4 Reasons Why Power Plays Are More Dangerous Now

Power plays have seen growth in the last decade. Why?

Perhaps you’ve noticed, but offense has improved in the NHL from where it was a decade ago.

That has applied to the power play, too. Per QuantHockey, man advantages scored on 18.25% of attempts between the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons. From 2022-23 to 2024-25 (accurate through Jan. 7, 2025), however, that number has increased to 21.17%.

Per 60 minutes, power plays averaged 6.54 goals in the previous three-year span. In the present one, they’re averaging 7.64 goals per 60 minutes.

What are some explanations for this increase in efficiency? Are shooters getting better? Have teams improved their process? Let’s discuss.

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Defensemen Are Being Used Less

One thing that stands out here is that defensemen are getting less ice time than they used to. With four-forward power-play units becoming more common nowadays (as opposed to three), it certainly makes sense why that is.

To dive into the data, defensemen were on the ice for 52,681:56 in total between 2012-13 and 2014-15. It’s important to note that total power-play usage declined slightly in the decade that followed (primarily due to fewer games played at this stage), but defensemen now have only taken up 36,640:20.

For complete transparency, there’s a 4.89% difference between the first three-year span in league-wide power-play ice time and the current one—slight, but worth noting. However, that doesn’t exactly make up for the 35.92% difference in how much defensemen are being used.

It’s not to say that no team was doing it before, but the best offensive players are usually on the ice on the man advantage—there are no concerns for defense.

Though it hasn’t caught fire quite yet (most teams have a defenseman who exceeds their fifth-best forward in offensive ability), it wouldn’t be surprising to see a five-man unit of all forwards. Again, that may not become the norm because it assumes a team basically has zero offensive defensemen, but it’s possible.