Boone Jenner made an immediate impact doing the “little things” in his Washington Capitals debut against the Carolina Hurricanes last week. The veteran forward won 13 of 17 faceoffs, a tremendous 76.5 percent success rate that eased pressure on Washington’s overworked penalty kill.
While his fierce work winning draws helped the Capitals win 5-2 on the night, his value in the faceoff circle isn’t limited to just the duels he wins himself. He’s already becoming a go-to resource for Washington’s other centers, particularly the team’s young pivots like Ilya Protas and Justin Sourdif.
“I know [Protas is] a young guy, and we’ve talked even before camp a little bit about it, and whenever we get the chance, we want to try to work on it, along with the other centermen, you know, Stromer and Dubie and guys who have been around for a while,” Jenner said last month. “I’ve played quite a bit of center in my career and take a lot of pride in the faceoff circle too, so just trying to help him out. He’s only got a few games under his belt, so he’ll learn that. But just trying to teach him a few things, and I think for all of us, just continuing to work on it.”
Jenner’s help seems to be paying early dividends, as Protas started the season losing four of five draws against the Hurricanes but has since been in the positive, winning 11 of his last 21. Crucially, he has gone 3-0 in power-play faceoffs, helping the Capitals’ second unit quickly get into their setup without needing a clean zone entry.
Protas is playing his first full NHL season and has been soaking up information from Jenner and other veterans in the locker room. The 20-year-old center says he’s been picking the brains of essentially everyone in Washington’s center group.
“I tried to get a little bit of everyone: Sourds, Boone, Stromer, Dubie,” Protas said. “They’re all great centers, and I’m always looking up to them and try to always ask, talk to them (about) what they’re doing, what they think, and learn from them. So that’s a great opportunity when I’m here. I try to get every little detail from everyone here.”
Sourdif has had a similar experience with Jenner, whom he’s played all three games with so far this season as part of Washington’s often defensively deployed fourth line.
“Anytime you get a guy who was a captain for a number of years in a different organization, you get that leadership quality,” Sourdif said. “I can pick his brain with anything. He’s been around for a while, and he’s a tremendous player. Even just getting to know him as a person too, it’s been unreal, and he’s a great human being.”
Unlike with Protas, Jenner has provided Sourdif with an extra resource as a linemate, handling much of the faceoff responsibilities in specific game contexts, especially given his left-handedness versus Sourdif’s right-handedness. The split has allowed both Jenner (13-7) and Sourdif (5-3) to go positive in the faceoff circle at five-on-five through three games.
Jenner has won 54 percent of the faceoffs he has taken in his NHL career, ranking 37th among all centers who have taken at least 1,000 faceoffs since Jenner’s rookie 2013-14 season. The 33-year-old recently spoke about how important faceoffs are to him and his role on Sourdif’s wing.
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being a good faceoff guy,” Jenner said. “I think they’re very important, especially on the penalty kill or late in games. Playing with Sourdi, even last game, where he’s a righty and I’m a lefty, so maybe we can play on our strong sides. We’ll play with all that. But obviously, he’s really good in the dot too, so I’m not worried about that.”
Jenner isn’t just helping the younger players on Washington’s roster; he’s also influencing how a veteran like Dylan Strome handles his faceoffs. Strome has won 51.7 percent of his faceoffs in his career, a part of his game that has improved significantly in recent seasons, including a career-high 58.2 percent win rate last year.
“I think he’s a great guy to bounce ideas off of,” Strome said of Jenner. “He’s strong. He gets low on his faceoffs. He can win draws multiple ways, which is what we were talking about yesterday a little bit, doing some after practice there. At the end of the day, you know every faceoff guy you’re going against. I probably took roughly 50 to 100 draws against Boone in the last five or six years, so you can kind of learn some things from how low he gets, how strong he is on the puck, and how there are different ways to win the draw.
“Like, he can tie up; you can go forehand, you can go backhand, you can do multiple different things. But I think just getting the sense from how good he is at faceoffs and how low he gets, I think that’s going to be a benefit for myself, for Sourdi, for Pro, for whoever’s taking the draw to see.”
Beyond his role as the team’s new faceoff guru, Jenner has also taken on a massive role with their penalty kill. Through three games, only Tom Wilson (4:00) has killed more shorthanded ice time per game than Jenner (3:30) among Washington’s forwards.
The former captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets may be taking a step back in role with the Capitals later in his career, but his new responsibilities might make him even more valuable to the team.
