Puck possession is an essential part of winning hockey games. For the New York Rangers organization, face-off wins are something they have lacked over past seasons and it has cost them much-needed points at the most important times of a hockey year.
Mika Zibanejead and Ryan Strome have been the most consistent number one and two centers on the team.
Zibanejaed had been the player to take the biggest draws in most instances, but his struggles on the ice offensively this season took a toll at the face-off circle.
Ryan Strome also had the opportunity to be the difference-maker but was not successful for the most part. Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, getting the call and getting the job done have been on two different ends of the spectrum.
If one would want to look at how the team did this past 56 games season, the numbers are easy to find. Just head over to NHL.com, click on stats, and face-off percentage. Â Then scroll to the bottom, the very bottom, that’s right! Â The Rangers were dead last in the category. Â The organization had an efficiency percentage of 44.5%.
Another way to look at that stat could be the Ranger’s opposition won 55.5% of face-offs, 55.5% of the time the team left the faceoff circle without possession of the puck. It’s hard to defend your defensive side of the ice or get scoring chances in the offensive zone when you can’t get the puck on your sticks.
How bad is this issue, from the 2014-15 season through 2020-2021 the Blueshirts have played 536 hockey games. Â The Rangers were ranked 31st during this period, dead last again.
The NHL breaks down face-off percentage by zones. Â Last season the Rangers had 1,069 offensive faceoffs winning 44% of them. Â Inside the team’s defensive end the club took 1,046 draws with a 44.3% efficiency rating. The team was ranked 30th in offense win percentage and last in defense percentage (shocking).
The Rangers top 5 centers and their faceoff percentages per Hockey-Reference were;
Mika Zibanejad -46.3%
Ryan Strome -43.2%
Filip Chytil -42.8%
Kevin Rooney -45%
Brett Howden- 46.6%
How to improve this area varies depending on the direction the staff wants to take. The Rangers know they need to improve but also have to make sure they don’t disrupt the balance of the team. Â Subtracting one piece and adding another needs to be accomplished without a major disruption to the lineup.
At the end of the day improving the team is not an easy fix, but in order for the Rangers to take the next step, the organization needs to find the right players. Â Before Drury can focus on that, he needs to hire a head coach and staff.
This post was published on 2021-05-27 08:09