Yeo, What’s Goin’ On?

The Penguin power play is still functioning at well below capacity.? As of today it is floundering at 16.3% or 23rd in the league.? This is a power play that contains the top 2 leading scorers in the league.?

Yeo,? Mike Yeo what’s happening? ?35 year old Mike Yeo is the special teams coach of the Penguins in charge of the power play.? Have you ever?wondered what?his credentials are??

Mike Yeo has never played hockey at the NHL level.? He was?a Pittsburgh Penguin prospect, captain of the 98/99 IHL Aeros when they won the Turner Cup.? He then got promoted to the baby Penguins where he subsequently had a knee injury that ended his playing career.? At 26 he was offered an assistant coaching position on the baby Penguins working with Glenn Patrick.? When Glenn Patrick was fired and Therrien took over, he kept Yeo on staff.? When Therrien was promoted to head coach of the Penguins in December of 2005, he brought Yeo along.

Last year the Penguins finished ranked 4th overall in the league on the power play.? Mike Yeo coached it then also.? When you look at the team though, you are talking about a power play that had Crosby, Malkin, Hossa and Gonchar on it.? A power play that no one would question?as the power play for the All-Star team.? To sum it up Yeo could have drawn, lets just say for sake of argument, a penguin pooping and that group would have done well.

The stats for the most part?lie less than anything else.? Here are the last few years rankings, Yeo came in part way through the 05/06 season.

• 08/09? – 23rd – 16.3%
• 07/08? -? 4th?? – 20.4% (refer to Penguin Poop picture above)
• 06/07? -? 5th?? – 20.3%
• 05/06? -? 6th?? – 19.0% (only coached part of season)
• 04/05? – Strike Year
• 03/04? -? 6th?? – 19.0% (before Yeo)
• 02/03? -? 7th? -? 18.3%

The power play was not doing poorly before Yeo came, even with the amount of talent being significantly less.?? Detroit’s power play is currently clicking at 27.7% with the addition of Marian Hossa.? The Pittsburgh power play has not done poorly over the last few years,?but it is time to question why the power play?has not produced?to the level of the players that are on it.?? That being one of which contains?the the two top scorers in the league.

The Penguins need to bring in one of the hundreds of players that have lived through 10-15 years of the power play on the NHL level?who has?coaching experience and let Yeo have a few more years brushing up in the minors.