Why is Nathan MacKinnon bad at Face-offs?

[jimmysheva]

Compared to Sakic, Drury, Yelle who were above 50%, MacKinnon's sitting at 45.9%. Sometimes we lose 15-20 seconds of power play because he loses the playoffs and the opponents clear. That's why Kadri's taking the face-offs during power play.

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[AvsRobin]

I don't think it's a big deal. The importance of faceoffs are still greatly exaggerated and the difference between a 46% taker and a 52% is so small that it's basically still a coin flip. And there are very, very few players who consistently can put up good numbers, being somewhere between 55-60% consistently so it actually makes a difference and not bouncing above or below 50% from season to season.

Obviously it's better to win them than lose them, but they don't hold a greater importance than any other puck battle out there. And from a team perspective there is no correlation between teams being good faceoffs and being good at winning games. Sometimes we see the worst faceoff-team in a league making it to a final.

 

[Horse McHindu]

The same reason why Shaquille O’Neil was bad at free throws?

 

[The Merchant]

Because he put all of his skill points into skating and shooting

 

[El Travo]

Compared to Sakic, Drury, Yelle who were above 50%, MacKinnon's sitting at 45.9%. Sometimes we lose 15-20 seconds of power play because he loses the playoffs and the opponents clear. That's why Kadri's taking the face-offs during power play.

Some people have it and some don't. It's more of a luxury than a required skill so it's not a major thing to work on while developing.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I’d still like us to get a 3C that can win draws. Mack, JTC, and Jost are bad at them, PEB is hit or miss and Kadri is great at them but ends up kicked out of the circle 7 out of 10 times.

 

[Iceberg]

Why was Forsberg bad at faceoffs? That i'll never understand.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

Because Mack is a mega bust. Trade him for a plate of nachos for barberio to eat in the stands.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

To be honest, I’m kind of surprised to hear he is at 46%. I would of that it was lower.

It’s odd how sometimes checkers are better face off guys than skill players. Maybe they just spend more time on it, while a guy like MacKinnon has to work on other areas of his game.

Either way, not a huge concern for me, with what he brings to the table.

 

[tshack]

Because he put all of his skill points into skating and shooting

Man with the games he's been playing he should have some extra skill points he hasn't used yet.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

It’s one part I’ve always been confused about since the guy is married to Crosby all summer.

His form and everything is just awful, hand placement on stick, the hip and leg rotation, etc.

He’s just brutal at face offs, it is what it is.

 

[RockLobster]

It’s one part I’ve always been confused about since the guy is married to Crosby all summer.

His form and everything is just awful, hand placement on stick, the hip and leg rotation, etc.

He’s just brutal at face offs, it is what it is.

Do not know if this is true, but one thing I have heard a couple of times is that he just "doesn't see the value in working on it as much as other areas of his game" (I'm paraphrasing that).

Basically he's more concerned with what he feels will have a direct impact on winning a game, and thus that's what he's focused on improving.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Do not know if this is true, but one thing I have heard a couple of times is that he just "doesn't see the value in working on it as much as other areas of his game" (I'm paraphrasing that).

Basically he's more concerned with what he feels will have a direct impact on winning a game, and thus that's what he's focused on improving.

I'm OK with him thinking that way however it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try hard to win the faceoff. If you pay attention he just doesn't try very hard to win it and that's what I have problem with when he takes faceoffs. At least give an effort to win it.

 

[atreyuavenged]

Sometimes I think we might get shafted a bit when they record face off numbers. I know we are bad but I don't we are like 20-30% bad like on some nights.

 

[Ivan13]

He's bad at cheating.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Do not know if this is true, but one thing I have heard a couple of times is that he just "doesn't see the value in working on it as much as other areas of his game" (I'm paraphrasing that).

Basically he's more concerned with what he feels will have a direct impact on winning a game, and thus that's what he's focused on improving.

I was gonna say. I just feel like he isn't bothered with them. He really seems pretty uninterested when he takes draws sometimes.

 

[Avs_19]

Sacrifices needed to be made and he sacrificed his faceoff ability. He wasn't bad on faceoffs in years 2-4 (49%) and put up 0.66 PPG. He has been bad on faceoffs in the three years since (42.7%) and has put up 1.30 PPG.

I always thought the rule changes messed something up for him and he'd eventually figure it out but he just hasn't. Of course you'd want him winning more often but no big deal.

Speaking of faceoffs, these linesmen are getting more and more ridiculous. Some of it is probably because of the rules but some of these guys also really want some attention. I'm glad Pierre called it out on the national broadcast last game when both players were thrown out and the linesman just refused to drop the puck.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I’d still like us to get a 3C that can win draws. Mack, JTC, and Jost are bad at them, PEB is hit or miss and Kadri is great at them but ends up kicked out of the circle 7 out of 10 times.

Lol so true, Kadri is booted at least half of the time and just looks at the referee confused.

Kills me every time.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

46 is fine. If he was at 35-40 I'd suggest it's a serious problem

 

[McMetal]

I'm not sure it really matters much. Everybody always gripes about faceoffs, but just for fun, I looked up the current faceoff stats by team and compared them to their ranks in the standings league wide.

Team	Faceoff Rank	Standings Rank
Philadelphia Flyers	1	12
Dallas Stars	2	13
Toronto Maple Leafs	3	22
Nashville Predators	4	23
Vancouver Canucks	5	16
Anaheim Ducks	6	25
Winnipeg Jets	7	8
Tampa Bay Lightning	8	18
St. Louis Blues	9	4
Los Angeles Kings	10	29
Florida Panthers	11	20
San Jose Sharks	12	24
Ottawa Senators	13	28
Vegas Golden Knights	14	15
Montreal Canadiens	15	17
Carolina Hurricanes	16	7
New York Islanders	17	3
Boston Bruins	18	2
Washington Capitals	19	1
Minnesota Wild	20	21
Pittsburgh Penguins	21	9
Detroit Red Wings	22	31
Arizona Coyotes	23	6
Chicago Blackhawks	24	26
Calgary Flames	25	11
Columbus Blue Jackets	26	27
Edmonton Oilers	27	10
Colorado Avalanche	28	5
New Jersey Devils	29	30
New York Rangers	30	19
Buffalo Sabres	31	14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Aside from the top 3 teams in the league being bunched right in the very middle of the chart, I really can't see any kind of pattern here. Success at faceoffs seems to have no measurable impact on team success as a whole. So MacK can suck at faceoffs all he wants, as long as brings that winning attitude and talent to the ice every night he'll still be one of the best players in the world.

 

[Foppa2118]

Yeah, my guess is it's the same reason the Avs 3 on 3 sucked last year, while their 5 on 5 was on point. He just doesn't practice it as much, because he wants to work on his shot instead. There's only so much time you have to work on everything.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

just one more thing he can still work on and be even better. Not a big deal except for OT when we have to pair him with PEB.

 

[Foppa2118]

Lol so true, Kadri is booted at least half of the time and just looks at the referee confused.

Kills me every time.

He doesn't seem to have the greatest relationship with the linesman either. He's always scowling and barking at them.

It's to the point where it feels like they're overly strict with him now because they don't want to do him any favors. I think that's part of why he gets kicked out so much. That one linesman a while back must have kicked him out 10-15 times in that game. I was as confused as Kadri was for a bunch of them.

 

[flyfysher]

Please just win the FO in critical situations like while on the PK and in OT?

 

[Steerpike]

With how crazy competitve and hard on himself Nate is, I would speculate that he was beating himself up over faceoffs. In order to let Nate channel his competitve energy towards actually winning hockey games they stopped having him practice faceoffs and practice winning hockey games instead.