Quote:
Originally Posted by nobles_point
You can’t get better at zone exits, driving play, & creating plays off of the rush by starting ice time in the offensive end.
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That's wonderful on paper, but
1) Most shifts start start on the fly. Faceoffs AKA "zone starts" are only a fraction of that. I think people read too much into this stat in general.
2) Even players that "zone start" heavily in the offensive zone still spend a
lot of the game in situations where they need to backcheck, make zone exits, drive play, and create plays off the rush. Consider the second Dillon Dube goal last night for instance. It started at the far left side of the neutral zone when Bennett intercepted a pass on an attempted entry, then he handed it off to Forbort in the D-zone, who reversed the puck over to Gustafsson on the right side, who made a clean pass to Dube for the zone exit, where Dube started a play off the rush. But on paper, the zone start stats wouldn't pick up on any of this.
Anyways what I'm trying to say is, I don't think getting a few more defensive zone faceoffs will suddenly make anyone a better defensive player or that line any more effective in their 200 foot game. I do think it's a different role, but you are what you are.