ST. PAUL, Minn. – You have to dig deep to get Dylan Strome talking about his early-season face-off success. It’s not good form for young NHL players to praise their own performance, especially after four games, and Strome upholds that code, perhaps to his own detriment.

It takes a subtle shift in the conversation to discover that Strome spends a lot of time watching others engage in this underappreciated craft. It requires talking to others to find that Strome works diligently to perfect the skill.

Strome admires Tyler Seguin’s backhand draw, which produced a handful of shot attempts for Jamie Benn when the Dallas Stars beat the Coyotes 3-0 in Dallas on opening night. He thinks St. Louis’ Tyler Bozak is an underappreciated face-off man. He remembers how Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin won a draw cleanly to Phil Kessel on Oct. 11 that Kessel buried on Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban. He knows that Patrice Bergeron’s wings are just as critical to the Boston center’s success as Bergeron’s “get-low” approach.

“We forget that Dylan is a pretty good student of the game,” Coyotes assistant coach John MacLean said. “Very quietly, he watches everything and takes a lot in. He doesn’t always share it with everybody but he’s always absorbing.”

Strome’s studious ways helped produce a gaudy 66.7 percent success rate on draws through four games and 57 face-offs. Heading into a game Tuesday in Minnesota against the Wild, Strome ranked fourth in the NHL among players who had taken at least 20 draws, trailing Columbus’s Brandon Dubinsky (68.8 percent), New Jersey’s Travis Zajac (67.9) and St. Louis’s Ryan O’Reilly (67.3).

UPDATE: Strome won 14 of 19 face-offs against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and now ranks second in the NHL behind Dubinsky with a 68.4 winning percentage.

Those three centers that were ahead of him have all been in the league at least 10 seasons and that’s no surprise. As multiple coaches and players will tell you, one of the greatest predictors of success in the face-off circle is NHL experience. The older players get, the better they get.

Strome has played a whopping 33 NHL games. Sure, the matchups he sees are a factor, but what gives?

“I don’t know,” he said sheepishly. “It’s only four (now five) games. I hope to keep it up. I’ve learned from a lot of really good face-off men here.”

Among those Strome credited are his former coach with the Tucson Roadrunners, Mike Van Ryn, former Coyotes centers Martin Hanzal, Boyd Gordon, Antoine Vermette and, especially, teammate Brad Richardson, who has watched one element of Strome’s success repeat itself this season.

“He has been timing his face-offs perfect so far,” said Richardson, who is winning 52.7 percent of his face-offs this season and holds a 53.1 success rate in 178 games with the Coyotes. “Everyone has a different strategy that takes advantage of their strengths but I know he’s been working hard at it. He looks at a lot of video and has put some time in. Hopefully that continues for him, but the timing is the thing I’ve noticed.”

Timing is a skill that permeates Strome’s game, MacLean said.

“What makes Dylan successful in his overall game?” MacLean asked rhetorically. “You talk about his good hands and his anticipation. Those are things you have to have in the face-off circle, too. He is timing them well it but that’s just how sees the game. He has a hockey mind and he uses it to his advantage in all situations.”

Coyotes center Derek Stepan calls face-offs “one of those little games inside the game” – a skill that is rarely dissected or widely understood. There are dozens of variables at play in every face-off, including the tendencies of linesmen, a player’s veteran status, the curve of the stick blade, the location of the draw, the time and situation in the game, and the size, skill and demeanor of the opponent standing across from you.

“Some guys just like to tie up your stick and kick it back with their skate,” said Hall of Fame center Mike Modano, who holds an excellent all-time winning percentage of 51.7. “Some guys are grunt guys that get down low and try to overpower you. Some guys time it and have quick hands. Some guys are gangly but they use their leverage to get their stick in there and then kick it back. Some guys are better at pulling it to their forehand than their backhand, which is really odd when you see that.

“Those are all things you watch for before the face-off; the things you have to figure out about your opponent in a matter of eight or nine seconds before you take the face-off.”

Richardson takes the majority of his face-offs in the defensive zone or on the penalty kill. He has an approach that fits his gritty game.

“It depends on how I’m going and how my timing looks, but a lot of times I’m just trying to make it as mucky as possible for the other guy and piss him off,” he said. “The biggest cheater will usually win so I’m trying to find any little thing I can to throw the other centerman off.

“I feel like the game would be a little boring sometimes if you didn’t have those little battles. Some of the things that happen in there are hilarious. (Stepan) and I laugh about them, but I can’t tell you that stuff. I just do some things to other centermen to throw them off, play little tricks to get a puck here or there that I probably shouldn’t get.”

Opponents aren’t the only ones whom centers size up as they skate into the circle.

“I try to butter up the linesmen early and often,” Richardson said, laughing. “I’m pretty much friends with all of them.”

“I tried to be as friendly as possible with them, too,” Modano added. “You’re cordial, you’re inviting conversation, asking them, ‘How’s life? How’s the family?’ You try to get a personal relationship with these guys to use every little advantage you can find. These guys are around for years so sometimes they’ll give you a favorable drop on the draw.”

Strome admitted he doesn’t know a single linesman’s name yet and “they don’t talk much to younger guys,” so he just keeps quiet and focuses on his business. Once there, however, he is studying their tendencies – do they drop the puck quickly or delay? And he is studying every one of his opponents.

“There are usually only four or five guys who take draws in a game for a team and you’re only going against probably two the whole night so you have to adjust to them,” he said. “I think with most guys, it’s more read and react rather than going in with a certain strategy. Every face-off is different. You’re never going to have the same face-off against a guy twice in a row so you can’t really count on anything.”

That said, Strome is quick to identify where he might have an advantage.

“Let’s say I’m winning a lot on the forehand and he can’t beat me there,” Strome said. “If that’s the case, no matter where I am on the ice, I’m going to go to my forehand. It’s really just about knowing who you’re going against and trying to outsmart them.”

Communication with linemates is another vital component of the draw.

“Your wingers help you a lot so it’s important to tell them where you’re going with it,” Strome said. “I would say 70 percent of the draws are 50-50 so if they can anticipate where it’s going, they can really help you out.”

Strome’s face-off success reflects his overall improvement this season, including scoring the team’s first goal. While MacLean cautioned that it is early and Strome’s linemates have also played a role in his face-off success, there is a tantalizing reward if he can keep winning more draws than he is losing.

“Winning draws and paying attention to all those other details means more ice time,” MacLean said. “If he’s having a good night and you need a draw, that’s where the trust factor comes in for coaches to put him out there as he grows and matures as a player. To Dylan’s credit, he understands that.”

Strome likes winning face-offs. He wants to keep winning them, but he hopes to do a lot more to cement a permanent spot on the Coyotes roster.

“You don’t go to bed dreaming about winning face-offs,” he said, laughing. “It’s just part of your job, and you hope you get better at everything as time goes.”

(Photo of Coyotes center Dylan Strome facing off against the Ducks’ Carter Rowney by Norm Hall / NHLI via Getty Images)