This is the 2024-25 edition — an archived read. Read the 2025-26 report →
Dmitry Kulikov
Florida Panthers Defense
Nine hundred and forty-eight games, 591 career penalty minutes, and back where he was drafted fifteen years ago.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 | FLA | 68 | 3 | 13 | 16 | -5 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 3.5 | 17:56 |
| 2010-11 | FLA | 72 | 6 | 20 | 26 | -5 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 83 | 7.2 | 19:57 |
| 2011-12 | FLA | 58 | 4 | 24 | 28 | -5 | 36 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 104 | 3.9 | 21:51 |
| 2012-13 | FLA | 34 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -5 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 5.8 | 20:59 |
| 2013-14 | FLA | 81 | 8 | 11 | 19 | -26 | 66 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 127 | 6.3 | 21:42 |
| 2014-15 | FLA | 73 | 3 | 19 | 22 | 0 | 48 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 3.6 | 21:19 |
| 2015-16 | FLA | 74 | 1 | 16 | 17 | +8 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 99 | 1.0 | 21:02 |
| 2016-17 | BUF | 47 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -26 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 4.8 | 21:54 |
| 2017-18 | WPG | 62 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +6 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 48 | 6.3 | 17:04 |
| 2018-19 | WPG | 57 | 0 | 6 | 6 | +4 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0.0 | 15:40 |
| 2019-20 | WPG | 51 | 2 | 8 | 10 | -4 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 3.7 | 20:01 |
| 2020-21 | NJD/EDM | 48 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -3 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 0.0 | 19:10 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 80 | 7 | 17 | 24 | +23 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 9.5 | 18:12 |
| 2022-23 | ANA/PIT | 67 | 3 | 13 | 16 | -13 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 3.6 | 19:29 |
| 2023-24 | FLA | 76 | 1 | 19 | 20 | +15 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 1.4 | 16:31 |
| 2024-25 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 948 | 46 | 188 | 234 | -36 | 591 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 1102 | 4.2 | 19:27 |
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
76 games, 1 goal and 19 assists for 20 points, 63 penalty minutes, 16:31 a night and plus-15. He took 53.8 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 1,096 minutes, the 81st percentile, and his ice went 39-35 against an expectation of 45.25-38.87.
Six goals of scoring that did not arrive and four fewer conceded than the chances called for. Twenty points at 33 on the third pairing of a Stanley Cup club is a useful season and nothing more than that.
The Finesse Game
74 shots at a median of 54 feet with 72 per cent from beyond 40, converted at 1.4 per cent. One goal in 76 games and 46 in 948 career games.
188 career assists in 948 games. He makes the safe first pass and has done for fifteen years. There is no carrying and there has not been since he was 25.
The Physical Game
He finishes checks at 6-1 and 212 and is unpleasant along the wall.
591 career penalty minutes in 948 games. He clears the front of his own net, blocks shots, and takes the second penalty about as often as the first.
The Intangibles
Fourteenth overall in 2009 by Florida, fifteen seasons and a great many organisations, and 948 games. He came back to the club that drafted him at 32 and won a Stanley Cup with it.
A career minus-36 across fifteen years describes the clubs more than the player. He is 33 and this is the third pairing, and on this roster that is a compliment.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2023-24 · 1,096 minutes
- Expected goals
- 53.8%
- 81st pct
- Shot attempts
- 54.5%
- 87th 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: 39 for, 35 against. Expected: 45.3 and 38.9.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 54 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 379 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 61 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 · 1096 minutes at five-on-five
- Oliver Ekman-Larssonnow TOR44%
- Niko Mikkola33%
- Josh Mahuranow SEA8%
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
- FLA took 53.7% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 53.8% — 0.1 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- Second pair, 1,096 minutes at five-on-five — 71st percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 53.3% | 54.2% | 54.3% |
| Niko Mikkola | 53.0% | 54.2% | 51.3% |
| Eetu Luostarinen | 57.9% | 51.8% | 51.8% |
53.3% together, 54.2% for him apart and 54.3% for Ekman-Larsson 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
115 unblocked shots in 2023-24, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 63 feet. 6% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 72% from beyond forty.