Admittedly, team faceoff percentage is a bit of a niche topic. The detail-oriented fans, the ones who got good grades in school, the “nerds” if you will, are concerned with stats like these. While most laissez faire fans would say these things, looking at these numbers tells a bit of a story. The Colorado Avalanche have not been good at the faceoff aspect this season.
Currently, they stand 13-10 and in fourth place in the division, first in the wildcard, and one point ahead of the third-place team (Edmonton). There are a multitude of reasons why the Avalanche haven’t been good this season, and taking an in-depth look pulls some of these reasons together as a spiral of sorts.
Avalanche nation hasn’t been happy with the goaltending. Rightfully so, as the team’s save percentage is 25th in the league at .858%. They haven’t been happy with the penalty kill either, as it‘s 29th in the league now at 72.4%. An overlooked stat, the face-off percentage is at 44%, good for 31st in the league.
These three coupled together lead a good team to become an average team. This is exactly what the Avalanche are.
But the Flames are in second place and only at 44.5% on draws. This is true, but the Flames also are third in the NHL in team save percentage. Remember, defensive metrics coupled together lead to bad things, not one-off statistics.
The Avalanche are having enough trouble defensively so far this season. With them winning roughly four out of every ten faceoffs, that means the other team starts the sequence of play with the puck six out of ten times. This doesn’t help a team who isn’t defending well.
The Avalanche need to control the puck. The best defense is a good offense. It’s been their philosophy over the last few seasons and won them a Stanley Cup not long ago. With the team playing the way it is, this number has to improve.
Mikko Rantanen has the highest faceoff percentage on the team now at 54.7%. He’s only taken 86 draws, however. Nathan MacKinnon has the highest percentage of regulars who take faceoffs at 48.9%. MacKinnon doesn’t get paid to win faceoffs—we’d all agree on that.
The players that are expected to contribute at the dot aren’t doing so. Parker Kelly is at 43.3%, TJ Tynan 38.9%, and Ross Colton, when healthy, was at 38.6%.
Colorado needs its bottom six forwards to contribute in other ways than on the scoreboard. They’re expected to grind, play good defense, be gritty, and influence the game in a positive manner that may not always be visible to the naked eye.
With its struggles on defense as a team, the Avalanche need to give themselves every assist it can. Improving its team faceoff percentage will go a long way in righting the ship defensively, and it needs to happen as soon as possible.