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Best Faceoff Teams since 1997-98

While it's difficult to not improve a failing faceoff crew, it's a lot harder to keep a good faceoff corps together.  Skill-testing question: what do five of the ten-best teams since 1997 have in common?

 

TEAM YEAR FO%
CAR 2001-02 55.8
SJ 2009-10 55.5
ANA 2003-04 55.5
DAL 1997-98 55.4
WAS 2000-01 55.4
PHI 1997-98 54.9
PHI 1998-99 54.9
CAR 2003-04 54.7
DET 2008-09 54.5
CAR 2000-01 54.4

 

Not surprisingly, Rod Brind’Amour played on five of these teams. Brind’Amour combined exceptional faceoff skills with sufficient talent at even-strength and on special teams that he could play enough minutes to take over 2000 faceoffs in three separate seasons. Brind’Amour headlines the best faceoff crew, the 2001-02 Carolina Hurricanes:

 

Player FO WPCT
Rod Brind’Amour 2058 59.2
Ron Francis 1136 58.9
Josef Vasicek 878 48.3
Jeff O’Neill 831 56.7
Kevyn Adams 187 58.8
Jeff Daniels 178 46.6
Tommy Vestlund 118 56.8

 

When Todd McLellan took over the head coaching job of the San Jose Sharks, he immediately focused on improving the Sharks’ faceoff performance. In his second season, the acquisition of Manny Malhotra and Scott Nichol has given them one of the all-time best faceoff percentages through sheer consistency:

 

Player FO WPCT
Joe Thornton 1119 54.2
Scott Nichol 770 60.8
Joe Pavelski 690 60.1
Manny Malhotra 554 61.4
Patrick Marleau 533 52.3

 

The 2003-04 Anaheim Ducks were similarly consistent up-and-down the lineup, though they didn’t quite have faceoff takers with Malhotra and Nichol’s level of skill:

 

Player FO WPCT
Sergei Fedorov 1558 56.6
Steve Rucchin 1446 53.6
Samuel Pahlsson 908 55.3
Jason Krog 769 58.5
Andy McDonald 282 54.3
Craig Johnson 62 62.9
Rob Niedermayer 45 64.4

 

Jason Krog, minor-league superstar, remains an underrated potential pickup. The 1997-98 Dallas Stars, on the other hand, were powered by the top of their faceoff crew:

 

Player FO WPCT
Guy Carbonneau 1395 59.4
Joe Nieuwendyk 1349 59.5
Mike Modano 962 53.4
Jamie Langenbrunner 571 47.8
Bob Bassen 443 48.5
Brian Skrudland 158 52.5
Benoit Hogue 153 52.3

 

The 2000-01 Washington Capitals made use of legendary faceoff man Adam Oates and got reasonable performance from the rest of their centers:

 

Player FO WPCT
Adam Oates 1836 58.9
Jeff Halpern 1293 52.4
Andrei Nikolishin 1214 55.4
Trent Whitfield 520 51.9
Jan Bulis 224 46.9
Steve Konowalchuk 91 54.9
Trevor Linden 75 60.0

 

Honorable mention certainly goes to the 1997-99 Philadelphia Flyers, who had Eric Lindros, Mike Sillinger and Rod Brind’Amour – three of the 25-best faceoff men we’ve seen over the last 15 years – all taking faceoffs for two seasons.

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