commie
Registered User
- Jul 30, 2005
- 478
- 260
And that puts him as Buffalo's best faceoff guy right now.
Nobody on Buffalo that took more then 6 draws did better than 47.7%.
In fact.......and get this, cuz this is a bit scary......Buffalo's top faceoff guys last year were:
Okposo at 47.7%
Girgensons at 47.6%
Mitts at 47.1%
Krebs at 46.3%
Okposo is gone. Girgensons is gone. Mitts is gone. Krebs likely doesn't have an every-game role right now.
So, our best faceoff guys RIGHT NOW:
Tage at 43.3%
Cozens at 45.6%
Lafferty at 42.1%
But that poster stated that McLeod was the best FO % on the Oilers and its not even close. Which numbers never supports that.
Also, if you are counting on a soft 50.8% FO guy that rarely faces the other team's top FO guy to lead you to the promised land, then be prepared for disappointment.
Just because his 50.8% is so much better than what the Sabres have, doesn't mean he will improve or even maintain that percentage. A lot of the FO success comes in with matchups, which if McLeod is suppose to lead the Sabres and he faces the other team's top FO guy, then McLeod's % will drop. Also, a lot of FO success is part of a team success, how well his linemates are battling and retrieving the puck after the faceoff. Will that change for the Sabres this year vs last year? Or will the Sabres have the same team support as the Oilers this year to prop his FO % up?
Again, its all about managing expectations. McLeod is not and will never be some FO specialist.
Expect him to be a speedy winger that will take the puck and exit the zone and break into the offensive zone and be able to kill some PK, then you have a good chance of meeting expectations.