Courtesy of someone on the internet

Courtesy of someone on the internet

Do the math. Five goals in thirty eight playoff games (or 0.13 goals per game) vs. 336 goals in 783 regular season games (or 0.43 goals per game). If anyone wanted to make a case that Nash wasn’t a playoff performer or that he’s a choke artist, the numbers are there for the taking.

But making such claims are easy. The hard part is trying to figure out why this isn’t working. The even more difficult task is prescribing a solution.

Look, I’m not an expert. I have no magic potion, but I think I at least have a theory as to why Rick Nash’s offense has sank to Brandon Dubinsky levels of erraticism. And the only way to right the ship is to make an adjustment.

Scope this out.

Picture1

Courtesy of Sporting Charts

The above image is from Sporting Charts. What this picture shows is a heat map of all Nash’s shots & goals at even strength for the 2013 playoffs vs. the 2012 regular season.

Why did I choose 2012?

It’s pretty simple. I don’t think anyone viewed Nash’s first season on Broadway as anything other than terrific. It was exactly what we were looking for from him. If you sort through other seasons, they pretty much show the same thing. The guy has made a career right in front of the net, particularly at the leftwing post.

Fast forward to this postseason. His shots are not only being taken from further out, but he’s also short on heat. In other words, the consistency with where he’s lived throughout his career just isn’t there. These images visualize what I’ve mentioned countless times on this site – Nash is no longer driving to the net on rushes, nor is he playing where he needs to be – right in front of the keeper.

Why this is happening, I’m not quite sure. Some think he’s backed off because of his last concussion. Jeremy Roenick thinks it’s because Nash doesn’t make mean faces when he plays. Whatever the hell that means. It’s all conjecture at this point. What we do know is he’s not scoring at the same rate as he does in the regular season and it’s not really close.

So how do we get him to go back to driving to the net? Here’s an idea. Give him that responsibility.

In AV’s system, only one skater goes in deep after the puck. Generally it’s the left-winger, which often is Kreider,  Hags, or Pooliot. Perhaps AV can juggle some line combinations and place Nash on the left side where he spent a lot of time in Columbus.

If you look at Nash’s linemates over the years in Columbus (Voracek, Brass, Vermette), you could make the argument that he had to be the guy to physically engage the opposition. In New York, others do that job for him. Perhaps playing Nash with smaller or more finesse players who’ll have to rely on him to do some of the dirty work is a way of jump-starting his power game.

Maybe these ideas will work, maybe they won’t. All I know is, watching him go out there and be a perimeter player and not doing anything about it isn’t working. Time to make an adjustment.

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