Pre-Game Talk: Week on the road: @Wsh, @Pit, @Fla, @TB

[RoyIsALegend]

5-0-0 got me walking into work like Landy post-game yesterday...

 

[wayninja]

The 5-0 start is fun. Exciting times. But if we are still undefeated by the end of the weekend (hell even BEFORE the weekend), I'll be flat out amazed.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I'd pay to see a 3.5 weeks-running Nazem Kadri playoff beard. That thing would be as thick as concrete

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I'd pay to see a 3.5 weeks-running Nazem Kadri playoff beard. That thing would be as thick as concrete

 

[Avs_19]

Kadri: 63%
MacKinnon: 44.8%
Landeskog: 41.5%
Bellemare: 39.7%
Compher: 34.8%
Jost: 23.1%

Is it possible for Kadri to take every faceoff?

 

[Avs44]

Kadri: 63%
MacKinnon: 44.8%
Landeskog: 41.5%
Bellemare: 39.7%
Compher: 34.8%
Jost: 23.1%

Is it possible for Kadri to take every faceoff?

Bellemare and whoever the third line centre is, Compher or Jost, need to get their **** together. Faceoffs don't have a huge impact on the overall run of play, but they are important in specific situations (odd man situations, empty nets), and you kind of need your bottom six centres to be capable of going out there and winning them more than one quarter to one third of the time.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Bellemare and whoever the third line centre is, Compher or Jost, need to get their **** together. Faceoffs don't have a huge impact on the overall run of play, but they are important in specific situations (odd man situations, empty nets), and you kind of need your bottom six centres to be capable of going out there and winning them more than one quarter to one third of the time.

hopefully Kadri is working with these guys. We need more than one guy that can win a draw.

 

[Ararana]

Hoping/expecting to see a beast mode MacKinnon tomorrow. National television and going against his buddy, MacKinnon usually wakes up for these games.

 

[wayninja]

Kadri: 63%
MacKinnon: 44.8%
Landeskog: 41.5%
Bellemare: 39.7%
Compher: 34.8%
Jost: 23.1%

Is it possible for Kadri to take every faceoff?

Mack is up to almost 45%!?! Awesome!

 

[Muffin]

Bellemare and whoever the third line centre is, Compher or Jost, need to get their **** together. Faceoffs don't have a huge impact on the overall run of play, but they are important in specific situations (odd man situations, empty nets), and you kind of need your bottom six centres to be capable of going out there and winning them more than one quarter to one third of the time.

What happened to Bellemare? We all knew those other guys were bad, but I thought he was brought in for his faceoff abilities. There's no way this will continue, he's WAY below his career average so far:
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare stats - Colorado Avalanche - Puckbase

 

[Tralfamadore]

Kadri: 63%
MacKinnon: 44.8%
Landeskog: 41.5%
Bellemare: 39.7%
Compher: 34.8%
Jost: 23.1%

Is it possible for Kadri to take every faceoff?

Still blows my mind that someone as skilled as MacKinnon can be so bad on faceoffs.

Those numbers are troubling but at least the Avs now have a player they can throw on the dot when the time comes.

 

[Balthazar]

What happened to Bellemare? We all knew those other guys were bad, but I thought he was brought in for his faceoff abilities. There's no way this will continue, he's WAY below his career average so far:
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare stats - Colorado Avalanche - Puckbase

Dude, it's a 5-game sample and he's getting very limited ice time. It's a bit early.

 

[Pokecheque]

Honestly, it never seems to work out when the Avs bring in a "faceoff specialist." Either the guy just plain never plays (Winchester), or he plays well, but still sucks at faceoffs (McLean). I still like Bellemare as an addition despite the fact that he's not doing well on draws.

The good news is that Kadri is absolutely dominating in that respect, and as a result Bednar is using him a LOT for that purpose alone.

 

[Foppberg]

Still blows my mind that someone as skilled as MacKinnon can be so bad on faceoffs.

Those numbers are troubling but at least the Avs now have a player they can throw on the dot when the time comes.

Faceoffs are overrated anyways.

 

[Tralfamadore]

Faceoffs are overrated anyways.

They don't matter until they matter.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Faceoffs are overrated anyways.

