Fantasy hockey is an offensive game. Even the defensemen�s fantasy value is only considered in terms of offense. Goalie categories are the only real defensive value.

However, hockey is such as unique game that the large majority of the offensive scoring categories come into play on the power play. More goal and assists are tabulated within the power play than at even strength. Players that are successful on the power play usually have a very nice +/- ratio. An of course, being at a man advantage, most of the teams shots on goal come during power play opportunities. So, if you want your fantasy offense to excel, it is very wise to focus on which teams get the most power play opportunities, excel at the opportunities they get, and which players benefit the most from serving on these offensive opportunities.

In 2007-08 league-wide teams on power plays score at a rate of right about 20%, meaning that they score a goal 1 out of every 5 opportunities. Lets take a statistical look into which teams are benefiting most on the power play.

The following are the top 10 teams that are getting the most Power Play chances:

• Carolina Hurricanes 106
• Anaheim Mighty Ducks 102
• San Jose Sharks 97
• Pittsburgh Penguins 94
• New York Rangers 93
• Columbus Blue Jackets 92
• Toronto Maple Leafs 89
• Los Angeles Kings 88
• Calgary Flames 87
• Detroit Red Wings 86
  
  

Conversely, the following list provides the teams that excel at the opportunities they get on the Power Play:

• Montreal Canadians 29.6%
• Carolina Hurricanes 24.5%
• Philadelphia Flyers 23.0%
• New York Islanders 22.2%
• Florida Panthers 22.1%
• Los Angeles Kings 21.8%
• Pittsburgh Penguins 21.6%
• Chicago Blackhawks 21.4%
• Dallas Stars 21.4%
• Tampa Bay Lightning 21.3%
  
  

By these statistics, the Montreal Canadians, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Philadelphia Flyers are the teams that are most efficient on the Power Play. Let�s take a look at each of these teams philosophy and identify the players that are manning these Power Play units.

Montreal Canadians:

Team Philosophy: Coach Guy LeFleur is a power play genius and his teams are always the most efficient in the league with the man advantage. He sets his unit and pretty much stays with them throughout, running different plays that create great power play success. He uses a combination of solid puck handling forwards and defensemen on the point with nasty slap shots.

Core PP Unit (PP Points):

Markov- D (11)
Koivu- F (10)
Kovalev- F (9)
Higgins- F (8)
Streit- D (7)

Carolina Hurricanes:

Team Philosophy: The Hurricanes power play unit is a little unique as they completely load up with scoring centers and forwards. Jeff Hamilton has become a power play specialist playing the point and firing off his nasty slap shot whenever he gets the chance. However, of late the use of all forwards as made this unit susceptible to shorthanded goals with the lack of a pure skating defensemen to get back in the case of a break. Frank Kaberle has gotten recent opportunities on the power play to avoid this. Kaberle is used on the power play during a close game when the Canes need a goal and cannot afford to give one up.

Core PP Unit (PP Points):

Cullen-F (12)
Brind'Amour- F (11)
Stillman- F (11)
Ray Whitney- F (10)
Hamilton- F (9)
Staal- F (7)
Justin Williams- F (6)
F. Kaberle- D (1)

Pittsburgh Penguins:

Team Philosophy: The Penguins PP is very similar to Montreal where they combine forwards and defensemen on a unit that makes very few changes. Of course, either D-men Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are on the point with the slap shot and talented Sidney Crosby and Evengi Malkin are flying through the middle to use their stick skills to finesse the puck into the net.

Core PP Unit (PP Points)

Crosby- F (13)
Gonchar- D (12)
Malkin- F (11)
Sykora- F (7)
Whitney- D (5)

Philadelphia Flyers:

Team Philosophy: Philadelphia uses the D-man point method with Timonen, but constantly subs different lines with fresh skaters in the mix trying to wear down defenses.

Core PP Unit (PP Points)

Mike Richards- F (12)
Timonen- D (10)
Briere- F (8)
Lupul- F (6)
Knuble- F (5)
Gagne- F (4)

While these 4 teams are the most efficient and the players skating on these units are great to have on your fantasy teams, you always want to keep track of all teams and who is getting major time on the power play. My best advice when checking box scores daily is to focus on which players is getting the most PP time.

Besides the players mentioned in the team section, here is a list of the top PP performers this year in the league:

Pronger- D Anaheim (12)
D. Sedin- F Vancouver (12)
Jokinen- F Florida (11)
Zetterburg- F Detroit (11)
St. Louis- F Tampa Bay (11)
Kovalychuck- F Atlanta (11)
Brad Richards- F Tampa Bay (11)
Jason Williams- F Chicago (11)
Jagr- F New York Rangers (11)
Nash- F Columbus (10)
Lecavalier- F Tampa Bay (10)