Artyom Levshunov

Last Season

Two goals and 22 assists in 68 games — 24 points, minus-41, at 19:35 a night. His first full NHL season, at 20.

The Finesse Game

The skating is genuinely good for a six-foot-two defenceman and it is the reason he went second overall. He can carry the puck out of trouble and he wants the puck, which at his age is the harder half to teach.

Twenty-two assists is a fair rookie return. The shot is not a factor: 128 unblocked attempts from a median of 45 feet, nine per cent inside twenty, two goals.

The Physical Game

Six foot two, 208, and willing. Forty-four penalty minutes in 68 games suggests he is competing rather than hiding, which given the scoreline most nights is worth noting.

He is beaten in front of his own net by stronger men, which is ordinary at 20 and is not ordinary at 19:35 a night.

The Intangibles

Minus-41 is the worst figure in this book and it wants context in both directions. The context for it: Chicago was the worst team in the league by expected goals and he played nearly twenty minutes a night as a rookie defenceman. The context against it: 42.8 per cent of the expected goals, sixth percentile, and the expected goals 40.6 to 54.3 against, so the process agrees with the scoreboard.

Three points in his last ten.

He is 20 and a second overall pick, and this was a season played under conditions no development plan would choose. There is no verdict available here. There is a warning that a club has burned a year of him.