BLOG: The art of the draw

EDMONTON, AB - What goes into a faceoff?
It's the simple motion of a referee or linesman dropping the puck to start or resume play, and one that's either won or lost between centres.
At least, on the surface. There's a lot more thought and a lot more action that goes into the moments that immediately follow the initial draw than what you're led to believe in order to determine what team earns the right to retain the puck.
The Oilers have contested the dot admirably as a top-five faceoff team in the League through their opening six games with a 54.2 percent win rate, but Head Coach Dave Tippett observed his side come up against the best in the Philadelphia Flyers in Wednesday's 5-3 loss at Rogers Place.
"We keep different stats than what comes out (from the NHL)," the bench boss said post-game. "We were trying to win draws at key times of the game that we weren't getting. They've got a couple of pretty good guys. (Sean) Couturier and (Claude) Giroux are both right- and left-sided, and really strong. So that's an area we can certainly improve."

The art of the draw for Tippett begins with individual skill from the centreman and his arsenal of attack to deploy at the dot against the opposing player. It's a skillset that can vary from centre to centre.
"All of the above. You get different players who have different techniques," he said. "You look at Giroux last night, and he uses his foot and stick a lot. Some guys are power, more guys are finesse, so you can be a good face-off guy using different methods. The top guys usually have all the above."
Once the draw becomes contested, however, is where preparation pays off in the support the centre receives from his teammates around the circle to win the team possession.
"The faceoff, like you say, can be an individual thing where the centreman digs in," he adds. "There are good faceoff men who just win pucks alone, but it's the help the centreman gets off loose pucks. Half of the time it just comes to a loose puck. It's not a cleanly-won draw."
There's an extra bit of detail being put on the faceoff for the Oilers coaching staff, who hold the planning, execution and success of winning draws in the same realm as those of the penalty kill and power play.
"(Assistant Coach) Brian Wiseman puts a lot of time into it with our team, and we almost treat it like special teams," Tippett said. "What happens after a draw, we've got to be on the same page win or lose; the ability to win faceoffs, and what you're going to do accordingly after that."

Coaches also play to the percentages, choosing to use centres based on what side is their strong sides of the draw when they pull to their backhand. "You have to think about that, because if you look at percentages of a centreman, they're usually better on their strong side," Tippett said."
But sometimes, in the case of Leon Draisaitl, the choice to utilize a player on their weaker side is lessened when you consider the moment of the game and what the player can provide your team in the time that follows the faceoff.
"There are times where you say, 'You know what? I'm going to put a guy out and I don't care what side he's on. He's my best guy, win or lose.'" Tippett said.
"In a situation with Draisaitl, I use him on a lot of faceoffs. Even on the right side I'll use him, because say when we're defending a lead late in a game, we want him out because we think he's our best faceoff guy. He's a guy I want down low after the faceoff, win or lose.
"There are factors that come in on both sides of that."