Yesterday we looked at shot generation immediately after the faceoff on a team-by-team basis, so now it's time to look at some of the outstanding players. Since we looked at last season with a minimum of 100 offensive-zone faceoffs, we'll use 25 draws as our minimum for this year so far (yes, it's a small sample size, but most of our top ten had 45-60). Recall that the league average this season is for a shot within 5 seconds of an offensive-zone faceoff 7.21% of the time.
This table "goes to 11", because everyone knows that Yanic Perrault has a great reputation as a faceoff man, so I wanted to include him in the post.
As far as Rally Killers go, three players have taken the requisite number of offensive zone draws without generating any shots so far: Boston Bruin Wayne Primeau (37 FO's), Columbus Blue Jacket Mark Hartigan (35 FO's), and Detroit Red Wing Dan Cleary (38 FO's). Interesting names to note near the bottom of this list are San Jose's Joe Thornton (3 shots on 146 draws for 2.05%) and Tampa's Brad Richards (4 shots on 137 draws, 2.92%).
So remember, print out this post and take it to your next NHL game, so you can shout out helpful suggestions to the head coach as he ponders who to send out for that critical late-game faceoff...
| Player | Faceoffs | Shots | Shot Gen % |
| Andy Hilbert, NYI | 27 | 6 | 22.22% |
| Alexander Svitov, CBJ | 45 | 9 | 20.00% |
| Stu Barnes, DAL | 45 | 8 | 17.78% |
| Dean McAmmond, OTT | 62 | 10 | 16.13% |
| Ian Laperriere, COL | 45 | 7 | 15.56% |
| Jeff O'Neill, TOR | 52 | 8 | 15.38% |
| Mike Zigomanis, PHX | 47 | 7 | 14.89% |
| John Madden, N.J. | 68 | 10 | 14.71% |
| Kris Draper, DET | 49 | 7 | 14.29% |
| Matthew Stajan, TOR | 57 | 8 | 14.04% |
| Yanic Perrault, PHX | 36 | 5 | 13.89% |
This table "goes to 11", because everyone knows that Yanic Perrault has a great reputation as a faceoff man, so I wanted to include him in the post.
As far as Rally Killers go, three players have taken the requisite number of offensive zone draws without generating any shots so far: Boston Bruin Wayne Primeau (37 FO's), Columbus Blue Jacket Mark Hartigan (35 FO's), and Detroit Red Wing Dan Cleary (38 FO's). Interesting names to note near the bottom of this list are San Jose's Joe Thornton (3 shots on 146 draws for 2.05%) and Tampa's Brad Richards (4 shots on 137 draws, 2.92%).
So remember, print out this post and take it to your next NHL game, so you can shout out helpful suggestions to the head coach as he ponders who to send out for that critical late-game faceoff...