Who was the best faceoff man of all time?

[pi314]

Admittedly I never paid much attention to faceoff men when I was younger.

Who was the greatest?

 

[X66]

Yanic Perrault

AINEC

This guy won faceoffs as smooth as video game faceoff wins.

 

[Birko19]

I remember Yanic Perreault was a beast, not sure if best of all-time but would not be surprised if he's up there.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Of the players I saw, Yannick Perrault. The fact he was utterly mediocre at basically everything else made it all the weirder. Otto & Francis were also great in the early/mid 90s.

 

[MXD]

There has to be someone else than Perreault... Who is very odd, because he really wasn't great defensively by any stretch and was otherwise a fringe Top-6er who would'Ve had all sorts of issues carving an NHL career without his faceoff abilities and his shot (who often gets disregarded, but his wrister was much better than generally acknowledged).

 

[The Panther]

We have, so far, three ways to spell Yannick Perrault's name and Birko19 is the winner!

I had a vague impression of Perrault as a hot prospect who never really lived up to expectations, yet was sort of grudgingly decent. How exactly does one become so good on face-offs anyway? What kind of skill do you need?

 

[Birko19]

I remember Rod Brind'Amour being great at the FO circle too.

As a Red Wings fan, I also remember the likes of Draper and Yzerman being elite in this department too, not sure how they stack up against the best though.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Here's the top 10 faceoff percentages for players with over 8,000 faceoffs since the NHL started keeping official stats in the 1997-98 season:

1. Yanic Perreault - 6,192/10,128 - 61.1%
2. Joe Nieuwendyk - 5,996/10,109 - 59.3%
3. Rod Brind'Amour - 11,027/18,774 - 58.7%
4. Adam Oates - 6,486/11,256 - 57.6%
5. Mike Sillinger - 7,073/12,288 - 57.6%
6. Steve Yzerman - 5,270/9,177 - 57.4%
7. Patrice Bergeron - 10,105/17,685 - 57.1%
8. Jonathan Toews - 7,789/13,707 - 56.8%
9. Kris Draper - 6,328/11,159 - 56.7%
10. Manny Malhotra - 6,756/11,988 - 56.4%
11. Antoine Vermette - 8,339/14,798 - 56.4%



The first guy that came to mind who played before these stats started being kept was Doug Jarvis, followed by Bobby Clarke

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Fun Fact: Yanic Perreault has been the Blackhawks faceoff coach since the 2013-14 season

 

[BadgerBruce]

Derek Sanderson was superb.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Jarvis, Carbonneau, Messier, and Otto come to mind.

Perreault for sure, along with Bergeron, Brind'Amour, and Francis.

 

[SealsFan]

No stats, but guys who always had a stellar rep were Bobby Clarke, Derek Sanderson, Dave Keon, Stan Mikita, Guy Carbonneau, Joel Otto off the top of my head.

 

[BobbyAwe]

Derek Sanderson was superb.

Story has it that Derek won 20 straight face-offs against Phil Esposito in a practice, then Phil refused to go up against him anymore. Of course, Derek told the story so it may be embellished somewhat?

 

[Canadiens1958]

Ted Kennedy was the acknowledged O6 master. Beliveau and Henri Richard were solid. All three executed set plays very well.
Kennedy was outstanding at neutralizing a faceoff in the defensive zone.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Nels Stewart, Ted Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Jarvis, Trottier, Francis, Otto, Gilmour, Brind'amour, Perreault, Lindros, Bergeron.. there are lots of names that could be the best at any given point in time.

Probably tops would be Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Francis, Perrault, Bergeron.

 

[Killion]

Nels Stewart, Ted Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Jarvis, Trottier, Francis, Otto, Gilmour, Brind'amour, Perreault, Lindros, Bergeron.. there are lots of names that could be the best at any given point in time.

Probably tops would be Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Francis, Perrault, Bergeron.

