Blue Line Station
Fansided

Solving the Rangers’ faceoff problem

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 04: Brady Tkachuk #7 of the Ottawa Senators takes a face-off against Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 04: Brady Tkachuk #7 of the Ottawa Senators takes a face-off against Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – MARCH 22: Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) and New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) face off during the NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers on March 22, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia PA. (Photo by Gavin Baker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – MARCH 22: Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) and New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) face off during the NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers on March 22, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia PA. (Photo by Gavin Baker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

One of the biggest issues facing the New  York Rangers is their inability to win faceoffs. There are some options that Jeff Gorton should pursue.

The New York Rangers loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday was the direct result of a lost faceoff.  With less than two minutes in the game, Brady Skjei iced the puck and Bo Horvat won the ensuing faceoff, beating Mika Zibanejad cleanly.   Seconds  later, the Canucks were celebrating.

Just look at the debacle in Edmonton.   There were three goals scored by the Oilers within seconds of a lost draw.

The Oilers scored 11 seconds after Connor McDavid beat Zibanejad on the opening faceoff in center ice.  James Neal scored eight seconds after Zibanejad lost a defensive zone draw to Leon Draisaitl.  Draisaitl beat McKegg in the defensive zone and Neal scored again just eight seconds later.  We’ve seen it repeatedly this season.

It’s a simple story. The Rangers cannot win faceoffs.   Here are the winning percentages for the  Rangers’ centers who have taken 100 faceoffs this season.

Ryan Strome  49.4%
Mika Zibanejad  47.9%
Brett Howden   46%
Filip Chytil    36.2%

Though Strome is nearly at 50%, his winning percentage for faceoffs in the defensive zone 43.7%.  Brett Howden is best at defensive zone draws on the team with a 44.8%.   Losing defensive zone faceoffs lead directly to scoring opportunities and the Rangers are the second worst in the league on faceoffs in their own zone with a 43.9% winning percentage.

Look at the best defensive zone faceoff artists.  Claude Giroux is at 68.1%, Jay Beagle at 63.7%, Nicklas Backstrom at 59.2% and Nick Bonino at 58.9%.   There are 57 NHL players who have taken as many as 50 defensive zone draws and have won at least half.

Jay Beagle?  He’s one of the best in the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks had the common sense to pay  $3 million a year for a player who has never scored more than 13 goals in a season, but is consistently near 60% in the faceoff circle.

Not a new problem

The frustration for Ranger fans is that this has been going on for years.  Since the lockout, the team has had  only 10 centers who took over 1,000 faceoffs in a season and have won more faceoffs than they have lost.  That’s 10 centers in 15 years.

Chris Drury did it three times.  Scott Gomez twice.  The only current Ranger with a plus season is Mika Zibanejad who had a 50.8% in 2017-18.    Drury’s best season was 2007-08 with a 54.9% winning percentage.  That pales in comparison to the league’s best.

One reason Patrice Bergeron is so valuable is that he wins close to 60% of his draws.   One reason Manny Malhotra stuck around for 16 NHL seasons was his career 59.7% winning percentage on draws.

Rule changes

The NHL has been constantly changing their rules and that has made faceoffs even more important.  They moved faceoffs after a penalty is called  into the defensive team’s zone.  They changed the rule so  if a puck is deflected out bounds by an offensive player or it goes off the crossbar, the faceoff is in the defensive team’s zone. This season, they give the offensive team on a power play, the ability to choose the location of the faceoff.  All of these changes were made to increase scoring and have benefited teams that can win draws.

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