Braeden Bowman

Last Season

Eight goals and 18 assists in 54 games — 26 points, minus-16, at 14:08 a night with only twelve penalty minutes. His first professional season, at 22.

The Finesse Game

The shot chart is remarkable for a first-year player. A hundred and sixteen unblocked attempts with 66 per cent from inside twenty feet and a median of thirteen, and only seven per cent from beyond forty — one of the six closest charts of any forward in the league.

Eight goals out of it is a poor conversion, which is a strength problem rather than a positioning one and the positioning is the part that takes years.

Eighteen assists in 54 games is a genuinely good rate.

The Physical Game

Six foot one, 205, and solidly built for a rookie. Twelve penalty minutes.

He goes to the interior and holds his ground better than a twenty-two-year-old usually can. The skating is fair rather than quick.

The Intangibles

Fifty-four point nine per cent of the expected goals, 88th percentile, and 50.5 per cent of the shot attempts, 63rd, across 692 minutes, with the chances 29.5 to 24.3 in his favour and the goals 30-21.

The minus-16 sitting on top of that is a special-teams number and nothing else.

Three points in his last ten. He is 23, undrafted, and the most interesting young player on a roster that has almost none.