Chad Ruhwedel
New York Rangers Defense
Undrafted out of San Diego, twelve seasons, 364 games, and not one attempt from inside twenty feet.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-13 | BUF | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.0 | 14:12 |
| 2013-14 | BUF | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0.0 | 17:53 |
| 2014-15 | BUF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 | 12:28 |
| 2015-16 | BUF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 15:30 |
| 2016-17 | PIT | 34 | 2 | 8 | 10 | +9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 4.4 | 17:20 |
| 2017-18 | PIT | 44 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 3.0 | 15:44 |
| 2018-19 | PIT | 18 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 4.5 | 16:17 |
| 2019-20 | PIT | 41 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 4.5 | 14:46 |
| 2020-21 | PIT | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.0 | 14:42 |
| 2021-22 | PIT | 78 | 4 | 9 | 13 | +2 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 4.9 | 15:20 |
| 2022-23 | PIT | 47 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -4 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 2.8 | 14:34 |
| 2023-24 | PIT/NYR | 52 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 2.9 | 12:42 |
| 2024-25 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 364 | 13 | 36 | 49 | -9 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 395 | 3.3 | 15:08 |
This Season So Far
The 2024-25 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
52 games, 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points, 4 penalty minutes, 12:42 a night and minus-6. He took 47.1 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 574 minutes, the 32nd percentile, and his ice went 16-22 against an expectation of 19.32-21.70.
Three goals of scoring that did not arrive and level at the other end. Fifty-two games from a seventh defenceman on a club that finished first is the whole assignment.
The Finesse Game
53 attempts at a median of 58 feet, 91 per cent of them from beyond forty and not one from inside twenty, 35 on goal, converted at 2.9 per cent, which is his career rate.
36 career assists in 364 games and 13 goals. There is no offence and there never was. He puts it at the net from the point or off the glass, and nothing else.
The Physical Game
He is 5-11 and 189 and defends entirely with position.
94 career penalty minutes in 364 games is one of the lowest rates in the league. He blocks shots and holds his gap, and he cannot clear a crease at that size.
The Intangibles
Undrafted, out of San Diego, three years at Massachusetts-Lowell, twelve seasons across three organisations, and 49 points in 364 games.
He is 34 and undrafted and has played three hundred and sixty-four games. That is a career, and playing fifty-two of them for the best club in the league at 34 is the end of one.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2023-24 · 574 minutes
- Expected goals
- 47.1%
- 33rd pct
- Shot attempts
- 46.4%
- 24th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 16 for, 22 against. Expected: 19.3 and 21.7.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 23 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 415 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 56 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2023-24 with PIT · 509 minutes at five-on-five
- Ryan Graves37%
- Pierre-Olivier Josephnow STL21%
- Ryan Shea17%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2023-24
- The club
- NYR took 50.1% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 47.1% — 3.0 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- 574 minutes at five-on-five — 23rd percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Graves | 47.5% | 46.9% | 49.1% |
| Lars Eller | 47.2% | 47.0% | 51.4% |
| Drew O'Connor | 56.5% | 42.2% | 49.4% |
47.5% together, 46.9% for him apart and 49.1% for Graves apart. Splitting them up moved neither man. Whatever is driving the share, it is not this pairing.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
53 unblocked shots in 2023-24, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 50 feet. 0% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 91% from beyond forty.