The Blackhawks’ 3 Bad Habits George Clifford After their winless eight-day 2017 playoff run, the Chicago Blackhawks certainly didn’t report to training camp suffering from a celebratory hangover. Instead, they’re pumped up and eager to escape the bitter disappointment that surely haunted them throughout the long offseason. Nonetheless, the defending Western Conference champions are carrying the burden of coming up empty after steamrolling through the last 30 regular season games with 20 victories and 44 points. The sobering reality is the Blackhawks must shed three bad habits to remain competitive against their Central Division foes, who have become much stronger. Over the past two years, the Blackhawks have declined in winning faceoffs and killing penalties. Hidden on the scoresheet, but just as costly, has been their inability to mount a credible forecheck deep in the offensive zone. With training camp underway and opening night quickly approaching, it’s a good time to take a closer look at each of these shortfalls and how the Blackhawks might address them. The Puck Drops Here The faceoff is the most important play in hockey. For their part, the Blackhawks have been in a freefall at the dot since 2014-15 when they ranked fifth in the NHL, winning 52 percent of their draws. Last season, they won just 47.5 percent and finished next to last. Jonathan Toews [photo: Amy Irvin] Perennial faceoff wizard Jonathan Toews posted a 54.9 percent mark on the season and was the only Blackhawk to win the majority of his faceoffs. With the loss of centers Marcus Kruger and Dennis Rasmussen, Chicago will be looking for second-year players Tanner Kero (44.4 percent) and Nick Schmaltz (30.9 percent) to share the faceoff load with Toews and Artem Anisimov (45.1 percent). Kero came on strong down the stretch and will likely center the third or fourth line. Schmaltz is getting a long look this preseason centering the second line, and the Hawks would love to see a stronger faceoff performance to complement his elite playmaking skill. That’s where another faceoff tactic should come into play. The Blackhawk center shouldn’t try to win the puck, but instead attempt to tie-up his opponent’s stick, creating a loose puck for his wingers to claim. It’s a set play the Blackhawks would use to generate offense or clear the puck from their own zone. Patrick Kane, Tomas Jurco, Ryan Hartman and Richard Panik are all high-end stick-handlers who can help win faceoffs in this manner. The Shorthanded Game The penalty killing units spent most of the last season trying to recover from a horrendous start in which they conceded 15 goals over their first 30 shorthanded chances. It’s awfully tough to recover from a 50 percent kill rate, but the Blackhawks smothered 81.3 percent of their penalties down the stretch to finish the season at 77.7 percent. (Courtesy of flickr BrdgetDS) Last season, the Blackhawks’ penalty killers were overly passive in which the forwards didn’t pressure the puck, but instead collapsed in towards the “house” to try and block the shooting lanes. In today’s NHL, this is a recipe for disaster that left goaltender Corey Crawford to face a frenzied shooting gallery. After Chicago was summarily dismissed by Nashville in the playoffs, general manager Stan Bowman immediately fired assistant coach Mike Kitchen, then brought in new assistants Ulf Samuelsson and Don Granato with a specific goal to shore up special teams. In early preseason action, the results have been encouraging with the Blackhawks aggressively hounding the puck all over the ice, creating turnovers and blocking shots. This signals a welcome sea change in Chicago’s shorthanded strategy that should pay off handsomely over an 82-game season. Get on the Forecheck The Blackhawks also need to improve their forecheck deep in the offensive zone. As more teams jam up neutral ice between the blue lines, the Hawks are frequently unable to maintain puck possession into the offensive zone or the play dies inside the blue line due to lack of support. Either way, the play ends without a shot attempt. The only alternative is a chip-and-chase play which divisional rivals like the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild use to great effect with a swarming forecheck down low to win the puck and create scoring chances. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, mostly dump the puck just to get rid of it when a play dies on the rush. Pittsburgh native Brandon Saad (Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports) To be successful, the chip-and-chase requires a coordinated team effort to put overpowering numbers on the puck. Players like Toews, Panik, Anisimov, Hartman and Brandon Saad have the speed and power to generate an effective forecheck down low and then make a play to the net. This needs to become a bigger part of the Blackhawks’ playbook. In their first eight games this season, the Blackhawks will face off against formidable opponents who all advanced to the 2017 playoffs. A daunting test to be sure, so addressing the three troubles above could help launch the Hawks on an early winning trajectory. ...read more
