Connor Bedard trying to find 'different ways to win' faceoffs for Blackhawks

Two things are true about Blackhawks star Connor Bedard's faceoff percentage.

First, faceoffs wins don't correlate as strongly to possession time as most people think. Second, Bedard's struggles in the circle are nonetheless a problem for the Hawks.

"It's either average or it's really bad," Bedard said recently. "[It's about] consistency and finding different ways to win them. Last year, I really only did one thing, and you're not going to win many draws like that. I'm trying to find a couple new ways to win, but I've got to obviously be better."

Entering Wednesday, the 19-year-old forward has lost the majority of his faceoffs in eight straight games and touts a 30.1% faceoff percentage this season. As a team, the Hawks rank 29th in the NHL at 45.9%.

That's significantly worse than even last season, when Bedard's 38.9% faceoff percentage ranked 117th out of 119 forwards league-wide who took at least 500 draws. Coyotes rookie Logan Cooley and Ducks rookie Leo Carlsson were the only players worse.

As that suggests, faceoff acumen is often one of the slowest-developing skills for young forwards, so this is somewhat normal. Connor McDavid, for example, won just 42.0% of his faceoffs during his first three NHL seasons; he has won 52.2% over the last four seasons.

The Hawks do need Bedard to start making progress, though. Skills coach Yanic Perreault comes in a few times per month to work with the team's centers on faceoffs, and coach Luke Richardson said Perreault has been "trying to get [Bedard] down lower and using his leg strength."

Diversifying the ways he tries to win draws — going for a quick flick one time, a sweeping motion the next time and a through-the-body approach the next time, for example — should also help. Hawks center Jason Dickinson is a big proponent of that unpredictability; Dickinson has also advised Bedard to get his body weight further forward over the dot.

Banging time

Hawks goalie Petr Mrazek might lead in the NHL in time spent banging his stick.

That's because Mrazek starts doing it near the end of power plays, reminding his teammates an opposing player will soon come out of the penalty box behind them, with about 10 seconds left in the penalty. That's much earlier than most NHL goalies; the average seems to be with about five seconds left.

Why? Mrazek said his junior coach in Ottawa in 2009-10 taught him to do it that way, and it became a habit.

Since the Hawks typically deploy four forwards and only one defenseman on their power-play units, they appreciate the advance warning because it gives them time to sub on a second defenseman before the play returns to five-on-five.

Teuvo settled

Nearly a month into the regular season, Tuevo Teravainen feels back at home on the Hawks.

"It feels pretty normal," Teravainen said Wednesday. "[I have] a normal kind of rhythm going... I know all the teammates pretty good now, so it's way easier to be here."

The quiet Finnish forward has been moved down to a more defensive role on the third line next to Dickinson, but he did snap a seven-game point drought with a power-play goal Sunday against the Ducks.

"He's able to find ways to blend with other players seamlessly," Dickinson said. "He knows what the job is and he's solid defensively, so you don't have to worry about him in that respect. I'm sure he would love more offense out of us, and myself and [Ilya Mikheyev] would say the same, so we're just working toward finding that."