Every year the NHL makes a few tweaks to its rulebook in an attempt to make the game better. Well, really, they are pretty much only focused on creating more offense, but in the eyes of most, that’s making the game better. This offseason they added in a few new rules about the location of faceoffs and through six games, the Golden Knights are learning a lot about how they are going to handle it, both with personnel and about the linesmen.
We start with the new rules. They are fairly simple. There are now four situations in which the attacking team gets to decide which offensive zone circle they would like to take the faceoff from.
- Following an icing
- On the first draw to start a power play
- When the puck is frozen by a goalie on a shot from behind the center red line
- When a defensive skater accidentally dislodges the goal
Previously the linesmen would select which side the draw would be taken on based on where the puck was when the play was blown dead. Now the attacking team chooses.
Before we go any further, it seems pertinent to explain why this is important. The reason is that most centers have a side they prefer to take a draw on, usually based on the handedness of their stick. They win more on their preferred side, thus the offensive team will have more opportunities to score.
Which brings us back to the Golden Knights. In the game against Los Angeles, there were six icing calls on the Kings and LA took five penalties. That means 11 times in which the Golden Knights were able to choose where they took the draw. Here were their results.
Following Icing
Smith WIN on left
Marchessault LOSS on right
Nosek WIN on left
Eakin WIN on left
Marchessault WIN on right
Stastny WIN on left
Penalties
Stastny LOSS on right*
Eakin LOSS on left
Stastny WIN on left
Marchessault LOSS on right
Marchessault LOSS on left*
*Opposite side of expected choice
Vegas won five of the 11 with every player taking the draw electing to take it on the same side as he shoots with the exception of two. One from Marchessault and another from Stastny, both of which were lost, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.
