Film Room: Jim Montgomery's faceoff approach and the Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have found their successor to Ken Hitchcock. That means we have work to do in the film room. Let’s try to piece together how the Stars will look on the ice when following Jim Montgomery’s lead.

It’s a process we actually began a couple weeks ago when Montgomery was the first candidate profiled in our coaching search series. At that time we took a deeper look at a number of things ranging from how Montgomery’s teams performed on special teams to how defensemen carried the puck out of the zone.

If you haven’t read that yet, you should check it out for a  complete profile of what Montgomery is about as a head coach.

One thing I didn’t take a deep dive on was faceoffs. They were listed among Montgomery’s keys to victory, but we really didn’t roll much tape on how Denver attacked and built from the faceoff circle.

Thankfully Montgomery did that for us when he held court and discussed puck possession off faceoffs in a video posted by The Coaches Site.

Montgomery essentially calls for an organized swarm off the draw. If you win the faceoff clean that’s great, but the key is taking advantage of those faceoffs you don’t win. It was a major key to his success; for example, Denver’s second goal in the 2017 NCAA title game was sparked by the Pioneers turning a 50-50 situation into possession off a faceoff at center ice.

It looks something like this in the offensive zone. Let’s assume Montgomery’s team has lost the draw into the corner.

The winger on the right side immediately pressures the puck, while the center moves into support and take away the exit the other way. The left wing moves into the spot occupied by the center and reads the play.

The defensemen in this situation have two jobs. The first is to hold the zone, that’s why the nearside defenseman gets tighter on the boards. The other defenseman can either hold position or jump in depending on the situation.

In the defensive zone, you want to avoid being the victim of such approach. This is how Montgomery’s teams would counter such situations, and it’s like one of the clips he showed in the video above.

Typically Montgomery’s teams will try to take the puck out of the zone with possession, but this is the second option if a quick pass or skating lane isn’t there. It’s not a full-blown dump and chase, but a situation where the defenseman is targeting a certain area – in this case, the neutral zone, where the forwards are already headed.

Now we get to the Dallas Stars, who happen to be a rather good faceoff team already.

The Stars won 2,701 of their 5,144 faceoffs last season. That 52.5 percent showing finished fourth in the NHL.

Of the 99 players that took at least 700 faceoffs last season, Jason Spezza was 11th in the league at 55.8 percent, Tyler Seguin was 15th at 54.9, Jamie Benn was 38th at 52.5, and Radek Faksa was 45th at 51.6. Martin Hanzal didn’t qualify for this list because he didn’t take 700 faceoffs, but he did win 55.1 percent of his opportunities.

Off the bat, this is already a team and center group that works with Montgomery’s system individually. The key here is truly embracing the five-man faceoff philosophy and turning draws that are officially lost into wins.

The Stars had some success with that last season and it created some quality scoring chances, like it does on this goal right here.

Here’s another example, and it’s no coincidence that Alexander Radulov is the one winning the puck back. If there is a label that’s rightfully left over from the Hitchcock era, it’s the Russian’s status as a hunter. That should fit well with Montgomery.

The Stars also had their moments defensively that I’m sure Montgomery would like to build on. Take this faceoff against the Edmonton Oilers, for example:

Dallas loses the draw but is able to quickly regain possession and head the other way.

Those are the things Montgomery will want to build on. There are other times where the Stars turned faceoff wins into losses, and more often than not it had to do with the team not being a five-man unit or failing to work together off the faceoff victory.

That’s what happens on this play, where the Stars basically get outworked behind the net by the Oilers. It eventually led to a full turnover.

Here is another example.

And another.

The same thing can happen in the offensive zone. The Stars win the draw, but fail to keep possession on this play as the Washington Capitals are quickly heading the other way.

Ideally for the Stars, that happens less with Montgomery on the bench. It wasn’t a major issue throughout the season for Dallas, but it became more of a problem later in the season as the Stars completed a historic collapse.

If the Stars are going to embrace a youth movement, and hiring a college coach at least signals that they are, the younger group of forwards could thrive in Montgomery’s system and buy into the five-man faceoff philosophy.

Gemel Smith can be a pest pressuring the puck. Remi Elie, with proper coaching, could better read the game and use his speed off the draw. In the AHL Jason Dickinson has shown proficiency as a puck hunter off faceoffs, and the same goes for Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz.

Having leaders that win one-on-one battles like that also goes a long way. We talked about Radulov before, but Tyler Seguin is also one of the better players at turning a lost faceoff into a win, like he does on this play that later led to a goal.

Full buy-in on the faceoff, even after a loss, is just part of the bigger system for Montgomery. He’s a process driven coach that preaches possession, and faceoffs are part of that battle. We’ll take a deeper look at other elements and how they relate to Montgomery’s style in the regular-scheduled film room on Friday.