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The importance of faceoffs seems to be garnering more attention these days around the National Hockey League. If you win faceoffs, this should mean you have the puck on your stick more often and that is the name of the game? Clearly there are many factors that go into producing a winning team but let’s see if there is any correlation between winning faceoffs and winning games since the lockout.
Here are the numbers since the lockout:
2005-06 Faceoff % Total Points
Anaheim 50.8 98
Atlanta 50.1 90
Boston 52 74
Buffalo 49.7 110
Calgary 50.4 103
Carolina 51.7 112
Chicago 48.9 65
Colorado 48.1 95
Columbus 49.4 74
Dallas 50.3 112
Detroit 52.8 124
Edmonton 53.4 95
Florida 50.7 85
Los Angeles 49.9 89
Minnesota 48.3 84
Montreal 49.3 93
Nashville 53.8 106
New Jersey 49.5 101
N.Y. Islanders 48.7 78
N.Y. Rangers 47.5 100
Ottawa 50.3 113
Philadelphia 49.5 101
Phoenix 49.2 81
Pittsburgh 45.9 58
San Jose 48.4 99
St. Louis 50.7 57
T.B. Lightning 50.1 92
Toronto 51.6 90
Vancouver 48.1 92
Washington 50.4 70
2006-07 Faceoff % Total Points
Anaheim 51.8 110
Atlanta 52.9 97
Boston 48.3 76
Buffalo 51.4 113
Calgary 48.4 96
Carolina 52.3 88
Chicago 47.8 71
Colorado 48.6 95
Columbus 50.2 73
Dallas 50.1 107
Detroit 53.6 113
Edmonton 51.5 71
Florida 47.9 86
Los Angeles 47.7 68
Minnesota 47.6 104
Montreal 49.5 90
Nashville 50.3 110
New Jersey 49 107
N.Y. Islanders 51.6 92
N.Y. Rangers 49.9 94
Ottawa 50.3 105
Philadelphia 47.1 56
Phoenix 52.7 67
Pittsburgh 47 105
San Jose 51.1 107
St. Louis 51.1 81
T.B. Lightning 48.9 93
Toronto 51.9 91
Vancouver 49.2 105
Washington 49.8 70
2007-08 Faceoff % Total Points
Anaheim 50.2 102
Atlanta 51.8 76
Boston 49.1 94
Buffalo 48.6 90
Calgary 49.5 94
Carolina 49.4 92
Chicago 52.3 88
Colorado 47.8 95
Columbus 52.3 80
Dallas 50.4 97
Detroit 53.3 115
Edmonton 50.5 88
Florida 48.8 85
Los Angeles 47.8 71
Minnesota 47.3 98
Montreal 49 104
Nashville 50.5 91
New Jersey 50.4 99
N.Y. Islanders 51 79
N.Y. Rangers 52.3 97
Ottawa 51.7 94
Philadelphia 49.3 95
Phoenix 48.6 83
Pittsburgh 46.1 102
San Jose 51.2 108
St. Louis 51.8 79
T.B. Lightning 49.7 71
Toronto 49.8 83
Vancouver 48.7 88
Washington 51.2 94
2008-09 Faceoff % Total Points
Anaheim 49.8 91
Atlanta 51.2 76
Boston 51 116
Buffalo 47.4 91
Calgary 51.3 98
Carolina 51.3 97
Chicago 48.1 104
Colorado 47.8 69
Columbus 51.2 92
Dallas 47.8 83
Detroit 55.1 112
Edmonton 47.9 85
Florida 47.9 93
Los Angeles 52 79
Minnesota 48.5 89
Montreal 50.9 93
Nashville 52.2 88
New Jersey 51.3 106
N.Y. Islanders 45.7 61
N.Y. Rangers 50.8 95
Ottawa 51.8 83
Philadelphia 48.3 99
Phoenix 44.8 79
Pittsburgh 49.1 99
San Jose 53.8 117
St. Louis 49.1 92
T.B. Lightning 50.2 66
Toronto 50.1 81
Vancouver 51.9 100
Washington 51.7 108
Here is the total points breakdown since the lockout:
Total Standings
2005-2009 Points Post-Lockout Overall Ranking
Detroit 464 1
San Jose 431 2
New Jersey 413 3
Buffalo 404 4
Anaheim 401 5
Dallas 399 6
Nashville 395 7
Ottawa 395 8
Calgary 391 9
Carolina 389 10
N.Y. Rangers 386 11
Vancouver 385 12
Montreal 380 13
Minnesota 375 14
Pittsburgh 364 15
Boston 360 16
Colorado 354 17
Philadelphia 351 18
Florida 349 19
Toronto 345 20
Washington 342 21
Atlanta 339 22
Edmonton 339 23
Chicago 328 24
T.B. Lightning 322 25
Columbus 319 26
N.Y. Islanders 310 27
Phoenix 310 28
St. Louis 309 29
Los Angeles 307 30
What about the total faceoff percentage over that same period of time?
Total Faceoff
2005-2009 Percentage Post-Lockout Overall Ranking
Detroit 214.8 1
Nashville 206.8 2
Atlanta 206 3
Carolina 204.7 4
San Jose 204.5 5
Ottawa 204.1 6
Toronto 203.4 7
Edmonton 203.3 8
Washington 203.1 9
Columbus 203.1 10
St. Louis 202.7 11
Anaheim 202.6 12
N.Y. Rangers 200.5 13
Boston 200.4 14
New Jersey 200.2 15
Calgary 199.6 16
T.B. Lightning 198.9 17
Montreal 198.7 18
Dallas 198.6 19
Vancouver 197.9 20
Los Angeles 197.4 21
Chicago 197.1 22
Buffalo 197.1 23
N.Y. Islanders 197 24
Florida 195.3 25
Phoenix 195.3 26
Philadelphia 194.2 27
Colorado 192.3 28
Minnesota 191.7 29
Pittsburgh 188.1 30
Now, I realize that’s a lot of charts, so let’s try and look at this in one swoop:
Overall Overall Ranking for Points Overall Raking for Faceoff %
Detroit 1 1
San Jose 2 5
New Jersey 3 15
Buffalo 4 23
Anaheim 5 12
Dallas 6 19
Nashville 7 2
Ottawa 8 6
Calgary 9 16
Carolina 10 4
N.Y. Rangers 11 13
Vancouver 12 20
Montreal 13 18
Minnesota 14 29
Pittsburgh 15 30
Boston 16 14
Colorado 17 28
Philadelphia 18 27
Florida 19 25
Toronto 20 7
Washington 21 9
Atlanta 22 3
Edmonton 23 8
Chicago 24 22
T.B. Lightning 25 17
Columbus 26 10
N.Y. Islanders 27 24
Phoenix 28 26
St. Louis 29 11
Los Angeles 30 21
What stood out
Of the top ten teams in terms of points, five of them finished in the top ten in faceoff percentage over that same period. There are some interesting findings here. Aside from the top ten, faceoff percentage really does not seem to be indicative of success. Of the middle ten teams in total points, five of these teams finished in the bottom third in the NHL in faceoff percentage over the same period. Additionally, four of the bottom eleven teams in points finished with faceoff percentages in the top ten over that same period.
So, what does this all mean? Obviously teams emphasize winning draws as a way of holding onto the puck more. Overall, it appears that the top teams over the past four seasons have done that better than the rest. However, you do not need to be proficient in the faceoff circle to be good (see: Buffalo, New Jersey and Dallas).
Basically, being successful in the faceoff circle is an important part of the game but, as you might imagine, it is not the only important part of the game.
Richard Pollock is Editor for the hockey website Illegal Curve. | 
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