Bruins Power Play in Desperate Need Of Fixing



Bruins Assistant Coach Geoff Ward, the man behind the power play, being interviewed while coaching with the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate franchise.

Throughout last year's playoffs, the one thing that frustrated fans the most despite the Stanley Cup victory was the lack of production from the power play. The team could go what seemed to be weeks without scoring a goal with the man advantage.

This season has been no different. Much like last year, the power play was solid, providing timely goals and much needed momentum throughout the early stages of the regular season. But, it soon began to falter just as it did last season, and it hasn't been able to give the Bruins any goals or momentum thus far in the post season.

The lack of success with the man advantage could and should be attricuted to assistant coach Geoff Ward, who had many fans calling for his head until the Stanley Cup win. Ward was placed in charge of the power play by the organization, and it's a surprise that neither head coach Claude Julien nor GM Peter Chiarelli have stripped Ward of these responsibilities and given them to the likes of assistant coach(es) Doug Houda or Doug Jarvis. It's difficult to imagine that the Bruins can manage a second straight Stanley Cup win with arguably the worst power play in the league in both seasons.

It appears that the only solution for the power play next season would be to remove Geoff Ward from his position as assistant coach. Ward has been in charge of the power play for at least the past two years, if not more as former assistant coach Craig Ramsay, who left the team after the 2009-2010 to take on the role of head coach of the then Atlanta Thrashers, was in charge of the penalty kill during his time in Boston. Ward is best described as a one trick pony. He comes up with one power play method, never comes up with a new one and never strays from it, and at first it looks dominant. But teams around the league soon figure out Ward's scheme and design certain penalty kill systems to more or less negate the "advantage" the Bruins are supposed to have and kill whatever momentum the team has. Even when this occurs, as it so often does, Ward doesn't change the power play strategy. Occassionally he will change the players on the two units, but the grand scheme of it never varies.

With the frustration mounting in regard to the man advantage this post season, one would think it's a given that Geoff Ward will be fired at the conclusion of the season, but nothing is set in stone. If the Bruins do in fact win the Cup again, it wouldn't be a shock if the Bruins kept him on. However, with the power play as atrocious as it is, it appears that Ward's time in Boston may be coming to a close.