#2 Connor McMichael will get even bigger roles in 2022
2022 will be the year the fans get what they want: Connor McMichael on the power play. Although the Caps are second in the league with 43 points, just one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, their power play this season has been mediocre at best.
Currently the Caps are ranked 28th in the league on the man advantage with a success rate of 15.6 percent. Here is what the Caps power play units currently look like courtesy of Daily Face-off:
First unit: Tom Wilson, Lars Eller, Daniel Sprong, Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson
Second unit: Conor Sheary, Aliaksei Protas, Justin Schultz, Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov
Ovechkin and Carlson are doing great on the power play so let them stay. Ovechkin has five goals while Carlson has three. But I’d say to put McMichael in Eller’s spot on the top unit. With a 28th ranked power play, you really got nothing to lose.
I don’t know what Laviolette has against McMichael getting power play time but now is the time to try to experiment with that. You even have Aliaksei Protas on the second unit for crying out loud.
It’s going to be interesting to see what they do with the special teams coming out of the pause.