The Machinations of the Devils' World-Beating First Power Play Unit
The 2024-25 Devils have arguably the best power play of all time this season. How does it work and why are they so successful?
The New Jersey Devils have performed admirably on both the power play and penalty kill this season, ranking third in the league in both. The penalty kill has improved to that position lately, but the power play has been a strength throughout the campaign. In fact, the Devils, outside of power play percentage, are comfortably leading the way in every single metric:
1st in shot attempts per 60 minutes (CF/60) with 123.78.
1st in shots on goal per 60 minutes (SF/60) with 67.14.
1st in scoring chances per 60 minutes (SCF/60) with 78.79.
1st in high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes (HDCF/60) with 34.94.
1st in expected goals for per 60 minutes (xGF/60) with 11.35.
Of all the power plays in the last five seasons, here is how the current Devils’ man advantage ranks in all of those statistics:
CF/60: 4th
SF/60: 2nd
SCF/60: 1st
HDCF/60: 2nd
xGF/60: 1st
Believe it or not, things get that much crazier when you isolate PP1 from PP2. With the first unit on the ice, the Devils are generating an absolutely mind-boggling 15.47 xGF/60. They’re attempting 145.69 shots per hour, and generating 82.28 actual shots per hour. In terms of chances, they’re generating a ridiculous 94.42 SCF/60 and 42.64 HDCF/60.
There is a legitimate argument that this Devils power play is the single greatest power play of the modern hockey era.
They’re doing it with a new power-play coach, too — Jeremy Colliton was the only assistant coach brought in to help Sheldon Keefe and was put in charge of the forwards and power play. Boy, has he done an excellent job controlling the latter. What exactly do they do, though, that makes it so potent? Let’s jump right in:
(Kind of) Following the Prototypical 1-3-1
In most ways (really, all but one), the Devils’ power play follows the stereotypical 1-3-1 formation. They have a net-front presence, a quarterback roving the blue line, a forward in the bumper position (between the dots), and a forward on each of the side walls. Typically, Stefan Noesen is the net-front forward, Nico Hischier occupies the bumper position, and Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are the perimeter players on the side walls. Of course, Dougie Hamilton is the quarterbacking defenseman.
Positional Variability
Where the Devils are a bit stronger in their 1-3-1 than other teams is the positional variability between the players — while the general layout is with Noesen in front of the net, Jack and Bratt on the flanks, and Hischier in the bumper, there is frequent rotation. Constant forward movement keeps the defense moving in turn, pulling them out of position and allowing freer movement for the unit as a whole. One thing that all of the lower-tier power play units have in common is statics; their players rarely move from their designated “positions” on the man advantage. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the top-tier units — the Devils and the Jets of the league — which feature rotations within the unit.
Colliton understands that not all situations are created equally, and depending on certain circumstances players may be better suited to take up different positions within the 1-3-1. For example, if Hischier is forced to go behind the net after retrieving a rebound, maybe they’re temporarily better off with Hischier parking himself at the netfront and having Noesen slide into the bumper position because of the extra attention Hischier drew:
Or, perhaps Jack wants to assume the quarterback position for a chance because he recognizes that the penalty killers are really tightly compacted and understands that Dougie’s shot is more of a threat in a one-timer situation than his is:
In many situations, too, the goals are a product of more subtle movements. In the clip below, keep your eyes closely on Noesen and Bratt, who begin the sequence in the opposite positions they’re used to but end with regaining normalcy and causing the defenders to scramble a bit:
The above clip is also a testament to the power of subtlety in hockey. Noesen starts off the sequence with the puck on his stick (which he isn’t used to), so he and Bratt temporarily swap spots on the ice. Simon Edvinsson, the defenseman, gets caught in the tough position of being forced into committing to stymying Noesen at the netfront while simultaneously getting in the way of a Bratt shot if a pass were to reach him from across the ice. Because of that, Edvinsson cheats by a few inches away from Noesen and toward Bratt, which gives an elite shooter in Hischier all the space he needs to fire off a one-timer that would otherwise get blocked if Edvinsson committed more to Noesen. None of that happens if 1) Bratt and Noesen don’t start the sequence in each other’s positions and 2) the two don’t switch spots in front of Edvinsson who now gains awareness of where both players are on the ice.
You get the point. Whereas many power plays around the league are stagnant and players mostly stick to their designated positions, jumping into board battles or to get a loose puck if need be before relegating back to their spots on the ice, the Devils recognize that sometimes the better play is to actually stick it out for a time at the different spot. You’ll see Jack and Bratt constantly switching which side of the ice they’re on, Hischier and Noesen swapping depending on where the puck is, Hischier playing on the perimeter with Bratt or Jack in the bumper, Jack or Bratt swapping spots with Dougie for a one-time threat. It’s all fluid, and most power plays outright aren’t like that.
It’s especially effective because penalty kills are pretty basic in terms of strategy. Whereas power plays can have complicated operations such as the constant position switching and movement that you’ll find with the Devils, penalty kills basically boil down to whether they’re going to play passively or aggressively pursue the puck carrier. The Devils’ strategy kills both. Passive kills struggle versus New Jersey’s power play because they give up too much space to Jack and Bratt, who thrive when they have freedom of the puck. That will eventually cause a defender to bite and get out of position, leading to a passing lane suddenly opening. Aggressive kills have an even tougher time against the Devils’ power play simply because there’s so much movement and it becomes ever-so harder to keep track of the puck carrier. This, again, causes defenders to put themselves out of position and allow the Devils to capitalize on a scoring chance that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
Stretching the Defense With Noesen and Hamilton
Another huge advantage the Devils have on the power play is that their pole players — Noesen in the netfront and Hamilton on the blue line — draw in extra attention from defenders by proxy of how phenomenal they are at their respective duties.
Let’s start with Noesen and his impact at the front of the net. Taking a look at his isolated on-ice results on the power play, it becomes clear what an asset he is:
As you can see above, there is a massive uptick in netfront shot volume — there is also a clear indication of the positional variability I described above, but that’s beside the point. The main draw to Noesen’s game on the man advantage is the amount of chaos he is able to muster in front of the net.
Looking at every single team’s first power play unit, the only players with better impacts around the mouth of the crease that I could find were Dylan Larkin and Jake Guentzel.
Basically, his impact boils down to the fact that he’s, well… really annoying. He’s just a pain to deal with, and it often draws more attention than it needs to. Take a look at this power play sequence (which results in a goal) that is a direct product of the netfront chaos agent that Noesen is:
There, Noesen takes on not one, not two, but three Predators defenders simply with his ability to be irritating and relentless in open ice puck battles. He somehow beats all three to the puck, which he gives to a now-wide-open Hischier, who wires it home.
No one else on the team could do what Noesen does on the power play.
As a result of this and his stereotypical netfront ability to put home rebounds, teams often find themselves a bit closer to Noesen in coverage than they normally would be. This allows for slight increases in passing lanes for both cross-ice royal-road passes between Jack and Bratt and opportunities for those two to reach Hischier from lower down in the offensive zone.
On the other end of the spectrum is Hamilton, whose shot presents a threat like no other in the NHL. Evan Bouchard has the power from one-timers but hits the net at a lower frequency and can’t pick the corners nearly as well as Hamilton can. As per Evolving Hockey, Hamilton’s power play shooting from the blue line is the most valuable shot at producing on-ice results on the man advantage among all NHL defensemen. There really isn’t a player who plays his role as well as he does.
There are legitimate arguments for better quarterbacks, sure — Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Bouchard — I get it. Those players are largely better at distributing the puck and walking the blue line. But that’s not what makes Dougie so effective. Of the 31 defensemen with at least 120 minutes of power play time — presumably every team (but one)’s first power play quarterback, no blueliner is attempting shots as often as Hamilton every hour (31.84). Only one (Noah Dobson) has more shots per 60 minutes than Dougie’s 16.59.
Dougie also sits in first place in individual expected goals per 60 minutes (ixG/60), signaling that he’s producing more quality chances than any other defensemen on this list. Finally, he’s handily leading the group in individual scoring chances per hour (iSCF/60), too, with his 16.25 being nearly five more scoring chances per hour than second place Zach Werenski.
Because teams respect the shot so much, they’ll often have one defender closer to Hamilton than they normally would be, allowing Jack and Bratt to have that much more space on the perimeters and opening up some lanes for those two to jut toward the middle of the ice. Even if the difference is a puck length, that’s enough for the Devils to execute a cross-ice pass that otherwise may not have been there.
And even if the end result isn’t a cross-crease pass, the threat of a Dougie Hamilton slapshot is enough to open up other opportunities elsewhere. Take a look at how scared the Dallas Stars defense is of Dougie’s slapper, which directly leads to Jack scoring a goal:
Visualized, what the Devils do is effectively turn this coverage:
Into this:
Again, it’s a subtle change, but it makes all the difference in allowing the Devils to execute some high-danger passes with a bit extra success and frequency. There is no such thing as too much time and space for No. 86 and No. 63, and they will punish defenses that get caught covering Noesen or Hamilton too aggressively. On top of that, it opens up Hischier (or whoever is in the bumper spot) a bit more, too. This is exactly why he’s scoring more goals on the power play than he ever has been. In fact, it’s also (part of) the reason that the Devils have what I would argue is indeed the best power play of all time — or at least since they started tracking data.
I hope this was a useful tool to get a glimpse of what makes the Devils’ power play so potent. Beyond the obvious — the star power — the systems put in place by new assistant coach Jeremy Colliton have directly resulted in a world-beating power play. Third place in percentage simply doesn’t do the underlying results justice, and I’m excited to see if the actual results follow suit down the stretch.