ARTHUR:
In Eric Stephens' morning rundown for The OC Register today, he glosses over the Ducks' recent faceoff troubles, pointing out that the team is 48.2% in the circle and 25th in the league this season. Accurate assessment of what we should expect from the Ducks?
Not really.
First things first. The weak link in the Ducks' Top 5 draw men this season is the recently departed Petteri Nokelainen, who went 154-200 (43.5%) in 50 games in an Anaheim sweater. Granted, even subtracting Nokelainen's contribution, the team is only 48.7%, but the remaining Top 5 (Getzlaf, Koivu, Chipchura, Marchant and Carter), whom we'll likely be leaning on down the stretch, are a combined 1475-1510 for 49.4%.
Specifically, their individual faceoff stats are:
Player
GP
FOW
FOL
Tot
FO%
Ryan Getzlaf
59
488
539
1027
47.5
Saku Koivu
56
441
420
861
51.2
Kyle Chipchura
38
245
255
500
49
Todd Marchant
65
208
208
416
50
Ryan Carter
32
93
88
181
51.4
And their individual situational stats are:
Player
ESFOW
ESFOL
PPFOW
PPFOL
SHFOW
SHFOL
Ryan Getzlaf
378
419
94
103
16
17
Saku Koivu
306
302
75
50
60
68
Kyle Chipchura
195
182
2
2
48
71
Todd Marchant
161
145
1
5
46
58
Ryan Carter
86
81
3
0
4
7
Compare those numbers to the last three games:
Player
MTL
PHX
COL
Ryan Getzlaf
7-16 (44%)
4-11 (36%)
8-21 (38%)
Saku Koivu
7-17 (41%)
4-14 (29%)
6-16 (38%)
Kyle Chipchura
8-12 (67%)
5-12 (42%)
6-8 (75%)
Todd Marchant
3-10 (30%)
1-1 (100%)
3-7 (43%)
Ryan Carter
N/A
5-9 (56%)
2-2 (100%)
Everyone Else
2-5 (40%)
5-6 (83%)
1-3 (33%)
Total
45%
45.2%
45.6%
As you can see, Getzlaf, Marchant and Koivu have fallen from their season numbers, a point best illustrated by Selanne's performance against Phoenix on Saturday. The Finnish Flash accounted for all 6 of the "Everyone Else" draws that night, and all 6 were in the offensive zone. Teemu lost only one faceoff to Vernon Fiddler and dominated Lombardi and Hanzal, who shut Koivu down (1 for 8 combined against the two Coyotes centers). Koivu has particularly struggled in the defensive zone: 3 for 6 against Colorado, but 1 for 6 against Phoenix and 1 for 4 against Montreal.
Despite not being a 50% team this year, the Ducks are underperforming what their Top 5 centers have done over the course of the season, especially when you factor out the contribution of former Duck Petteri Nokelainen. It absolutely is a problem, and it's a problem the team is capable of fixing.