This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Ian Cole
Utah Mammoth Defense
Two hundred and thirty-seven pounds at 36, 77 penalty minutes, and 81 per cent of his shot attempts from beyond 40 feet.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | STL | 26 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +6 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4.5 | 17:36 |
| 2011-12 | STL | 26 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +7 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5.6 | 15:55 |
| 2012-13 | STL | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.0 | 17:45 |
| 2013-14 | STL | 46 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +15 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 6.7 | 15:05 |
| 2014-15 | STL/PIT | 74 | 5 | 12 | 17 | +14 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 6.0 | 15:59 |
| 2015-16 | PIT | 70 | 0 | 12 | 12 | -3 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 0.0 | 17:14 |
| 2016-17 | PIT | 81 | 5 | 21 | 26 | +26 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 89 | 5.6 | 19:49 |
| 2017-18 | PIT/CBJ | 67 | 5 | 15 | 20 | +14 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 5.9 | 17:46 |
| 2018-19 | COL | 71 | 2 | 13 | 15 | -1 | 115 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 2.4 | 19:45 |
| 2019-20 | COL | 65 | 4 | 22 | 26 | +21 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 92 | 4.3 | 17:42 |
| 2020-21 | COL/MIN | 54 | 1 | 7 | 8 | +21 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 3.3 | 15:52 |
| 2021-22 | CAR | 75 | 2 | 17 | 19 | +15 | 83 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 77 | 2.6 | 17:09 |
| 2022-23 | TBL | 78 | 3 | 14 | 17 | +13 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 109 | 2.8 | 19:23 |
| 2023-24 | VAN | 78 | 2 | 9 | 11 | +10 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 3.3 | 18:41 |
| 2024-25 | UTA | 82 | 1 | 16 | 17 | -2 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 1.5 | 20:17 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 908 | 35 | 175 | 210 | +152 | 821 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 940 | 3.7 | 18:00 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 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
1 goal and 16 assists in 82 games — 17 points at 20:17 a night, minus-2, with 77 penalty minutes.
53.4 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five, the 81st percentile, across 1,329 minutes. His ice went 59-46 against an expectation of 61.04-53.26 — two goals of scoring missing and seven fewer conceded than the chances predicted.
The Finesse Game
66 attempts in 82 games at a median of 54 feet with 81 per cent from beyond 40 and 7 per cent from inside 20, and 1 goal at a 1.5 per cent conversion. 35 goals in 908 career games.
16 assists. The first pass is short and correct and that is the whole puck game; under a heavy forecheck he chips it out rather than attempting anything.
The Physical Game
6-1 and 237 pounds — among the heaviest defencemen in the league — and he uses all of it. He clears the front of his own net by force, he blocks shots, and he finishes checks that hurt.
77 penalty minutes in 82 games at 36, and 821 in 908 career games. He crosses the line, he answers everything, and he has been doing it for fifteen seasons.
The Intangibles
Eighteenth overall in 2007 and 908 games across eight organisations with a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh in 2016 and another in 2017.
He is 36 and played all 82 games. On the youngest good blue line in the league, he is the man who makes it safe.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,329 minutes
- Expected goals
- 53.4%
- 82nd pct
- Shot attempts
- 52.9%
- 82nd 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: 59 for, 46 against. Expected: 61.0 and 53.3.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 46 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 637 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 70 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
2024-25 · 1329 minutes at five-on-five
- Maveric Lamoureux12%
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, 2024-25
- The club
- UTA took 53.2% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 53.4% — 0.2 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- First pair, 1,329 minutes at five-on-five — 93rd percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Kesselring | 54.1% | 52.7% | 52.6% |
| Kevin Stenlund | 49.9% | 54.6% | 52.7% |
| Nick Schmaltz | 52.9% | 53.6% | 52.6% |
54.1% together, 52.7% for him apart and 52.6% for Kesselring 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
118 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 47 feet. 7% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 81% from beyond forty.