5 of the 10 best PP teams didn't even make the playoffs. Does not mean powerplay doesn't matter? Of course not. It just means that powerplays ALONE will not get you anywhere. But you still want to have a good powerplay.
Then there's the idea that faceoff percentages are all pretty close to each other anyway and gaining an advantage in them is really hard. This is a terrible argument. The NHL is an ultra-competitive environment, lots of stats are going to be close to each other, and gaining an advantage in anything is going to be really hard. Just because your team is not very likely to be in significantly better shape than the opposing team doesn't mean that you don't want to be in the best shape you can be.
Anybody who is dismissive of the idea that faceoffs might get you a couple of extra wins over a season is out to lunch. 4 points is a huge deal in today's NHL. Even 1 point can be a huge deal. You want that point. Everything matters. Teams even want to have good equipment guys, and they're not even on the ice.
One thing I've been really disappointed in hockey statistics is the seeming lack of searching for statistically significant combinations. For an easy example, it's somewhat obvious that winning faceoffs by itself will not do much. But how about being a good faceoff team AND a good special teams team, especially on the powerplay? Does that give you notably more goals? How many?
Or, does it matter how the team likes to score otherwise? Are faceoffs more important for teams that like to cycle in comparison to teams that like to score off the rush?
Then there's the point Eldrick mentioned. In a short series things are less about statistics and more about probabilities. If every offensive zone faceoff win gives you a really, really small chance to score, you should try really hard to win them. Sure you might get just one goal out of it, but that goal could be a GWG that ultimately is the difference between winning and losing the series.
You can also compare them to puck battles in the corner. Two evenly matched teams are probably going to split those about 50/50. The odds of any one battle making a difference is really, really small. But you still want to try and win them all, because you never know which ones will matter and what will the series come down to in the end.
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