{"id":539014,"date":"2026-04-03T19:38:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539014\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:38:28","slug":"how-the-avalanche-finally-fixed-the-power-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539014\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Avalanche finally fixed the power play"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most surprising detail from the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s well-documented struggles<\/a> on the power play is just how much the club was shooting the puck.<\/p>\n

Think back to before the Olympic break. The Avs struggles reached a nadir<\/a> when they went 0-for-17 with the extra man leading into the break, dropping Colorado to dead last in proficiency at 15.1%.<\/p>\n

What was an obvious refrain? They need to shoot the puck more.<\/p>\n

Well, the Avalanche had the second-most shots on goal in the NHL on the power play from the start of the season until the Olympic break. It\u2019s true<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason for that is Colorado earns a lot of power plays because of its style of play, so often the percentage-based stats and the accumulation numbers don\u2019t quite line up. It was also, in part, because the Avs had so many power plays that lasted the full two minutes, which gave them more opportunities to put shots on goal.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue wasn\u2019t the quantity, but the quality of those shots, with a little bit of bad luck and other minor variables mixed in.<\/p>\n

So what changed, and when? There have been several factors that led to a big improvement in March, when the Avs went 15 of 48 on the power play \u2014 the third-best rate in the NHL at at 31.3%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe change was long before the break,\u201d Avs coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cThe detail within the change was consistent, kind of before the break.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DefensemanDefenseman Cale Makar (8) of the Colorado Avalanche reads the defense during the third period against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)
\nGetting more quality shots<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s different since the break? Nazem Kadri is here, and that\u2019s part of it. But a much bigger part is \u2026 the guys on PP1 are just executing better. They\u2019re completing more passes, making better decisions and finding more high-quality looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to lean like \u2026 the details, the execution, the hunger, the mindset, attitude, buy-in \u2013 to me, that\u2019s on the players\u2019 side of it,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cSo 70\/30 execution side of it, and all those things I just mentioned over like a change in plan since the break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aesthetically, the Avs power play clearly looked better in the few games after the Olympic break. The fresh start after some time apart clearly helped. It looked more consistently dangerous, like a power play featuring a top-3 collection of talent in the NHL naturally should.<\/p>\n

The goals started to come shortly after. Kadri\u2019s arrival has given the club a defined first unit when everyone is healthy \u2014 Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Brock Nelson and Kadri. There\u2019s no obvious net-front guy, like Gabe Landeskog or Valeri Nichushkin, but Kadri has become something of a poacher for the Avs on the opposite side of the ice from MacKinnon and Necas.<\/p>\n

Mikko Rantanen brought the hammer from the right circle and scored some insane redirect goals near the side of the net. Kadri\u2019s involvement has been more varied, but in him and Nelson, the Avs have found a balance of lefties to complement the MacKinnon-Necas duo.<\/p>\n

Here is a look under the hood at the Avs\u2019 power play and where it ranked in some key metrics, before and after the Olympic break (through March 31):<\/p>\n

All stats are from Natural Stat Trick<\/a> or NHL.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Metric
\nPre-OLY
\nPost-OLY<\/p>\n

PP chances
\n6th
\n4th<\/p>\n

PP conversion
\n32nd
\n4th<\/p>\n

Shot attempts
\n5th
\n4th<\/p>\n

Shots on goal
\n2nd
\n5th<\/p>\n

Goals
\nT-26th
\n1st<\/p>\n

Expected goals
\n14th
\n3rd<\/p>\n

Scoring chances
\n15th
\n8th<\/p>\n

High-danger chances
\n26th
\n12th<\/p>\n

Shooting %
\n32nd
\n6th<\/p>\n

High-danger shooting %
\n32nd
\n11th<\/p>\n

The number of shots is about the same, but the quality is up across the board. Colorado\u2019s expected numbers being so high is a big change \u2014 even in past seasons when the Avs\u2019 power play was among the top 5-10 in the league, their expected numbers often lagged behind.<\/p>\n

The reason? MacKinnon, Makar, and Rantanen, plus a net-front guy or two, can outshoot expected models with raw finishing talent.<\/p>\n

If we look at the per-60-minute numbers, that weeds out Colorado\u2019s ability to rack up volume solely from having so many power plays. It\u2019s a better indicator of sustainable success.<\/p>\n

