Best Power-Plays of the Last 20 Years

by Hawerchuk on Jan 29, 2010 9:00 AM EST in History

Last Monday, I looked back at the best power-plays of the last 45 or so years, and it turned out to be dominated by teams from the mid-to-late-1970s. While I'm as big a fan of the WHA days as anyone else, I thought it might be more interesting to look at top power-plays of more recent vintages. Again, adjusting for the league-wide PP average:

Year	Team	PP%	REL LGE
2002-03	Detroit Red Wings	23.82	44.98
1995-96	Pittsburgh Penguins	25.95	44.73
1998-99	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	21.96	38.9
2000-01	New Jersey Devils	22.9	37.62
2007-08	Montreal Canadiens	24.06	35.55
1996-97	New York Rangers	21.95	34.91
2008-09	Detroit Red Wings	25.5	34.56
1996-97	Pittsburgh Penguins	21.83	34.17
1989-90	Calgary Flames	27.73	33.51
2008-09	Washington Capitals	25.22	33.09

(I excluded the strike-shortened 1994-95 season - Chicago, Detroit and Quebec all cracked the top 10, but the 48-game season allowed teams to reach extremes they otherwise couldn't.) Overall, this is a very good group of teams - most of them finished first in their respective divisions. Though none won the Stanley Cup, two were cup finalists, and two others made it to the semi-finals.

My vote for the best PP actually goes to the #2 team, the 1995-96 Penguins. The Pens spread the power-play point work around a bit, but Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis combined for 184 power-play points. Lemieux, in particular, was on the ice for 102 of Pittsburgh's 109 power-play goals, the best percentage-wise showing of his career.

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