You got it. Kennedy the somewhat unacknowledged "Master" of that particular craft with quite a considerable number of players who before (Jack Brannen - Mtl Shamrocks) & after (Trottier, Zezel, Oates etc) have excelled at it.

 

[fish7]

Garry Unger was one of the top faceoff guys in the 70s

 

[BraveCanadian]

You got it. Kennedy the somewhat unacknowledged "Master" of that particular craft with quite a considerable number of players who before (Jack Brannen - Mtl Shamrocks) & after (Trottier, Zezel, Oates etc) have excelled at it.

Oh I totally forgot about Zezel and he was one of my favourites when he was with the Leafs. Tying people up and using his skate to kick the puck all the time.

Oates was quite good too.

 

[overpass]

Sports Illustrated ranked the top 10 of all time at face offs in an April 27, 1998 article on the face off. They compiled the list with input from long time NHL observers.

1. Ted Kennedy
2. Stan Mikita
3. Derek Sanderson
4. Dave Keon
5. Doug Jarvis
6. Bobby Clarke
7. Guy Carbonneau
8. Milt Schmidt
9. Ron Francis
10. Bryan Trottier

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Nels Stewart, Ted Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Jarvis, Trottier, Francis, Otto, Gilmour, Brind'amour, Perreault, Lindros, Bergeron.. there are lots of names that could be the best at any given point in time.

Probably tops would be Kennedy, Sanderson, Clarke, Francis, Perrault, Bergeron.

I realize a lot of these were post-prime years, but for your reference, here are Francis' numbers from the top 10 I posted earlier...

19th place - 4,773/8,713 - 54.8%

 

[Killion]

Oh I totally forgot about Zezel and he was one of my favourites when he was with the Leafs. Tying people up and using his skate to kick the puck all the time.

... thats right. Like he was playing the Scrum in Rugby. Just lean into his opponent, tie him up, use the feet. Old Punch Imlach trick who would have Defencemen like Stanley take Face-Off's in the Leafs end pulling the same move essentially. Ted Kennedy employing same depending on who he was facing & in both cases (Kennedy & Zezel) hyper-competitive with a ferocious drive to gain puck control.... Even after Kennedy had retired, and he truly was a lousy skater, his son related a funny story about that "competitive drive" when as a kid he'd go with his Dad to the Scarborough Golf & Country Club which had a huge outdoor hockey & skating area winters beside some train tracks, watching his father waiting for a train to come along then "racing it" down the length of the rink, I guess just to see if he "still had it in him".

 

[Canadiens1958]

... thats right. Like he was playing the Scrum in Rugby. Just lean into his opponent, tie him up, use the feet. Old Punch Imlach trick who would have Defencemen like Stanley take Face-Off's in the Leafs end pulling the same move essentially. Ted Kennedy employing same depending on who he was facing & in both cases (Kennedy & Zezel) hyper-competitive with a ferocious drive to gain puck control.... Even after Kennedy had retired, and he truly was a lousy skater, his son related a funny story about that "competitive drive" when as a kid he'd go with his Dad to the Scarborough Golf & Country Club which had a huge outdoor hockey & skating area winters beside some train tracks, watching his father waiting for a train to come along then "racing it" down the length of the rink, I guess just to see if he "still had it in him".

Redefined "training". Kennedy had a few advantages. One of the rare RHS centers from his era. Also the Leafs in the O6 era appreciated that the key to defensive faceoffs was delaying the puck from the draw. Not necessary to actually win the draw, just delay the timing of the play, letting the wingers and d-men neutralize potential shooters.

 

[HFpapi]

Wasn't Stephan Yelle a beast on draws, or am I not remembering that right?

 

[tony d]

Yanic Perreault for me. Guy was decent enough but his faceoff prowess was absolutely amazing.

 

[GMR]

Yanic Perreault reminds me of a soccer player named Juninho. Widely regarded as the best free kick taker of all time, but never regarded as one of the best players in the world.