The new art of the draw requires adjustment from Lightning centers

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
October 4, 2017

TAMPA – The art of the draw requires a different stroke of the brush this season.

The artists of the faceoff circle this season must tweak their craft as the NHL looks to crackdown on faceoff violations to curb the amount of “cheating’’ that has crept too much into things before the puck gets dropped.

Players were angling their skates, set up outside of the t-markings on the ice. They were pushing forward, leaning in while trying to gain a positional advantage. Players would end up touching helmet-to-helmet before the puck was dropped, which started to create a safety hazard for the linesmen.

”It was probably getting a little out of hand,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Everybody was cheating so bad, it turned in to a rugby scrum.’’

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So the crackdown started in the preseason and will carry over to the regular seasons. If players don’t get set quickly or don’t stay square, they will be ejected from the faceoff circle. If the second player coming in to take the draw does not get set quickly, the result will be a delay of game penalty.

So the Lightning centermen have some adjusting to do before the puck drops at center ice on Friday in the season opener.

”The first couple of games in the preseason was an adjustment for me, personally, but after that it was pretty standard,’’ Lightning center Steven Stamkos said. “You just have to make sure your feet are set and then try not to jump. You are taught throughout your career to try to cheat as much as you can, you build some rapport with the linesman and they sometimes let you get away with certain things. But now it’s pretty strict, so that will be the adjustment.’’

As the saying goes, if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying, and pretty much every center in the league was trying to cheat. Almost to the point of being absurd.

”They were pretty strict (in the preseason), you couldn’t cheat like we did before,’’ Tampa Bay’s Cedric Paquette said. “Now it’s a bit more fair than it was before.’’

Fair is sort of what the league is looking for here to make the play more of a true one-on-one faceoff. Part of the “cheating’’ extended out to the wingers, who were already one stride in to the circle as the puck was being dropped trying to be the support for their centerman. So what was happening on many players was the center would either twirl on his skates to try to play the puck with the skates, or they would drop down to create leverage along with a barrier to try and allow space for the winger to come in and win the puck.

Now, with both skates – in theory – lined up inside the t-box and the players’ bodies square to each other, it should result in guys having to use their sticks to win the draw on a more consistent basis instead of using their skates.

”I do agree that wings and D were getting way too far in the circles, at times you’d be set to take the draw and all of a sudden there are six sticks in the circle and you wonder how the heck they got in there so quick,’’ Tyler Johnson said. “So I like the fact that they are (pushing) the guys out a little more and it creates more of an actual win/loss instead of a 50-50 type thing. I think that’s going to be better and it’s going to put more onus on the centers to win those draws because it is more one-on-one instead of tying up and having guys come in right away.”

It’s also going to put the onus on the centers to try and stay in the circle , assuming the linesmen are going to have less patience for players to get set with their feet and sticks. If the first guy in gets kicked out, the second guy in is at a sizeable disadvantage for fear of taking a penalty and putting his team down a man.

”If the center gets kicked out, you are really a sitting duck as the second guy, you have to put your stick in there and hope for the best,’’ Stamkos said. “If you try to cheat a little bit you might cost your team a penalty, so it’s going to be key to make sure the wingers are doing their part to not get the center kicked out, the center is trying to time it properly so he doesn’t put his guys in a bad position.’’

It’s all in the initial set up.

”Before I go in, I focus on where I put my feet so they are not on the line or where I put my stick because I know I don’t want to get kicked out,’’ Gabriel Dumont said. “I go (to the faceoff circle) pretty early now instead to make sure my feet are set and rest, so if I get kicked out, I get kicked out, but I try not to get kicked out because sometimes coach send me out to win the faceoff, so if I’m getting kicked out all the time there is no point in sending me out.’’

Video from league explaining new rules, including faceoffs

A look at the rule changes for the 2017-18 season. pic.twitter.com/wsz9UKRnsy

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 3, 2017

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