After coming to give advice to center players a few times since the beginning of November, the Canadian formalized the hiring of former center player Marc Bureau as a consultant.
The 58-year-old signed a contract for the remainder of the season to lend a hand to the Canadiens players in addition to those of the Laval Rocket. Having collaborated with numerous training courses in the QMJHLthis is the first time that Bureau has been hired by an organization of the NHL.
The Canadian occupied 25e rank of the NHL with a success rate of 47.6% in the faceoff circle on November 4, when Bureau showed up for the first time in Brossard to provide advice to the center players. Since this date, the Canadian has offered the 19e circuit performance on faceoffs (50.0%).
Strangely, all the trends that we observed in the first weeks of the season have been reversed since Bureau’s intervention. At the start of the year, the Canadian’s main collective weakness was in the neutral zone, where he only won 43.1% of his faceoffs. As of November 4, this percentage increased to 50.8%.
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The CH was 11e on offensive zone faceoffs (52.1%) and 21e in the defensive zone (48.1%). Since the arrival of Bureau, it is 26e in the offensive zone (47.9%) but 9e in its territory (51.4%).
The numerical inferiority unit has also tightened this facet of the game compared to the first 12 games of the season.
It’s good to work with him, commented Nick Suzuki. We’ve never really had a faceoff coach who specializes in that. As a former player, he shows us that it is above all a question of state of mind. It’s treating each throw as if the end of the world depends on it but once it’s done, you forget about it and focus on the next one. So it’s very much a question of approach.
Notable improvements
Bureau also encouraged the Canadiens players to use their backhand rather than their forehand in the faceoff circle, because success rates are very often better by adopting this technique.
You can see the improvement in each guy, it’s going well
noted Christian Dvorak, whose success rate since November 4 (57.4%) allows him to get closer to his best career performance (57.8%), posted last year during a season where he only played 30 games.
Dvorak, who always tends to contest faceoffs on his right side, is truly one of those who has most improved his level of effectiveness on faceoffs in the defensive zone. His importance in this facet of the game is significant for the Canadian given that he is, with Alex Newhook, the only left-hander to work in the faceoff circle.
If you lose some at the start of the match, you can’t let it snowball, he recalled. We take it seriously, but we shouldn’t let it frustrate us either.
This is an important part of the game because you always want to start with the puck more than without. It was beneficial to get his help and we hope to continue to do well.
