from Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

This season, attacking teams can choose which circle of the offensive zone to conduct a faceoff after four specific scenarios:

• Following an icing.

• The start of a power play.

• When a goaltender freezes a puck on a shot from outside the center red line.

• When a defensive player unintentionally dislodges a net.

“It’s good. I like it,” Jared McCann, a center who moonlights as a left winger, said. “Obviously, it helps in sort of creating some more offense for us. Obviously, being on your strong side, you prefer that. I feel it’s a good rule.

“As a center, I like it,” Nick Bjugstad, projected to be the Penguins’ No. 3 center, said. “If you can pick the side in the offensive zone, preferably when the (defending) team is tired after an icing, that’s ideal. So you’ve got to put emphasis on it as a center. Make sure you’re bearing down. Know who you’re going up against because sometimes you’re better on one side though it might be a different handed player. It depends on the whole situations.”

more