The Montreal Canadiens have identified an area of weakness and hired a consultant to help fix their problem. As reported by Marc-Antoine Godin with the French language Radio Canada, general manager (GM) Kent Hughes has hired Marc Bureau, a former NHL centre of 567-career games known as a faceoff specialist.
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The Canadiens sit 21st in the NHL with a 49.9% success rate. Being sub .500 is not ideal, especially for the second-youngest team in the league that is built toward playing a possession style. Earlier in the season, Bureau had held a few faceoff clinics with the team’s centres. This has helped to improve the club and has played a role in the team’s recent success.
Canadiens Focus on Possession
For every important faceoff that creates a goal or wins a game, dozens more will only really impact who starts the shift with the puck, because the best teams find ways to regain possession. But if you’re one of the youngest teams in the NHL who is still trying to develop into a contender, you may not have that option. While there will be arguments about the importance of faceoffs to the outcome of games, there’s no argument that winning them is preferred, especially at key moments such as late in a game when a team is looking to protect a lead or score a tying goal.
There’s an old saying in hockey, “control the puck, control the game.” Winning faceoffs fall squarely into this philosophy as that is the moment that possession begins after any stoppage of play. An average NHL game will have dozens of faceoffs, which are overlooked by many who are more excited about watching goals or fancy passing plays, but those don’t happen unless they have possession of the puck.
It’s only logical to see that winning faceoffs increase puck possession, which helps to generate more shots on the net, which in turn generates more scoring chances and maybe even more goals. Players who possess the puck and limit turnovers are favoured by coaches and fans alike over those who struggle to possess the puck. Winning a faceoff helps teams to control the puck right away, which can help them to dictate the pace of play. This can also help support a management team who are looking to avoid overreliance on an elite goaltender to help them succeed, something Montreal had to do for the entire 21st Century. While an elite goaltender is an excellent building block, they are very rare, which is why puck possession and its use in helping to keep pucks away from their own nets is so important for many NHL teams’ defensive strategy.
Faceoffs are another skill set that falls under any player development plan. Those plans are something the current management group has invested heavily into as they build towards a club that can play fast and with skill under head coach Martin St. Louis. Hiring consultants is also nothing new for Hughes, who is unafraid to add outside voices, just like he had adding a scouting group prior to his first NHL Entry Draft as the GM in 2022.
Canadiens Identify a Need to Improve Faceoffs
According to Godin, before Bureau was brought in to provide a few days of work on faceoffs with the team’s centres, Montreal was 25th in the NHL on faceoffs at 47.6%. Since then, they have climbed to 21st in the NHL with 49.9%. Because of this improvement, the club officially hired him for the remainder of the season so he could spend more time with the team.
Currently, the Canadiens only have two full-time centres sitting at or above 50%, Christian Dvorak at 55.8% and Jake Evans at 50.4%. This could be part of the reason why Montreal’s bottom six seem to be more effective than in past seasons, as they start with possession more often. The top six is a different story as Nick Suzuki is at 49.1% and Kirby Dach is at a paltry 38.2%. While their faceoff numbers are lower, over the last month, their success rates during important moments have improved and have helped the team climb back into the playoff race.
As mentioned, the arguments about the importance of winning faceoffs will continue. But for a young team needing to find any way to become more competitive, it can make a difference and keep games close so they can find ways to win. The team’s effectiveness in the faceoff circle has improved significantly since the start of the season, and it is certainly thanks to Bureau. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him brought on permanently after this season.