Jori Lehtera hasn’t been too involved on offense this year, scoring just one goal and two assists over the course of 13 games. While his offensive contributions leave a lot to be desired, it’s worth highlighting one aspect of the game that he is dominating – faceoffs.
Out of all of the forwards in the NHL who have taken at least 100 faceoffs this season, Lehtera has the ninth-best win percentage. He has taken 159 draws and has won 59.1% of them, or in other words, he has won 94 while losing just 65. Breaking things down a bit further, Lehtera has been great on even-strength faceoffs (61.1% after 131 draws) as well as faceoffs with the man advantage (61.9% after 21 draws). Unfortunately, his numbers on short-handed draws are pretty lackluster, but the sample size is pretty small (14.3% after seven draws).
Are Lehtera’s skills in the circle enough for the team and fans to forgive him for his current offensive output? Probably not, but they certainly help and they deserve to be recognized and commended. If he’s able to maintain these faceoff rates, one would expect his point total to rise (through assists) as he continues to win draws in the offensive zone.
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