Get Braydon Coburn off the power play?

by Travis Hughes on Mar 17, 2010 7:08 PM EDT in Commentary

Dirk Hoag over at SBN's On the Forecheck has been running a little series on the NHL's most valuable and least valuable players. He's crunching the numbers to come up with his lists, and from his work, we had some good news yesterday in hearing that Matt Carle actually made the most valuable list.

Today, however, Dirk published his least valuable list. We have a guy on that one too, and his name is Braydon Coburn. Now, before you start thinking 'oh my God, Coburn sucks', let's take a step back. The reason Coburn made the list is his ineffectiveness on the power play, not his general play.

The one major stat Dirk dropped is the Flyers goals per 60 minutes of Coburn's power play time.

Part of what drags Coburn down is a direct comparison to Matt Carle and Chris Pronger, who ranked highly on yesterday's MVP list, but his power play work has been a train wreck. During his 2+ minutes of 5-on-4 ice time per game, the Flyers score 4.7 goals per 60 minutes, a rate which would rank 29th as a team. When he's on the bench during a Philadelphia PP, they score more than twice as often.

His 2:02 of power play ice time per game is ranked fourth on the team behind Pronger, Kimmo Timonen and Matt Carle. Who is just behind Coburn on this list? Lukas Krajicek, getting about 1:19 of power play ice time per game. Krajicek's goals per 60 minutes of power play time? 9.34, behind only Chris Pronger.

If the numbers confuse you, the basics are simple. Braydon Coburn is ineffective on the power play and Lukas Krajicek isn't. The conclusion, then, seems simple as well. Lukas Krajicek should be getting much more power play time than Braydon Coburn.

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After watching all season I dont believe that Coburn should be on the PP.And I think MAYBE Krajicek is a little better offensively. But thats the issue if you want to run 2 D men on each line on the PP. You obviously want Pronger Carle and Timonen but then you have that 4th spot. And as much as I like Parent I havent seen any offensive potential out of him. And that leaves Coburn and Krajicek and I think maybe its time to give Krajicek some more time on the PP.

by Leclairfan on Mar 17, 2010 7:28 PM EDT reply actions

I doubt Coburn will be taken off anytime soon because he’s got the skills to be a good defenseman on the powerplay and he has been one in the past. He’s a great skater decent passer and can rip a shot if given the time. Krajicek is solid on the powerplay but I dont think he really adds much to it. Its just a case of Coburn hitting a dip in his development. I expect Coburn to be a better powerplay guy in the future.

by tmurder on Mar 17, 2010 8:01 PM EDT reply actions

I would like to see the Flyers use a 4th forward and put Richie at the point…

by EREX21 on Mar 17, 2010 8:14 PM EDT reply actions

I hate the idea of putting a forward on the point. There are enough decent defenseman on this team to not have to do that. While Richards is probably a better defender than most of the forwards on this team, forwards, just are not that good when they actually have to play defense on the PP.

Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com

by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 18, 2010 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions

A dip… yes that’s what it is, a dip. Jonathon Cheechoo had a dip in his developement from 93 pts in 05-06’ to just a tad down this year with 14 pts.

by Crosby sucks on Mar 17, 2010 8:24 PM EDT reply actions

Coburn’s 5-on-4 GFON/60:

07-08: 7.86
08-09: 7.92
09-10: 4.7

Next year will tell, but so far, this is certainly the outlier, not the norm.

Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.

by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 17, 2010 8:42 PM EDT reply actions

this is definitely an anomaly. I didn’t ever think of him as this bad a defenseman, but now he’s just looking terrible out there.

Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com

by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 18, 2010 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

hopefully this will translate into good value when we go to resign him if we still want him. I do but I am not going to give him 3 – 4 million considering such a poor year.

by chrislanci on Mar 18, 2010 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh, and for those who don’t read the actual post (You should!), it’s not as if Coburn is magnificent in every area except the power play. He just happens to be the worst on the power play, but his PK and ES contributions aren’t far behind.

To be fair to Braydon, he’s the second best ES contributor of the worst list and 8th best (out of 15) PK contributor on the list. But he’s by far the worst PP contributor on that list. So you can’t exactly blame Oskars Bartulis for this one.

Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.

by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 17, 2010 8:54 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, like I have seen mentioned earlier Richie belongs on the point. Nothing against Braydon long term, but right now you can’t keep this crap up.

by You don't have to be sweet, to be good on Mar 17, 2010 8:58 PM EDT reply actions

As has been mentioned a couple times wanting Richards on the point; they have tried that. There were a number of times, although I don’t believe in the last month, that they had him out there and it wasn’t a big difference. I actually think having Coburn out there at the time was almost the exact same if not a little better. Now, I’m not saying I want Coburn at the point, actually I don’t want him out there so much, but you have to do what you have to do. Give Kceck more time and maybe put Richards down low with Carter at the point?

by Psy09 on Mar 18, 2010 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions

I want to note that I’m not arguing to take him off the PP completely. But if you’re trying to win hockey games and you have a guy that’s better in that situation, why shouldn’t that guy get more of a chance?

Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.

by Travis Hughes on Mar 17, 2010 9:15 PM EDT reply actions

For the same reason that your starting goalie shouldn’t be run out there 16 straight times…it’s called logic. Lavvy doesn’t seem to be savvy when it comes to logic.

by EREX21 on Mar 17, 2010 9:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Something that may have been missed if you hadn’t read the comments.

Most average player- James Van Riemsdyk.
His net impact (relative to the rest of the Flyers) is +0.01 goals

"NZFlyerfan"

by ToddtheFox on Mar 18, 2010 1:52 AM EDT reply actions

very interesting, but it’s definitely how I feel most of the time when JVR is on the ice. He doesn’t do anything that stands out, but he usually doesn’t do something that makes me want to scream and curse at the TV, he’s just there….which I’m not sure is a good thing.

Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com

by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 18, 2010 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Which means he’s better than half the team? Not where he was at the start of the season, but still.

Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.

by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 18, 2010 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

oh certainly, the kid has talent, maybe expectations are a little high for him right now, I’m not sure, he just doesn’t seem to bring a level of passion to his game.

Managing Editor - HockeyOutsiders.com

by HockeyOutsiders on Mar 18, 2010 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, you can see that one shift he’s skating hard, banging bodies, going after loose pucks. And the next he’s just gliding around like a spectator.

Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.

by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 18, 2010 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions

he needs 20lbs his corner work isn’t great either but I like him coming through the neutral zone, not bad for a Rookie year not as good as I hoped but not as bad as others have predicted. I think he is thinking too much and not reacting he needs to go out there and play I would like to see him on the PP more with Richards at the point. I also think the coaching change probably effected him the most, changing systems mid year is got to be tough on a 1st year player so much more to think about. This year’s experience is going to be huge moving forward though that is why I wanted him on the team. Hopefully he can have a second year like Gagne and avoid the sophomore slump. I am not sure how much that factors in hockey vs. other sports.

Gagne’s rookie year 80 GP 20 G 28 A for 48 pts
Gagne’s second year 69 GP 27 G 32 A for 59 pts – 11 more points in 21 fewer games.

On to Coburn, he can’t hit the net with his shot he goes high and wide and more times that not it exits the zone.

by chrislanci on Mar 18, 2010 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions