The Hidden Elite Skill of Brayden Point: Unlocking the Secret to His Success

Welcome to Insights and Observations. Each week, I’ll use this space to highlight teams, players, storylines and general musings around the NHL. This week we are looking at the best power play bumper in the league, the West versus the East, a surprise player helping the Penguins third line, the Patrick Laine experiment, and Casey Mittelstadt emerging in Buffalo.

When players think of playing on the power play, there’s usually a focus on being the half-wall player, or if they are a defenseman, quarterbacking a power play from the point, with the man advantage running through you on the half-wall or at the top with consistent puck touches. There are also certain players that love to battle in front of the net, imposing their will, standing in front of 100 mile per hour one-timers and trying to bang in rebounds.

The least discussed part of the modern-day power play, and a relatively new position overall, is the bumper spot, which positions skaters in the high slot to rove close to the puck and act as a relief outlet for the half-wall player. If that half-wall player is being pressured, they can easily pass to the bumper spot to open things back up. Bumper players can also hang by the net for high tips, or swoop in for rebounds while the net front player is engaged in a battle.

When it comes to playing the bumper spot, there may not be a better player in the league at it than Brayden Point. It also helps that the Lightning’s power play also boasts Nikita Kucherov, perhaps the best 5v4 player in the league. Still, Point finished tied for third in the league in power play goals last season, with his peers in the top five generally playing along the half-wall to load up one-timers.

Part of what makes Point so exceptional is his ability to read his teammates and his understanding of spacing. Watch him here, moments before Victor Hedman sends a slap pass, manipulate his body, moving about a foot over to give Hedman a better angle to make the feed. From there it’s a quick tap in for the tally.

West Coast best Coast

With American Thanksgiving here, the standings are starting to settle into place as teams begin to dial up the intensity. Something that stands out early on is the inequity between the two conferences, with one that looks significantly deeper than the other.

The Seattle Kraken currently hold the final playoff spot in the West with a .500 points percentage, but in the East, that mark would not only be outside of the final playoff spot, it would be behind three other teams.

The Western Conference is particularly top-heavy early on, with 6 of the top 10 teams in the league currently out West, though the top two teams in the league are from the East. Last season, the Winnipeg Jets were the lowest seeded playoff team in the West with 95 points, though they had more points than the playoff-bound Islanders with 93 points and Panthers with 92 points. The last two seasons prior to the 2022-23 campaign, the three lowest point total teams all came from the Western Conference.

A diamond in the rough for Pittsburgh?

As the Pittsburgh Penguins top players continue defying age curves while producing big numbers to begin the season, Pittsburgh’s bottom six has provided next to nothing in terms of value. Veteran Jeff Carter is still without a point, regulars Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto have just two each, while Drew O’Connor has served as a high octane engine with a meager four points in 18 games. Enter Radim Zohorna.

Zohorna is a very interesting player. Undrafted and standing at a hulking 6-foot-6, he was originally signed out of Czechia by the Penguins in 2020 and played 25 NHL games with them over two seasons, scoring a respectable 10 points. Eventually, he was claimed off waivers by the Calgary Flames, dressing for just 8 games but only playing more than 8:01 twice and going pointless during his tenure.

The Czech forward was solid in the AHL, however, with 29 points in 40 games, leading the Maple Leafs and then GM Kyle Dubas to acquire him at the 2023 trade deadline to bolster their American League team. When Dubas made the move to Pittsburgh, Dubas reunited with him as a UFA, inking him to a one-year pact.

Notably, Zohorna actually began the season in the minors, but with the Penguins aforementioned depth struggling, Jansen Harkins was waived to make room, and Zohorna hasn’t looked back. Since scoring in his first game of the season, the forward is ninth among regular Penguins forwards in average even strength time on ice per game, generally playing with Lars Eller and O’Connor, and even earning a look up the lineup alongside Evgeni Malkin recently.

Blue Jackets experimenting, and failing

Patrick Laine’s recent healthy scratch has been heavily publicized and discussed, but lost in that shuffle is that the Blue Jackets have been playing him at a new position this season, too.

When Columbus signed Johnny Gaudreau two summers ago, the big question was who would play center on a team flush with wingers but thin down the middle? Columbus does appear to have an answer in 2023 third-overall selection Adam Fantilli, but the Blue Jackets have been cautious with their young star, who is playing a modest 15:41 per game so far — not exactly notable top six minutes.

The reality is that wingers have the least ability to drive play of any position, and the Blue Jackets’ top two talents at forward play the flanks. As such, each is functionally stapled to their of the ice, while, unlike a defenseman, they don’t tend to have the play right in front of them to dictate what is happening (nor is the puck on their stick as much as a blueliner).

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