career, Henri Jokiharju is doing it all for the Blackhawks.
The young defenseman is thwarting dangerous forwards like Connor McDavid, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan Getzlaf and Artemi Panarin. He's tied for the team lead with 7 assists. He leads the team in hits (20), is fourth in shots on goal (36), owns the best Corsi-For number at 56.6 and he's averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time.
“Defense isn't an easy position to break into,” Duncan Keith said, “and he's doing it like a veteran.”
So what more can this 19-year-old wunderkind do to help out?
Simple: Put him on the top power-play unit.
Immediately.
The Hawks are an abysmal 5-for-41 (12.2 percent) on the man advantage, ranking 28th in the league.
They had eight minutes of power-play time in a 2-1 OT loss to Edmonton Sunday and managed just 2 shots on goal.
Two shots. In eight minutes.
Jokiharju, who took a team-high 6 shots on goal, was out there for just 76 seconds and has seen 1:43 of power-play time the last five games.
Last month, in talking to Zach Werenski about what it was like to break into the league as a 19-year-old, the Blue Jackets' defenseman told me: “I was pretty fortunate with the opportunity that the coaching staff gave me — being on the power play, penalty killing, being on the first ‘D' pair with Seth Jones. I think that's almost the best way to do it. … They just threw everything at me and I felt like I could handle it.”
Werenski racked up 11 goals and 36 assists as a rookie in 2016-17, with nearly half of those points (4G, 17A) coming on the power play.
It's time to unleash Jokiharju in exactly the same way. Pair him with Keith on the top unit, move Brent Seabrook down to play with Erik Gustafsson on the second, and bench Dominik Kahun.
Shoot the puck
In addition to adding Jokiharju to the power play, it's high time the Hawks stop being so cute and looking for the perfect shot.
“You want it to be a shooting power play,” analyst Steve Konroyd said Sunday on NBCSCH. “So one or two passes and then the puck's got to get to the net; bodies got to get to the net. Everything funnels to the net.”
The Hawks have taken only 55 shots in 67.5 minutes of man-advantage time this season, an average 0.8 shots per minute. That number has got to be higher.
Battle harder
The Hawks produced next to nothing on a key third-period power-play opportunity against the Oilers because players lost puck battles right after a faceoff.
“Those were our pucks and then it got disorganized both times when we had opportunities to start with possession,” coach Joel Quenneville lamented.
The power play is often about attitude and right now the Hawks don't play with nearly enough urgency. They're allowing the penalty killers to dictate play instead of the other way around.
Put pressure on the goalie with a persistent net-front presence. Force the action. Move the puck more often and with purpose. Be relentless and attack.
“We just need to be working together and come out as a group of five,” said Artem Anisimov. “We need to win the puck battles in the zone. Drop the puck, go on top, create shots, create the lanes.
“Shoot it, grab the rebound, do it again. Everything's going to open up off that.”
By the numbers
<b>Top five power plays</b>
Team PPG/PPO %
1. Washington 13/35 37.1
2. Toronto 9/28 32.1
3. Winnipeg 11/35 31.4
4. St. Louis 13/44 29.5
5. Pittsburgh 7/24 29.2
<b>Bottom five power plays</b>
27. Minnesota 4/31 12.9
28. Blackhawks 5/41 12.2
29. Vegas 4/37 10.8
30. Carolina 4/38 10.5
31. Arizona 3/29 10.3