Erik Cernak

Last Season

Three goals and eight assists in 61 games — 11 points, plus-three, at 17:37 a night with 74 penalty minutes. Twenty-one games missed.

The Finesse Game

None. Eighty unblocked attempts from a median of 54 feet, 79 per cent from beyond forty, thirteen per cent from inside twenty, three goals.

Twenty-six goals in 502 career games. Eight assists in 61 games is near the bottom of this edition and nobody has ever asked him for more.

The Physical Game

Six foot four and 230 pounds, and among the heaviest hitters in the league. Seventy-four penalty minutes.

He clears his crease violently, defends the front of his net better than almost anybody, and has a long injury record that comes from the way he plays.

The Intangibles

Fifty-three point two per cent of the expected goals, 78th percentile, against only 49.6 per cent of the shot attempts, 53rd, across 897 minutes — with the goals 50 for and 32 against.

That gap between chance share and attempt share is the whole argument for a defenceman of this type: the shots against come, and they come from the outside.

Two points in his last ten, both goals. He is 29, two Stanley Cups, and the sort of player whose value shows up in a seven-game series and nowhere in a scoring summary.