RememberTheRoar
“I’m not as worried about the 5-on-5 scoring.”
Seems like this is a debate I’ve seen play out it several threads, but never fully hashed out. It’s the offseason, and I’d like to see the arguments on both sides of this, especially since it directly impacts the Hawks. To be clear, I’m talking about really bad faceoff guys.
As a few posters have mentioned before, Nick Schmaltz had the league’s worst faceoff percentage, 40.1%, among players who took at least 700 draws in 2017-18. For comparison, Anisimov, who many complained can’t win draws, was at 45.7%.
There are several other centers who are in Schmaltz’ company. Connor McDavid +1.3%, Jack Eichel +1.4%, and Nathan MacKinnon +1.8%.
What is it about these players that makes them better centers than wingers, despite the really bad faceoff percentage? Why is it worth it to accept this level of faceoff inability in order to play these guys at center?
It’s not like playmakers can’t make plays from the wing, Kane and Gaudreau play wing. There has to be something else, and I can’t imagine it’s just team need and forcing guys into the center role.
As a few posters have mentioned before, Nick Schmaltz had the league’s worst faceoff percentage, 40.1%, among players who took at least 700 draws in 2017-18. For comparison, Anisimov, who many complained can’t win draws, was at 45.7%.
There are several other centers who are in Schmaltz’ company. Connor McDavid +1.3%, Jack Eichel +1.4%, and Nathan MacKinnon +1.8%.
What is it about these players that makes them better centers than wingers, despite the really bad faceoff percentage? Why is it worth it to accept this level of faceoff inability in order to play these guys at center?
It’s not like playmakers can’t make plays from the wing, Kane and Gaudreau play wing. There has to be something else, and I can’t imagine it’s just team need and forcing guys into the center role.