They are quite important:
1. In OT
2. PK (every time you win a faceoff you can reduce the other team time in your zone by about 20 secs)
3. PP (waste 20 secs each time you lose the faceoff to retrieve the puck in your own zone)
4. end of periods (deflates the team when they get scored in the last 30 secs or so when winning the faceoff would have allowed to clear the zone)
5. after an icing when the players are really tired. Either team needs to win that faceoff.

The rest of the time I agree with you.

 

[Avs9296]

Still blows my mind that someone as skilled as MacKinnon can be so bad on faceoffs.

Those numbers are troubling but at least the Avs now have a player they can throw on the dot when the time comes.

It's because he puts literally no effort in to winning them. He'll take one slow swipe backwards with his stick and if he doesn't get it first time he just stops. Other guys will take a couple hard swipes back and put more effort into it. Nate just dgaf when it comes to faceoffs haha

 

[flyfysher]

Faceoffs are overrated anyways.

So winning the FO in situations like a critical OT PK face off (against the Flames in last season's POs) is overrated?

 

[GirardSpinorama]

They are quite important:
1. In OT
2. PK (every time you win a faceoff you can reduce the other team time in your zone by about 20 secs)
3. PP (waste 20 secs each time you lose the faceoff to retrieve the puck in your own zone)
4. end of periods (deflates the team when they get scored in the last 30 secs or so when winning the faceoff would have allowed to clear the zone)
5. after an icing when the players are really tired. Either team needs to win that faceoff.

The rest of the time I agree with you.

Its fantastic to have Kadri on the PP instead of Jost for this reason alone.

 

[Avs_19]

Mack is up to almost 45%!?! Awesome!

Most are probably on his strong side but if he can win around 50% of those, I'll take it.

 

[lowol]

So winning the FO in situations like a critical OT PK face off (against the Flames in last season's POs) is overrated?

Winning a particular faceoff can have a big impact, sure. But since all but the very best and the very worst centres hover between 45% and 55% win rates, it all feels pretty dang close to a coin flip.

55% means that you take 1 puck drop more than your opponent every ten FOs... and only a fraction of these additional wins will result in something positive for your team. Pretty meaningless in the grand scheme.

 

[flyfysher]

Winning a particular faceoff can have a big impact, sure. But since all but the very best and the very worst centres hover between 45% and 55% win rates, it all feels pretty dang close to a coin flip.

55% means that you take 1 puck drop more than your opponent every ten FOs... and only a fraction of these additional wins will result in something positive for your team. Pretty meaningless in the grand scheme.

Sometimes it seems as though the Avs are so aggressive on the forecheck that they don't care if they win the FO because their game is built around the transition and counterattack. To me it's a binary no brainer regardless of stats. You always want possession and whatever it takes to gain it should be a point of emphasis.

 

[lowol]

Sometimes it seems as though the Avs are so aggressive on the forecheck that they don't care if they win the FO because their game is built around the transition and counterattack. To me it's a binary no brainer regardless of stats. You always want possession and whatever it takes to gain it should be a point of emphasis.

Faceoffs are among the most meaningless elements of a large set of "whatever it takes to gain possession". With such a marginal effect I'd much rather see the team invest its limited amount of time, resources and energy towards something that improves the team more significantly.

 

[Pokecheque]

Faceoffs are among the most meaningless elements of a large set of "whatever it takes to gain possession". With such a marginal effect I'd much rather see the team invest its limited amount of time, resources and energy towards something that improves the team more significantly.

They're really not a huge factor but there's something to be said about losing a good 15 seconds of power play time every single time because the other team wins the opening draw, and conversely, giving up goals because you can't win a defensive zone faceoff to save your life. The Avs made some very good moves to address this without overly fixating on it. They went out and got two good players who just happen to be good at faceoffs. And it's a good thing they did too because I swear players like Compher, MacKinnon, and Jost are somehow getting worse at them.

 

[flyfysher]

Faceoffs are among the most meaningless elements of a large set of "whatever it takes to gain possession". With such a marginal effect I'd much rather see the team invest its limited amount of time, resources and energy towards something that improves the team more significantly.

Towards what exactly? Because your statement is vague and substantively meaningless.