Connor Clifton

Last Season

Two goals and four assists in 50 games, plus-five, at 16:46 a night with 53 penalty minutes. His five-on-five work was done in Pittsburgh.

The Finesse Game

There is none to speak of and he has never claimed otherwise. Fifty-nine unblocked attempts and two goals from a median distance of 54 feet, with eight per cent from inside twenty. Six points in 50 games.

The Physical Game

Six foot even, 196, and he plays far larger. Fifty-three penalty minutes in 50 games, an appetite for contact that borders on reckless, and a willingness to take a run at anybody. He has built an eight-year career on being irritating.

The Intangibles

The interesting split, and the second defenceman in this book to show it. He was on for only 48.4 per cent of the shot attempts — 39th percentile — but 54.1 per cent of the expected goals, which is 83rd. Opponents had the puck and could not get to the middle with it.

That is a real defensive skill and the crude possession number hides it entirely. The expected goals ran 35.5 to 30.2 in his favour across 739 minutes.

He is 31, a fifth-round pick, and 434 games into a career nobody projected. On a Boston blue line where the rates were mostly poor, he arrives as one of the few with evidence behind him.