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The lack of shots generated by Edmonton's power play is something I've touched on a number of times before. Shots/60 are vitally important to power play success, and the Oilers are lacking in that department as they ranked 29th in the league last season.
157 fowards played 20 games and averaged at least 2 minutes of 5v4 time on ice last season. The Oilers had 8 players in that group. Those players and their rank: Teemu Hartikainen - 100, Ales Hemsky - 106, Nail Yakupov - 133, Taylor Hall - 135, Jordan Eberle - 138, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - 139, Sam Gagner - 145, and Shawn Horcoff - 156. Hartikainen led the way at 39.1 per 60, which is and outstanding mark for the Oilers considering their performance over the last three seasons.
Below are the shots/60 totals for the Oilers forwards that played a regular power play shift over the last three seasons. Remember, Hartikainen's 39.1 led the way in 2012-13 and he was 100th of 157 in the NHL.
| Player | Shots/60 | Misses/60 |
| Linus Omark | 44.6 | 18.5 |
| Gilbert Brule | 42.1 | 9.4 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 42.0 | 9.1 |
| Teemu Hartikainen | 38.6 | 17.7 |
| Magnus Paajarvi | 38.0 | 16.2 |
| Ryan Smyth | 37.1 | 16.1 |
| Sam Gagner | 36.7 | 17.6 |
| Taylor Hall | 36.4 | 16.7 |
| Jordan Eberle | 36.2 | 15.2 |
| Nail Yakupov | 35.7 | 12.1 |
| Ales Hemsky | 35.1 | 15.5 |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 35.1 | 15.7 |
| Eric Belanger | 34.7 | 17.1 |
| Ryan Jones | 34.4 | 14.0 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 34.3 | 15.5 |
The core of the Oilers' power play is awful at generating shots.
These numbers include both of Tom Renney's seasons as well as Ralph Krueger's half-season. Dallas Eakins is willing to do all sorts of things with a man advantage, maybe he's the answer to what ails the special teams.
Tyler's work on the Oilers' problems on the power play and pointed to zone entries, and if that's the case, the issue is systemic, not personnel-based. Can Eakins fix what Renney and Krueger couldn't?