BLOG: Power-play to emphasize skill over handedness

EDMONTON, AB - You can mix and match, or just choose one.
With the likes of Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Milan Lucic and Oscar Klefbom all left shots, the majority of the Oilers offensive firepower on the man-advantage comes from one side.
One thing the Oilers coaching staff is prepared to do this 2018-19 NHL season is stay away from a righty-lefty template when it comes on the power-play, and there's a proven path.
"Manny [Viveiros] is going to do most the work in that area," assistant coach Glen Gulutzan said to Bob Stauffer and Oilers NOW on Thursday afternoon. "But I think the one thing just with the lefties we have, if you look at Detroit three years ago they had a very dynamic power play. I think they ran at 21 percent and were all lefties.
"They had Zetterberg, they had Datsyuk, they had Kronwall, they had Tatar and they had Nyquist - all those guys being left shots. They were very dynamic in the way they played."
With the Oilers league-low power-play percentage of 14.8 percent last season, improving the man-advantage was a hot topic of discussion for the coaching staff this summer. A fresh palate of opinions in the likes of Gulutzan, Yawney and Viveiros and an emphasis on skill is their recipe for reversing the club's fortunes with an extra man.
"We went over all that stuff in July but I think it's going to be important for the three new coaches here just to get our feet wet with the skillset of the players," Gulutzan added. "You can run those power-plays and they have been run with great success in the League with all lefties and all righties."