Joel Nystrom

Last Season

One goal and nine assists in 38 games, plus-six, at 15:11 a night. His first NHL season, at 23.

The Finesse Game

A mover rather than a creator. Sixty-three unblocked attempts from a median of 58 feet — the longest average distance in this edition alongside Timmins — with two per cent inside twenty and one goal.

He is not shooting. He is retrieving, turning, and passing, and the nine assists in 38 games say he is good at the last part.

The Physical Game

Five foot eleven and 178 pounds, which is very small for the position. Six penalty minutes in 38 games. There is no crease-clearing and there is not going to be; he defends with feet, stick and anticipation.

The Intangibles

Fifty-six point seven per cent of the expected goals, 95th percentile, and 59.8 per cent of the shot attempts, 98th, in 531 minutes — and the usual Carolina caveat applies with force here. A rookie third-pair defenceman on the best possession team in the league is going to post numbers that flatter him.

Four points in his last ten. Two hundred and nineteenth overall in 2021, which is essentially the last row of the draft, and he played 38 NHL games at 23.

Not enough evidence to grade honestly. Ask again in a hundred games — but a seventh-round pick this size getting this far is already the interesting part.