Player Discussion Leo Carlsson

[FiveTacos]

Isn't the key to face-offs being good at cheating without getting caught cheating? I feel like most players at the NHL level have the motor skills and reaction speed necessary to win face-offs, but the ones who are good at it have a specific mindset and bag of tricks they use and have no problem cheating to win... which is why Getz and Kesler were so strong in the dot.

There's definitely a bag of tricks involved that you have to learn.

Found someone who looked at faceoffs by age. You can definitely see a trend early as guys go through an apprenticeship period, reach tradesmen status in their mid 20s, and can become a Musashi of faceoffs if they are still doing it at age 35+. Anything you get better at at 35+ had to be mostly a learned/experience thing.

Our guys have work to do no doubt, but let's also temper expectations. They're not gonna be faceoff aces without a few years of experience, any more than we can magically have the PP unit suddenly conjure up the kind of chemistry it usually takes hundreds of games together to develop.

Faceoffs By Age

A look at how NHL players improve their faceoff percentage over time.

www.coppernblue.com

 

[Ducks DVM]

There's definitely a bag of tricks involved that you have to learn.

Found someone who looked at faceoffs by age. You can definitely see a trend early as guys go through an apprenticeship period, reach tradesmen status in their mid 20s, and can become a Musashi of faceoffs if they are still doing it at age 35+. Anything you get better at at 35+ had to be mostly a learned/experience thing.

Our guys have work to do no doubt, but let's also temper expectations. They're not gonna be faceoff aces without a few years of experience, any more than we can magically have the PP unit suddenly conjure up the kind of chemistry it usually takes hundreds of games together to develop.

Faceoffs By Age

A look at how NHL players improve their faceoff percentage over time.

www.coppernblue.com

Leo isn’t just young, he’s objectively bad at it. 38.4% last year, 28.9% this year. Historically bad. He’s 3rd worst in the last 20 years for seasons with 300+ faceoffs, behind Dach and McCann. Jack Hughes is 4th, 5th, and 7th on the list, so it doesn’t mean he will be horrible as a player, but he’s not just the average young player at it.

 

[ScarTroy]

Leo isn’t just young, he’s objectively bad at it. 38.4% last year, 28.9% this year. Historically bad. He’s 3rd worst in the last 20 years for seasons with 300+ faceoffs, behind Dach and McCann. Jack Hughes is 4th, 5th, and 7th on the list, so it doesn’t mean he will be horrible as a player, but he’s not just the average young player at it.

Yup it’s really his only true “flaw.” Hopefully as he continues to get reps in he’ll progress. I’m not sure about those other guys you mentioned, but he wasn’t even playing center leading up to his draft, so that could be a part of it.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Thankfully face-offs are something that he can essentially work on on his own.

Although I would love for all of our centers to be improving.

 

[ADHB]

Leo's a strong guy, and has pretty good size. As someone mentioned before, he just sort of stands there and flicks his stick at the puck. It makes it seem like no one has taught him proper technique, or he hasn't bothered to practice it. All he has to do is get down lower and lean on his stick a little, and while he won't be great at it right away, simply doing that will make it so it's not almost an automatic loss every time.

 

[Wheatens]

Pretty sure Leo played wing in the SHL his D-1 & DY, and wasn't taking faceoffs presumably, so that might factor into his early struggles?

 

[Boxscore]

What a stud. He looks like a young Sundin or Geno flying through the zones with his big frame.

 

[FiveTacos]

Leo isn’t just young, he’s objectively bad at it. 38.4% last year, 28.9% this year. Historically bad. He’s 3rd worst in the last 20 years for seasons with 300+ faceoffs, behind Dach and McCann. Jack Hughes is 4th, 5th, and 7th on the list, so it doesn’t mean he will be horrible as a player, but he’s not just the average young player at it.

Well either he gets to at least 45% or so, or he'll ultimately be playing wing.

But again, it's a learned skill, there's no objective reason why he shouldn't be able to improve it over the next few years. That said, it WILL take years of work to get good at it.

Figures in a way ... growing up you see kids practicing stickhandling, passing, shooting, fancy dekes, etc.. They imagine themselves taking a shootout attempt for the game winner, or picking a corner on a one timer, etc.. But a kid would have to be a weirdo to practice faceoffs for an hour a day with the same fervor, imagining themselves winning the last draw to protect a 1 goal lead.

 

[JAHV]

Well either he gets to at least 45% or so, or he'll ultimately be playing wing.

But again, it's a learned skill, there's no objective reason why he shouldn't be able to improve it over the next few years. That said, it WILL take years of work to get good at it.

Figures in a way ... growing up you see kids practicing stickhandling, passing, shooting, fancy dekes, etc.. They imagine themselves taking a shootout attempt for the game winner, or picking a corner on a one timer, etc.. But a kid would have to be a weirdo to practice faceoffs for an hour a day with the same fervor, imagining themselves winning the last draw to protect a 1 goal lead.

It's also something that's really hard to practice on your own, even if you're motivated to do it. And there's only so good you're going to get at it by practicing against other kids or other players who aren't great at it. You get better by learning those tricks that the more advanced faceoff guys know. That will only come by practicing and playing against experienced NHL centers.

 

[Mr Rogers]

so impressive to see a guy with that kind of size move like that and pivot on a dime

https://x.com/i/web/status/1850349312221278410