Metric
\nPre-OLY
\nPost-OLY<\/p>\n

Shot attempts\/60
\n14th
\n6th<\/p>\n

Shots on goal\/60
\n8th
\n10th<\/p>\n

Goals\/60
\n32nd
\n5th<\/p>\n

Expected goals\/60
\n27th
\n10th<\/p>\n

Scoring chances\/60
\n28th
\n12th<\/p>\n

High-danger chances\/60
\n31st
\n19th<\/p>\n

The per-60 numbers are slightly lower than the volume numbers, but they still represent a dramatic improvement. That is much closer to the sweet spot the Avs are trying to find.<\/p>\n

They have guys like MacKinnon, Makar and now Necas who can turn a so-so scoring chance into a goal with a nasty shot. But finding better looks more consistently has made everyone more dangerous.<\/p>\n

How does that look at the individual level? The differences in both who is shooting and how much are noticeable.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s before the Olympic break, both at the team level (on ice shot attempts per 60 minutes) and individual (shots on goal per 60 minutes):<\/p>\n

Player
\nOn-ice SA\/60
\nSOG\/60<\/p>\n

Nathan MacKinnon
\n113.77
\n18.5<\/p>\n

Valeri Nichushkin
\n112.03
\n8.83<\/p>\n

Cale Makar
\n109.26
\n10.8<\/p>\n

Brock Nelson
\n106.75
\n8.81<\/p>\n

Victor Olofsson
\n106.59
\n12.7<\/p>\n

Martin Necas
\n106.28
\n9.28<\/p>\n

Artturi Lehkonen
\n102.92
\n9.02<\/p>\n

Gabe Landeskog
\n97.48
\n10.83<\/p>\n

As a reference, the Florida Panthers are the best team in the league over the course of the full season at 115 shot attempts per 60 minutes on the power play. The Vancouver Canucks are 10th at 106.72.<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s after the Olympic break, for the guys who have settled in on PP1:<\/p>\n

Player
\nOn-ice SA\/60
\nSOG\/60<\/p>\n

Nazem Kadri
\n126.86
\n11.65<\/p>\n

Cale Makar
\n122.89
\n9.26<\/p>\n

Brock Nelson
\n121.46
\n8.43<\/p>\n

Martin Necas
\n120.44
\n16.5<\/p>\n

Nathan MacKinnon
\n116.85
\n15.47<\/p>\n

Obviously, the shot attempt numbers are outstanding. MacKinnon\u2019s is a little less because he stays out with PP2 a lot, and most teams\u2019 second unit won\u2019t put up the same numbers as the top group.<\/p>\n

Kadri has been a big help, likely as much for his work with puck retrievals and his passing as upgrades over Victor Olofsson, who was out there because he can really shoot it (it just didn\u2019t go in very often for him in Denver).<\/p>\n

One of the biggest adjustments, though, is Necas. He\u2019s putting way more shots on net. That has helped in a couple of ways. For one, he can really, really shoot it, which leads to more goals. A more spread-out approach is also helping to open up space for everyone.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see whether more opposing teams try to pressure Necas and take him away, or whether the track record of MacKinnon and Makar keeps PKers from giving them more space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the talent there to be a top power play in the league,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not a short stretch anymore, either. So they\u2019ve been doing good things and getting rewarded for it. Every goal we get and every discussion we have, we expect it to sort of keep growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot of good conversations between those guys on like, hey, did you see this. Let\u2019s try that. And then it\u2019s just kind of starting to click and come together for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most surprising detail from the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s well-documented struggles on the power play is just how much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[2320,193,1034,1116,192,144,5277,1035,5,1117,1180,513,270,1262,517,2054,4,43,3922,3699],"class_list":{"0":"post-539014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-artturi-lehkonen","9":"tag-avalanche","10":"tag-brock-nelson","11":"tag-cale-makar","12":"tag-colorado","13":"tag-colorado-avalanche","14":"tag-coloradoavalanche","15":"tag-gabe-landeskog","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-jared-bednar","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-martin-necas","20":"tag-mikko-rantanen","21":"tag-more-avalanche-news","22":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","23":"tag-nazem-kadri","24":"tag-nhl","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-valeri-nichushkin","27":"tag-victor-olofsson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116342471308849543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}