Jack at 50% on faceoffs

[Stoner]

He's never gotten even to 42% in his first three seasons.

[darksabre]

[darksabre]

He's also taking more faceoffs per game. His first 3 seasons were around 12-13 faceoffs per game. He's taking 16.6 per game right now. 

Perhaps getting O'Reilly out of the way has actually been better for Jack...

[Randall Flagg]

That's usually how it goes for the young pup centers, eh?

[DarthEbriate]

A padawan becomes a Jedi. (Perhaps stick length isn't entirely to blame; just practice and repetitions and learning against the best in the business.)

[pi2000]

He has the skill and stature to be an efficient faceoff guy.  You can tell he put a lot of work into it this off-season.   I'll bet he never really practiced it much before then.

[msw2112]

He's strong, has great hands and elite hand-eye coordination, so with a few years of experience under his belt, his improvement makes a lot of sense.  Ironically, his best face off last night may have been one that he "lost" - and then stepped up, took the puck and feathered a perfect pass to Skinner for a goal!  I didn't see the game, but enjoyed the highlights on NHL Network.  I wondered if that goal made the Sportscenter top 10, as it was a pretty slick move that you don't see very often.

[Tondas]

4 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

He's strong, has great hands and elite hand-eye coordination, so with a few years of experience under his belt, his improvement makes a lot of sense.  Ironically, his best face off last night may have been one that he "lost" - and then stepped up, took the puck and feathered a perfect pass to Skinner for a goal!  I didn't see the game, but enjoyed the highlights on NHL Network.  I wondered if that goal made the Sportscenter top 10, as it was a pretty slick move that you don't see very often.

Agree.  And other centermen seeing that move on tape will be wary of it and will have to prepare for it.   It will give Jack more respect and flexibility, and may give him an extra little edge. 

Edited November 9, 2018 by Tondas

[Stoner]

Connor McDavid is also having the best faceoff year of his career, but he's far behind Jack.

Ryan O'Reilly got steadily better throughout his career, though he didn't start as low as Jack did.

Anze Kopitar, the reigning Selke winner, couldn't break 50% until he was in his fifth season, and since then he's been steadily in the 53-54% range.

How long until faceoff?