It should have dawned on me that a change was afoot when I saw Mika Zibanejad giving Adam Edström pointers in the faceoff circle at Rangers practice in Minnesota on Friday.
Certain players who don’t usually take faceoffs occasionally practice them anyway, just in case their centerman is thrown out of the circle during a game.
I can’t say I can recall Edström putting in as much work on draws as he did that day. Granted, prior to Saturday, he had taken just seven faceoffs over 91 career NHL games.
Lo and behold, the Big Swede centered the fourth line in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Wild.
