The players deserve at least as much heat as Spott

In 22-23, Miro put up 34 PP points. Last year 21, this year he has 3. On pace for maybe 7 or 8.

Miro does a ton for this team and we love him but it’s not reasonable to look at this dip in production just on Steve Spott. If Miro is even on pace for his performance last year that’s at least another 5/6 goals and multiple standings points. He’s a great overall d-man but he struggles getting shots through from the point and isn’t especially creative especially off set plays. We know he can be better, but really no matter what you’re trying to do on the PP you need your high d-man to be able to do more individually than we’ve got from Miro

Robo has gone from 41 PPP to 28 last year to 5 so far this year. I don’t think anybody really is even arguing that the reason that Robo has regressed so much from previous years is Steve Spott. Robo clearly looks like a worse player even 5 on 5, isn’t shooting anywhere near as much or as accurately, and isn’t playing anywhere near as aggressively as he used to. For me this is the biggest reason for our PP regression; when your superstar player goes from 109 points to on pace for about 60 because he’s somehow lost his touch it’s going to be tough.

Ultimately, the guys need to start executing on their chances. They’re able to enter the zone fine and setup most of the time. I would argue they’re getting some decent chances. Somebody has to lock down and make a great shot or a great play and take over every now and then like we’ve seen Miro, Robo, and guys like Roope and Johnny do before. They’re getting good enough chances that players of this caliber should be able to finish at a higher rate.

This is not to stay Spott doesn’t deserve any blame, but for me it’s at least 50/50 and Spott is taking a disproportionate amount of the heat.

As a last note for some final context, Pavelski had 25 and 27 points in 22-23, and 23-24. This would put him on pace for around 10-12 if he stayed at those paces and played this year which still doesn’t bridge the gap for Miro and Robo.