I enjoy the read but I completely disagree with the significance of faceoffs. So much of faceoffs has to do with the wings and whether or not they fight for puck control or slip back into coverage, as the article points out, but I don't think those wings moving in to win the puck is going to have an impact on possession, or else we would see far better examples of that around the league. While there were studies done last decade that equate an increase in faceoff wins translating to more goals, it's older data. I think the metrics out there now, and the ones on the way will reveal themselves to us in coming years (i.e. fancier stats) will find the larger holes in those assumptions. Faceoff wins are looked at the way +/- used to be looked at, it's incredibly misleading. A team that can eat up 12 minutes against a vastly superior line opens up the other 3 lines for matchup advantages. If that one line is effective at shot suppression or possession, the simplified statistical advantage of won faceoffs is reduced farther still imo. Since 2010, the Penguins have won more games than any team in the NHL and they are below 50% on the dot...gigantic sample size. Arizona has been the 3rd best franchise on the dot since 2010 and they are dead last in points. There are far too many good possession drivers in the NHL, like Brassard, Barkov, Eller, etc. that are well under 50% on the dot. I think one would be hard pressed to find a analyst that would value faceoff wins in the same hemisphere of importance as possession. If Chicago is worried about winning faceoffs, I fear they are missing out on far greater priorities...like the possession numbers that have dipped. Improved special teams will help, but those are seldom sustainable indicators of success. Chicago has been built around 5 on 5 play. Shifting priorities risks opening up more holes in the roster. I do believe Chicago has proprietary data about zone entries. I do think many of the personnel decisions revolve around the likelihood of success chasing the puck or skating it in...and other teams play to that too. Unfortunately, it's a tough one for me to make an opinion on. I hate dump n chase, but there are very sound reasons why some teams enter a zone against one defender over another differently.
I agree. Faceoffs are OVERRATED! I read that in the article and chuckled. Good point using teh Penz. Their faceoffs woes are noted and its been somewhat frustrating to watch them struggle at the dot. But winning 2 cups in a row helps that bitter little pill slide right down. It seems that the author of the article correlates winning faceoffs with possession. Or maybe they don't even consider possession... Who knows? Here are some Hawks possession stats: 2009-10, they were first in the league at 56.6 percent. In the lockout-shortened 2013 season, they were fourth at 54.1 percent. And in 2014-15, they were second at 53.6 percent. As stated by Bob, possession numbers are a much more telling stat for success than winning faceoffs. I honestly don't mind the dump n' chase game. Maybe its because it works for my team, so we accustom ourselves to it when it runs successfully. To me, its like Run n Gun, West Coast, etc... I like the fast pace of up and down hockey.
Dump n chase is a big deal against many defenders. Take a guy like Chara a couple years ago, you want him skating and turning as often as possible so it's better to keep him moving than letting him maintain positioning. If you have an abrasive wing that can win a puck, you might want to dump and win a battle rather than fight the odds of skating it in on a player like Oduya (used to be). The other reason is to loosen up coverage, keep them moving to open up opportunities. Few have compiled much on zone entries but the smaller sample sizes are floating around. Eventually the proprietary stuff will leak and we should be able to make better sense of why teams enter, or attempt to enter, the ozone one way or the other. I enjoy the article, I just didn't agree with main point early in the article that those 3 bad habits must be changed for Chicago to stay competitive. If they improve their passing in the neutral and defensive zones, and stop pooping themselves against a forecheck and they won't have as many problems as they had in the postseason...even though they are a weaker team without Hossa this year.
If you don't have the talent on the ice after you've won the draw, you'll be just like the dog that caught the bus.
Yes agree the face off % numbers can and will be miss read to a certain extent , it's not all about the guy fighting the opponent at the dot , who's working the asses off to get possession of the puck . There have been so many changes over the years hard to say if this is the crew to get it done like in Cup winning years , Saad will help for sure I would think ... time for young kids to man up and beat the other guy to the puck. PK has to be better right ?????????? LOL who knows with Jammer go how that plays out , just can't imagine another 15/30 start or something like that. Hossa's cap space could be the deciding factor on where this teams headed for sure I believe.
