Brock Nelson

Last Season

Thirty-three goals and 65 points in 81 games, plus-15, ten of the goals on the power play, on nineteen and a half minutes a night. He passed a thousand career games.

The Finesse Game

The shot is better than his reputation — a quick, heavy release from the slot, and a large share of his goals come from the net front where he is very difficult to move. Three hundred and thirty-four career goals is a lot for a player almost nobody would name as a scorer.

He is a capable playmaker and a poor puck-carrier. The offence comes from arriving in the right place rather than from creating anything at speed.

The skating is heavy. He was never quick and is less so now.

The Physical Game

Six-four and 205, and he uses it properly — he protects pucks below the goal line, screens goaltenders, and wins his share of faceoffs against bigger centres.

He is remarkably durable. Eighty-one games is normal for him and has been for a decade.

The Intangibles

He spent his whole career on Long Island being underrated and is now doing the same thing in Colorado, which is a compliment to how little his game depends on being noticed.

At thirty-four the goals will start to go. Everything else about him — the size, the faceoffs, the reliability — declines slowly, which is why clubs keep wanting this type in the spring.