It’s a debate as old as time, and lots of knowledgeable hockey folks say that faceoffs don’t matter. But it seems like the constant inability to get a zone clear after a freeze has really hurt us. On the other end of the ice, not winning draws is killing our ability to sustain offensive pressure.

I used to be more sympathetic to the argument that “it’s just one of hundreds of 50/50 battles throughout the game,” but this season has shown how much it can hurt to lose just 10% more of these than you should.

What do you all think?

16 comments

  1. You realize how ironic it is that a bunch of the teams in this screenshot are doing really well this season right

    Edit: not to say they don’t matter at all, but they’re the sort of thing that matter when they matter and looking at total % doesn’t tell the whole story

  2. We’ve been dog shit on face offs for a few years now, probably 20 years if you take a look.

  4. Faceoffs don’t matter as much as what they do with the puck after they get it.

    You can win 100% of faceoffs but if lazy, dumb plays keep giving the puck away or not creating opportunities then it doesn’t really matter, does it? Winning more faceoffs just gives you more opportunities, and that’s never a bad thing.

  5. Individual faceoffs can be extremely high leverage important moments (i.e. start of a powerplay, end of a close game in the offensive zone, start of 3 on 3 OT), but overall team faceoff % being 52 vs 48 isn’t a big deal. Those high leverage draws ideally you have your best guy taking anyway so it doesn’t matter if your other Cs are worse.

  6. There has to be an advantage to getting the puck right away in 2/3 of the ice. Maybe they don’t matter at the start of a period, except OT. Overall, I conclude that winning faceoffs does matter for your overall chances of winning. Thank you.

  7. Being without their top 2 centers definitely hurts. Along with 3 forwards. And their top player. All for more than a couple weeks.

    Look out below.

  8. Anaheim is 3rd in the league, Utah and Chicago are tied for 9th, Seattle is 16th. While the Leafs are second in faceoffs but tied for 24th in the standings. Islanders are 9th in faceoffs but tied for 19th in the standings. Nashville is 10th in faceoffs but tied with the Sabres in points. People like faceoffs because they know exactly what it is and intuitively it makes sense, if you win faceoffs you have possession more, if you have possession more you’ll have more chances for and less against, but it doesn’t work like that because what you do after the faceoff is way more important than if you won it or not.

  9. Faceoffs in general “don’t matter” but specific faceoffs matter a lot.

    So it’s best just to be good at faceoffs, increasing your chance of winning the important ones.

  10. I think this stat is just “how many games have your centers played in their careers” wearing a trenchcoat and fake moustache 

  14. I think in general faceoffs aren’t super important, but you should have at least one faceoff ace for high leverage situations (e.g. offensive zone faceoff with the extra man, etc.)

  15. I feel like “faceoffs don’t matter” because most teams hover around 48-52%, and have a guy who’s 55%+ for those critical draws. When you’re at 43% and your best guy is Kozak at 52% with every other center well under 50%, yeah it starts to become a problem.

  16. Most knowledgeable hockey folks agree that faceoffs matter. It’s the number nerds that don’t actually watch hockey and claim they don’t matter. Because they are sort of right, a neutral zone faceoff in the 2nd period doesn’t matter. But a d-zone faceoff when leading by 1, that does.

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