When Johnny Beecher was sent down to Providence on January 20, it was clear that it wouldn’t be a permanent residence for him. The Bruins 2019 1st round pick is in his second year of his entry-level contract. Based on his seasons of service and games played, Beecher remains waiver exempt until early next season when he hits 80 games played. Therefore, if the Bruins feel crunched up against the cap, it makes him a potential causality. Mason Lohrei also falls in the same boat (70 games instead of 80), while Justin Brazeau’s exemption is good only through the end of this season.
For almost every game up until he was sent down, Beecher spent time at the center position. However, since coming back on an emergency basis, he has played on the left wing next to Jesper Boqvist. This positional alignment has confused some fans, particularly surrounding faceoffs. Because of that, I thought this would be a great subject to dive in and write about.
Faceoffs
Let’s start off with a simple fact. The player taking a faceoff does not have to be the center. This may seem too elementary to discuss, but it’s incredibly important to state. Of course, we are accustomed to centermen taking all of the draws unless they are thrown out of the draw. But theoretically, any skater could step in for a faceoff. Rarely does a coach determine that a winger is so much stronger than their line’s centerman that they should take the draws instead, but there’s nothing stopping that from happening.
At the NHL level, which is the data I am going to be referencing, we don’t have a massive track record on Johnny Beecher given his rookie status. However, we do have a much larger dataset on Jesper Boqvist.
Not only is Boqvist a sub-50 career faceoff guy, but he’s also a sub-40. And that has been consistent in his career thus far. Given his poor performance in the faceoff circle, you can see why Jim Montgomery wouldn’t want the Swede taking draws. Deploying a winger who is strong in the faceoff circle to take the draws is a much better option, if you can do it.
So that’s exactly what’s been happening. Since returning to the NHL lineup on March 14, Beecher has taken 24 faceoffs at 5v5 while Boqvist has taken 2. To paraphrase what Jim Montgomery told the media Monday morning, the Bruins want Beecher taking the faceoffs because he’s so good at them, and then they want Boqvist and Beecher to switch whenever it is safe to do so.
Why not move Boqvist to wing?
The question you’re probably asking yourself is, if Boqvist is so bad at faceoffs and Beecher is much better at them, why not just move Boqvist to left wing? Doesn’t it seem a bit silly to switch them after a faceoff? I think Jim Montgomery gave a good answer to the follow up question.
We want [Boqvist] handling the puck, and when you’re a center, you get the puck more. He’s doing a great job; he’s confident with the puck. Beecher’s goal is a great entry by him. Starting in the d-zone, carries it right through. Makes a great play delaying it high. Makes a good, sound play in a danger area where it’s getting close to the blue line. [The play] allows Peeke to find Beecher. We like [Boqvist] transporting the puck. And his speed underneath pucks - puts opponents - it gives up the blue line a lot. We don’t have to forecheck as much.
To summarize, the reason the Bruins prefer Boqvist at center and Beecher on the wing is that they feel it helps optimize their ability to transition the puck. From a skills and scouting perspective, the Bruins want the puck on Boqvist’s stick to take advantage of his speed when moving from the defensive zone to the offensive zone. Jim Montgomery stumbled a bit in explaining this, but it is his belief that when Boqvist has the puck with speed, it forces the opponents to take more conservative gaps, making it easier to control the puck across the offensive blue line.
This theory seems to play out in the Excel sheet too. Jesper Boqvist has been one of the best players in transition for the Bruins this season. He has controlled 49.0% of his entry attempts this season which ranks 4th among forwards on the team. He has also been responsible with the puck, only failing 10.3% of his entry attempts, which ranks 1st among forwards on the team.
Compare that to Johnny Beecher who has only controlled 37.3% of his entry attempts and has failed to gain the zone on 26.4% of entry attempts, and you can see why the Bruins would want to shift a lot of work over to Boqvist.
I don’t want to deviate too far from the point, but since it was an example used in Montgomery’s answer, I feel as though it’s appropriate to touch on Beecher’s goal from Saturday.
Now, I am not sure if Monty was misremembering the events, but the entry was off of a neutral zone counter. Personally, I credited Peeke with the entry as he made the pass to Boqvist who only had to take a step to achieve the offensive blue line. And to an extent, this is a poor example of the positional change, as Boqvist was in more of a winger’s position on the offensive blue line.
Starting from a standstill, Boqvist could not muster enough speed to gain depth on the opposing Flyers defenseman. Therefore, he decided to pull up and wait on his teammates to come in and support. As Boqvist is handling the puck close to the blue line, he draws the attention of all of four Flyers. This allows Beecher to sneak backdoor unmarked. Peeke then delivers a pass to Beecher who taps it in. I think this leans much more towards the poor execution of Philadelphia than it does to a great play by the Bruins. However, it is reflective of the polar opposite sets of strengths and weaknesses each have.
Polar opposites and fluid structures
You don’t even need to go to NHL.com to tell that there is a fair amount of size difference between Beecher and Boqvist. The former has two inches and 32 pounds on the latter. That does increase the risk of the preconceived bias that Beecher is more physical than Boqvist, but I find it to be true.
I wouldn’t use hits as a performance metric, however, using them in a contextual manner is appropriate. And with the NHL auditing hits this season, I feel more comfortable using them. This season, Beecher has taken 15.4 hits per 60 minutes of 5v5 ice time while Boqvist is roughly half of that at 7.4. That’s not to call Boqvist “soft” by any means, but it’s helps to illustrate that Beecher plays much more like your typical fourth liner than Boqvist. While Beecher wants to play a physical game on the boards on the forecheck, Boqvist plays like a skill player who doesn’t quite have the skills to crack a spot in the Bruins top nine.
Positions and structures in hockey are fluid in nature. It’s a chaotic game, and with such chaos, players are forced to change shape and positions according. If a defenseman at the point activates with the puck down low, a forward will cover. If you are the first forward back on a retrieval, you will take the center position for the time being. The position that you play helps dictate where you’ll be and what role you’ll be playing most often, but it does not guarantee that you won’t have to find yourself in different positions at different times. It’s a balance.
By changing positions, the Bruins are trying to change the balance of positions each are put in. They want Boqvist recovering and transitioning pucks through the middle, and Beecher winning physical battles along the boards and up ice. Take this shift from Tuesday night’s game as an example.
Beecher was the first player in on the forecheck, with Brazeau close to support. With the two down low on the boards, Boqvist is able to sit nicely in his position at F3. He’s simultaneously in and offensive and defensive position. As Beecher loses the puck down low, Boqvist transfers into a defensive role. He is able to get back under the puck at the Bruins blue line and gain the speed necessary to re-enter the zone with control. Is this some spectacular shift? No. However, they were able to keep play out of their own zone for almost all of the shift, which is exactly what you need out of your fourth line.
And when it all works out and the right guys get in the right places to use their skills, great things can happen.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that Beecher is listed as a winger and Boqvist is listed as a center, Beecher is taking the draws in place of Boqvist. Once it’s safe to do so, the two will switch as Jim Montgomery and the Bruins want Boqvist transitioning the puck for the fourth line as he is very good at it. And while positions are rigid on a lineup card, this is a chaotic game played by athletes skating around on ice. You’ll find them all over the ice, just hopefully more in their own position than not.