You might have heard the Sharks aren’t doing so well in the faceoff department. Heading into Thursday night’s tilt with the Columbus Blue Jackets (I know, writing a post before a game? So tacky) the Sharks sat dead last with a 42.3 faceoff percentage. That’s not good — but it’s not nearly as important as you might think, even if you’re a fan of possession statistics.
The logic behind the defense of faceoffs is actually pretty sound. If you win the puck off the draw, you’ll control it and have possession, right? If the goal is puck possession (in so much as possession leads to shots on goal obviously) then faceoffs should be extremely important.