When it comes to the Nashville Predators, there may be no individual unit under more scrutiny over the years than the power play.

Historically one of the league’s bottom performing units, the Preds’ power play has been a problem for more than just the last few years under John Hynes, where it ranked as the 20th best unit in the NHL since the 2019-20 season.

In fact, since the Predators’ first year as a franchise (the 1998-99 season), the Predators have the fourth worst power play unit in the league, managing only a 16.8% success rate over the last 1,895 regular season games played.

Included in that, of course, are some particularly lean years early in the team’s history, but even during the team’s most successful era under coach Peter Laviolette (2014-15 through 2019-20) the team had a poor performing power play (17.8%, which ranked 28th in the league).

Recent power play coaches included Laviolette’s favorite assistant coach Kevin McCarthy (not, not that Kevin McCarthy) and John Hynes’ assistant Dan Lambert. Neither one was able to make much of a difference in the unit’s success.

But who will be running the power play under new head coach Andrew Brunette?

It turns out… he will do it himself.

Andrew Brunette will run the Preds’ power play

After a practice focused mostly on special teams drills (power play and penalty kill), Brunette was asked who would be in charge of the power play, assuming that Dan Hinote would still be in charge of the penalty kill.

“I’m going to take care of it,” Brunette said. “I’m gonna look after it, I’ve done it in the past. I enjoy it. Today was a little special teams on both sides of it, trying to hit on everything before we get going here.”

Brunette was in charge of the New Jersey Devils’ power play unit last year, a unit that finished 13th in the league with a 21.9% success rate. His success in that role, in addition to overseeing the ’21-’22 Florida Panthers’ to the 5th ranked power play in their Presidents’ Trophy season, should give Nashville a boost in a desperately needed area.

“There’s not much sympathy for power play coach, because we all think we should score every time,” Brunette added. “But as long as you prepare, as long as it makes sense, and as long as you give them a little room to be creative within the structure of what you’re looking for. No matter how good of a coach you are, you kind of give them options at the end of the day and they make the decisions.”

There’s no question Andrew Brunette has the skills to be a power play coach for Nashville. The biggest issue is whether he can manage those duties along with his overall head coaching duties as well.

Can Brunette handle double duty?

In a sense, coaching the power play and coaching the whole team are not mutually exclusive activities. Though it’s true not all players on the roster will see time on the power play, the head coach’s job is to make sure the team overall is in good shape. With a successful power play, it’s hard to imagine the team overall won’t also be successful. Nashville has managed a modicum of success with one of the worst power play units in the league over the last 25 years; what level of success might they reach if they finally have a good power play?

However, Brunette may come under extra scrutiny if the power play isn’t successful. He seems to understand this, as he actually cracked a joke when initially asked who would be in charge of the unit.

“We’ll see what it does,” Brunette said, smiling. “If it’s not doing very good, then it’s not me.”

But in all seriousness, if the unit does underperform, Brunette will have to face the criticism head on. In the past, the Dan Lambert’s and Dan Muse’s and Kevin McCarthy’s of the world were the scapegoats. Because of the results, they were among the team’s most criticized assistant coaches.

Will Brunette be able to handle that added pressure?

And, maybe more importantly, if the team underperforms on the power play and also underperforms overall, will he be willing to designate those duties to someone else?

In the end it comes down to the players on the ice executing under pressure, finding ways to get those badly-needed, momentum-building power play goals. But over the course of the season, it may be the power play coach, and in this case also the head coach, answering to the unit’s success.