Luke Richardson reassures fans concerned over this one Connor Bedard statistic

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Joshua Deeds
October 31, 2024 (10:31 PM)

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Connor Bedard is failing the Chicago Blackhawks in a metric he technically should be excelling at.

In the face-off circle, he's only won 30 out of 100 face-offs this season and according to the analytics nerds at StatMuse it's at 30% FO percentage.

This is an 8.9% decrease from the year prior which saw him post 38.9% and the team will need him to do better in order to increase this metric and puck possession.

Whoever wins the face-off, has the better chance right? Well, Bedard will need to change his playing style, add to his weights regiment, or something to change.

According to Head Coach Luke Richardson, they've consulted Yanic Perreault who was a former Blackhawks center and played 14 seasons in the NHL.

Perreault was known primarily for his face-off abilities to the end of his career. His last season in the NHL was in 2007-2008 and has been a part of the Blackhawks organization since 2019.

In particular, youngsters Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger have become decidedly more proficient on draws under Perreault's tutelage, and in the dying moments of Game 3, both were on the ice at different times with Chicago wanting to keep two good faceoff men on the ice as often as possible.

«Since Yanic came in, I think everybody has gotten better,» says Kruger. «We work on it daily and talk about it. A lot.»

How good was Perreault? For eight years, he was best in the business, well over 60 percent on draws every year. These days, anything beyond 50 percent is considered good, 55 percent excellent.

«I've always believed the biggest thing was competing,» he says. «I wanted to win every faceoff.»

Perreault has been a fixture in coaching and helping Blackhawks players, even back then, and has been a stalwart of good play at the circle.

If anyone can fix Bedard's bad habits, we hope it's Perreault.

This is another aspect of the Blackhawks game that can make or break a game, and since the Hawks don't have anyone like Boone Jenner in the system who could mentor Bedard, this is what they have to work with.

This isn't to discount Perreault, but this also could be a part of his "sophomore slump". If you can consider a point a game terrible.

In the meantime, the Blackhawks will take on the San Jose Sharks in a scary bottom-dwelling match on the West Coast.