If “internal growth” was the buzzword around the Ottawa Senators this offseason, maybe “winning more faceoffs” was the real locker-room mantra.
“I’ve been talking draws with a lot of guys,” says Tim Stützle, whose 11 faceoff wins on Monday were a career high. “We’re just trying to make each other better, work on it in practice, and yeah, kind of feeding off each other.”
The Senators lead the NHL in faceoff percentage through three games with a mark of 65.3 per cent — a small sample size and not enough to crown a season-long trend. Still, heading into the second week of the season, it’s a welcome sign of maturation down the middle.
While the Sens were already good at faceoffs as a team — they finished fourth in the league at 53.1 per cent last season — it’s the individual growth, like that of Stützle, that could be the most intriguing.
Claude Giroux is perennially the NHL’s ace in the dot — and his career-best 61.5 per cent mark last season was the 29th best in league history among qualifiers — so it might be easy to attribute the team’s early-season success to him, from the outside looking in.
But Giroux doesn’t have a whole lot of room to improve — though he’s still managed to win 64 per cent of his draws early on. What he has done is help elevate the rest of the group.
Ottawa’s young guns have been propelling that league-best mark alongside the veteran. Shane Pinto has won 24 out of 33 draws (73 per cent), Stützle 24 of 35 (69 per cent), and Dylan Cozens 22 of 35 (63 per cent). Even wingers Brady Tkachuk (8-of-11) and Ridly Greig (7-of-13) have been in the green when called upon.
Throw in veteran Lars Eller (24-of-36), who ranks 32nd in total faceoff wins league-wide since his first full season in 2010–11, and Travis Green has had seven above-average faceoff-takers he can send over the boards.
“I ask them a ton of questions,” says Pinto about Giroux and Eller.
“G’s one of the best, so I think you always try to learn from him, and he does a good job of trying to teach us. But having Lars here too, he adds a different perspective as a lefty… it’s pretty rare you have two of the best faceoff guys in the league on a team.”
Pinto finished his college career with a 62 per cent clip, but that success didn’t immediately translate into the NHL. He agrees there is “100 per cent” a learning curve.
“A lot of these guys, they’ve been around for a while, and these linesmen — there’s kind of a game that goes into taking a draw, and I think it takes a few years to kind of, I don’t want to say become comfortable with the refs, but every guy has a different tendency as a linesman, so you try to learn as the years go on.”
Despite that, Pinto has finished over 50 per cent in each of the past three seasons, a rarity for a young centre. “Obviously older guys in the league get the benefit of the doubt, so you’ve got to kind of learn that too,” he adds. “I think the last few years I feel better and better on draws.”
Stützle, meanwhile, has improved immensely since his first season taking draws in 2021–22. That year, he won just 38 per cent of faceoffs. Each year since then has seen improvements, but in 2025–26, he wants it to become a strength.
“I think a lot of it is technique, but also strength,” Stützle says. “Getting stronger arms, I think the longer you’ve been in the league here, you kind of know more what to do, and what not [to do], and I think it’s going to be really important for us moving forward.”
While faceoffs may not directly correlate to wins, they do dictate possession, and therefore are situationally important, especially in the defensive zone.
“There’s always an emphasis placed on faceoffs,” said Green after an optional skate on Tuesday. “It’s a skill set that isn’t talked a lot about, but if you look at our centreman, we have a lot of guys that are strong down the middle. It’s a luxury that we have, even guys on the wing that can go in and take faceoffs.”
“I think we know what we want to do,” says Stützle. “If we focus on that, get better at that, I think we have a higher chance of winning those draws. I think the more versatile you are, the better it is, and I take a lot of pride in it right now.”
“Last year in playoffs, we realized how important faceoffs were,” said Pinto. “I think coming into this year we had a little bit more of a focus on it. It’s a good start, but it’s a long year.”
