This is low on the priority list. Rookies and young players tend to struggle in faceoff circle. Penalties need to be addressed way more.
Luscious_Luke
Pretty sure bergeron and crosby got better at this over time. We dont need to sign anyone that wins FO and nothing else (think vermette or glendenning)
Rooch20
There are plenty of issues on this team that need addressed. Faceoffs aren’t the biggest issue now and the kids will improve overtime. This team needs a more structured transition and offensive game. A more structured and consistent game should help mitigate a good bulk of the problems we witnessed this year.
lamb_ch0p
Faceoffs are part of the reason the rangers were willing to let Strome walk. That and his inability to hit an open net. Dude has been in the league 12 seasons and has never cracked 50%.
Cam-Dolezar
No offense, OP, but go look up where different players rank in FO%. Even elite guys like Nathan McKinnon can suck at faceoffs. Fans make a big deal about winning faceoffs, but in most cases it isn’t going to make or break your season. Go sort standings for teams by FO%. You’ll find lousy teams at top and good teams farther down. It doesn’t mean that much.
I’m not saying it is irrelevant or doesn’t matter at all, but calling it the #1 thing Verbeek needs to address is ridiculous. What needs to be addressed is team discipline and special teams. We take more penalties than anyone and have the second worst PK% in the NHL. *That* is by far the most important issue we need to address and it isn’t very close.
Unsound_Science
Faceoffs have almost no correlation with goal scoring or goal prevention. It’s just another 50/50 puck battle in a game of many 50/50 puck battles. By the math, for Zegras to hit the league average for FO’s he’d need to win one more face off every ~4 games. Now if you could guarantee which FO that is, we’d be in business, since we could target it in a particular situation. But we can’t and him winning 1 extra FO win every week is doing sweet FA for the team. Worrying about this is the equivalent of of the sprinkles on top of the cherry on top. Ducks don’t have the Ice cream in the bowl yet.
7 Comments
IMO penalties should be first
This is low on the priority list. Rookies and young players tend to struggle in faceoff circle. Penalties need to be addressed way more.
Pretty sure bergeron and crosby got better at this over time. We dont need to sign anyone that wins FO and nothing else (think vermette or glendenning)
There are plenty of issues on this team that need addressed. Faceoffs aren’t the biggest issue now and the kids will improve overtime. This team needs a more structured transition and offensive game. A more structured and consistent game should help mitigate a good bulk of the problems we witnessed this year.
Faceoffs are part of the reason the rangers were willing to let Strome walk. That and his inability to hit an open net. Dude has been in the league 12 seasons and has never cracked 50%.
No offense, OP, but go look up where different players rank in FO%. Even elite guys like Nathan McKinnon can suck at faceoffs. Fans make a big deal about winning faceoffs, but in most cases it isn’t going to make or break your season. Go sort standings for teams by FO%. You’ll find lousy teams at top and good teams farther down. It doesn’t mean that much.
I’m not saying it is irrelevant or doesn’t matter at all, but calling it the #1 thing Verbeek needs to address is ridiculous. What needs to be addressed is team discipline and special teams. We take more penalties than anyone and have the second worst PK% in the NHL. *That* is by far the most important issue we need to address and it isn’t very close.
Faceoffs have almost no correlation with goal scoring or goal prevention. It’s just another 50/50 puck battle in a game of many 50/50 puck battles. By the math, for Zegras to hit the league average for FO’s he’d need to win one more face off every ~4 games. Now if you could guarantee which FO that is, we’d be in business, since we could target it in a particular situation. But we can’t and him winning 1 extra FO win every week is doing sweet FA for the team. Worrying about this is the equivalent of of the sprinkles on top of the cherry on top. Ducks don’t have the Ice cream in the bowl yet.