It’s hard to imagine how any team could see a drastic improvement in their special team play after subtracting their top defensive unit and leading scorer.
But that’s exactly what the Calgary Hitmen accomplished last month.
Their penalty kill lacked execution and owned percentage at 63.4 per cent in November. A few video review sessions corrected play placement and shot it up to 81.8 per cent in December. The power play package was operating at 21.0 per cent in November and took an uptick in December to 23.8 per cent.
A substantial leap, no doubt, but what makes it even more impressive of a leap is considering the personnel changes that have taken place over the past month.
At the end of November, the Hitmen sent leading scorer and their captain Matteo Gennaro, along with Beck Malenstyn to the Swift Current Broncos for a handful of assets.
Gennaro was a staple on both units, while Malenstyn never really got going this season with the injury sustained early this season to his wrist. Nevertheless, he would have been at least the second unit of the power play upon his return.
The Hitmen suffered another big loss when their top defensive pairing, Jake Bean and Vladislav Yeryomenko, were shipped off to play for their respected countries at the World Junior Championship. Combined, Bean and Yeryomenko missed 11 games in December. They weren’t necessarily the go-to guys on the penalty kill, but they both anchored the top power play unit.
“To be honest, I think that our first unit was so high-functioning with Bean and Matteo, that they ate up a lot of our time on the power play and allowed teams to key in on them. Then, once our second unit got out there, they didn’t have much time to set it up and go to work,” said Hitmen Head Coach Dallas Ferguson.
These days, the Hitmen are rolling out lineups featuring three affiliated players and several players taken in the 2016 Bantam Draft. The personnel changes on the power play are as about as regular as the changes to the starting lineup.
“It’s a challenge not having those key guys out on the power play, but that’s no excuse. We have 20 other guys in the locker room and we gotta find a way to get going. Stottsy has been great for us, so has the addition of Chaulk on the power play and it’s always nice to have an anchor like Dom out there on the blue line,” said Andrew Fyten.
Most recently, Riley Stotts centred the top unit flanked by Andrew Fyten and Luke Coleman. On defence, Layne Toder was the lone blue liner, as he was paired up with young winger Orca Wiesblatt. The second unit consisted of Jakob Stukel, Mark Kastelic and Cael Zimmerman, with Dom Schmiemann and Jackson van de Leest on the back end.
Those lines could very well be shifted for tonight’s tilt against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Jake Kryski, Conner Chaulk and Tristen Nielsen typically see power play minutes, but are all out with varying injuries and have different return timetables.
Andrei Grishakov was another staple to the power play unit, but he was shipped out of town yesterday to Victoria in exchange for a draft pick.
Missing Bean and Yeryomenko has changed their structure on the man advantage. They have shifted to operating with only one defenceman on the first unit, sending everyone down low. The Hitmen outperformed their mostly percentage even without the duo orchestrating the first power play unit, capitalizing three times on 12 chances.
“Missing those two guys is huge. Without them, we have just made a solid effort to keep it more simple. We need a shooters mentality instead of forcing the cross-ice plays we were trying in November. When we were doing that, we would just turn the puck over too much. Now, we use short, little passes and take shots when they present themselves,” said Coleman.
The Hitmen have 13 players on their current roster with points on the power play this season. Bean leads the Hitmen with 16 points on the power play and behind him, is Yeryomenko.
It’s early into January, but the Hitmen have converted three goals in 15 opportunities this month, equaling 20 per cent. Their percentage was lowered after a 1-for-8 showing the other night when the Medicine Hat Tigers rolled through town.
“Last night was a good example of both units getting out there and moving the puck well and in different ways. We got scoring chances but didn’t bury enough of them. We started to get a little more execution on the power play unit and stopped over complicating it,” said Ferguson.
The Hitmen bench boss is certain it won’t take long to reintegrate their World Junior defencemen on their new power play systems upon their return to the lineup.
On the other side of the puck, the penalty kill has risen from the dead after a poor showing in November.
Losing Gennaro was a more substantial loss than Bean and Yeryomenko for the penalty killers. Gennaro was a decent enough faceoff man and one of the best 200-foot centres in the league, where as it wasn’t too often that Bean and Yeryomenko logged regular minutes on the penalty kill.
Conner Chaulk, 20, was a key veteran piece that returned in the Gennaro trade and helped shore up the faceoff dot. Gennaro is no slouch in the draw, winning 51.1 per cent of them, but Chaulk has been in the high 50s all year and currently sits at 57.3 per cent. He is one of the reasons that the Hitmen have revitalized their penalty kill.
Playing large chunks of minutes on the kill have been 15-year-old Luke Prokop and the 16-year-old Toder. Separated on different units and aligned with a veteran defenceman, both young players have shown more discipline in their own zone as of late.
The rest, according to members of the team, just comes down to effort.
“We’re just getting into our systems quicker and trusting our coaches when they tell us where to be out there. Now we know what works and are confident that it will work out. All we need to do know is focus on getting clears,” said Coleman.
The Hitmen once killed off a season-high 12 consecutive penalties back in October, when their kill clicked at 84.7 per cent.
“We started getting more competitive in scrums and quick on loose pucks. We needed unity and to be on the same page, working together,” said Ferguson.
They followed that run up by allowing a season-high 12 goals while short handed in November, as they got out of sorts in their own end.
“We got away from what was making us successful. We stopped out working power play units and sat back a little too much,” said Fyten.
Even though the Hitmen took 22 more penalties in December, they were able to fight through the adversity to kill more than double the minors from the month before.
It then comes as no surprise that the turn around in special teams helped right the ship a little. After going 3-5-2-1 in November, they Hitmen enjoyed their winingest month when they went 4-4-2-0 in December.
The Hitmen are off to a 1-1-0-0 start in the New Year, as their special teams play is slightly below December’s numbers. If the Hitmen want to climb back into the playoff discussion, they will need continual growth with their special teams to take some pressure of their fourth-worst rated five-on-five play.
