Pilot’s Logbook 2013-14: The Winnipeg Jets Powerplay Was Truly Horrible

The Winnipeg Jets powerplay struggles were well documented throughout the 2013-14 season. The team spend most of the year near or at the bottom of the league in powerplay percentage, but as we saw with the PK numbers, a simple percentage doesn't tell the whole story. Let's take a look at a few more metrics.

Winnipeg Jets 2013-14 Team Stats:

Thoughts:

• That table features nine different metrics and the Winnipeg Jets finished below average in eight of them.
• The step of towards scoring a powerplay goal is gaining the man advantage. As a team the Winnipeg Jets did not gain the man advantage as a prolific rate. They ranked 20th in powerplay opportunities.
• Only three teams scored fewer powerplay goals than the Jets, they were Carolina, Buffalo and Florida. Yuck.
• The Jets were given a ton of flack for their short-handed goals against, but this number isn't too far out of line. More than a third of the league (11 teams) finished with six or seven short-handed goals against. Twenty teams allowed between five and eight. Edmonton allowed the most – eleven. Nashville allowed the fewest – zero!!
• Goal Differential is a big one. That shows the net gain of the Winnipeg Jets powerplay relative to other teams. The Jets performed horribly by this measure. Only Carolina and Florida were worse. Washington led the league with a plus-56. Florida finished with a plus-18 goal differential.
• All that said, the Jets didn't perform horribly according to shot metrics. Still, they weren't great and this was further exacerbated by low shooting percentages and save percentage

The Winnipeg Jets need to fix their powerplay, but this was already a known. We aren't re-inventing the wheel here, simply pointing out the depth of the issue. Identifying the cause may be a little easier when we break it down player by player. That starts tomorrow with a look at Winnipeg Jets defenders.