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Face-offs are a very important part of a NHL hockey game.  With an average of 60 face-offs per game, winning a faceoff can be very important.  When a team wins a face-off,  the team gains five extra seconds of puck possession on average.  The team may also gain a quality scoring chance by winning the face-off.  The question is, how does winning a face-off correlate with the team winning the hockey game?  I feel it is very important for a team to win face-offs to be successful.  It is like winning one-on-one battles in the corners, usually the winning team wins more during the game.  Puck possession is important, and the more face-offs a team wins the more games they win.   Based on this seasons National Hockey League face-off statistics, winning face-offs  is important to a team’s success, but not critical.

The best NHL team this season on face-offs is Los Angeles Kings who win 53.2% of the face-offs that they take.  The worst is the Winnipeg Jets at 46.00%.  The league spread is 4.71%.  That is not a huge difference, but enough to make a difference.

Although winning face-offs does not guarantee wins, it sure does help.  The top ten teams based on record in the NHL average 50.9% of face-off wins.  The second ten teams based on record average a little less at 50.29%.  The worst ten teams based on record only win 48.8% of their face-offs.  This is where it really comes into play.  Based on the stats, winning face-offs does not help you become an elite team, but being good at face-offs will help move you up in the standings.

The Anaheim Ducks have the best record in the NHL and currently rank 20th in face-offs with 49.1%.  The worst team in the NHL is the Buffalo Sabres and to go along with the worst record is the second worst face-off percentage in the league at 47.2%.

Winning face-offs will not guarantee wins, but they sure will help you move up into a playoff spot.  NHL teams that are currently in a playoff spot win 50.71% of their draws and teams currently out of a playoff spot win 49.91%.

Winning draws is not as critical as I once thought, but it sure does not hurt.  Ask any coach in the league, when it comes to big draws in the playoffs, you sure want to be on the winning side of them.