Hockey has changed a lot in 25 years, but the principles of faceoffs, perhaps not so much. That may explain why the Montreal Canadiens turned to one of their former players on Monday to advise the Habs’ centers on that aspect. Even though the guest in question played his last NHL game in March 2000.

For about 45 minutes Monday at the CN Sports Complex, according to Jake Evans, Marc Bureau led a training session on this facet of the game where the Canadiens have been far from dominating so far this season.

According to statistics released Monday morning, the Habs ranked 25th in the NHL with an efficiency rate of 47.6%. Individually, no regular Canadiens centerman surpasses the 50% mark, with Nick Suzuki coming closest at 49.5%.

Now, Bureau was doing pretty well in this aspect of the game, and the statistics from his last three seasons in the NHL demonstrate this rather clearly.

In 1997-98, during his last campaign with the Canadiens, Bureau recorded a 51.44% success rate. The following season, with the Philadelphia Flyers, he had a 53.18% success rate.

In 1999-2000, with the Flyers, his efficiency rate rose to 56.30% before he found himself with the Calgary Flames, to close that same season, where he won 51.39% of his faceoffs.

Overall, during his last three NHL seasons, Bureau had a 53.4% ​​success rate on faceoffs.

Even though the initiative didn’t come from him, but rather from general manager Kent Hughes, Martin St-Louis knows very well what Bureau can bring to this chapter, because they played together in Calgary.

“It’s about giving our young players the resources to improve in a department where Marc excelled,” St-Louis said in a press scrum near the Canadiens’ locker room in Brossard.

“I’ve been around him; he’s a guy who was strong in faceoffs. I think we’re an organization that’s moving forward in that regard. We want to check the boxes as much as possible to help our young players.”
Suzuki appreciated
In the locker room, Suzuki said he enjoyed those moments with Bureau.

“I thought it was great. Him and the guys talked about some aspects of it, and I feel like the guys all enjoyed it and got something out of it,” Suzuki said.

“He [Marc] has a lot of knowledge, he’s worked with a lot of players in the league, at the junior level and with professional players. Over the years, there haven’t been a lot of changes in terms of faceoffs,” added the Canadiens captain.

Asked about his own performance in the faceoff circles, Suzuki focused on consistency.

“Personally, there were a few games where things went really well, and others where things didn’t go so well. The ideal is to have a success percentage above 50% every night. I can’t be at 30% one game, and 60% the next game,” Suzuki admitted.

Evans says success in the faceoff circle is often a matter of confidence, a perspective Suzuki seems to share.

“The mental aspect is really, really important. You can be fast, you can be strong. It also depends on the player you’re facing and what he’s trying to do,” he said.