Jonathan Aspirot

Last Season

Three goals and 10 assists in 61 games, plus-30, at 16:44 a night. His first NHL season, at 26 years old, after a professional career spent entirely in the minors.

The Finesse Game

Not the appeal. Eighty-seven unblocked attempts, three goals, and 82 per cent of them from beyond forty feet with a median of 57 — the longest average shot distance of any player in this book. He puts it on net from the blue line and goes to work.

The Physical Game

Six foot even, 212, and he plays a compact, stubborn defensive game. Forty-three penalty minutes.

The Intangibles

Two numbers on this page contradict each other and both are printed because the reader is owed the disagreement.

The National Hockey League recorded him at plus-30, the best figure on the club. This book’s own five-on-five tracking has the goals at 45 for and 45 against while he was on the ice, with the expected goals running 37.5 to 42.1 against him and an on-ice rate in the 27th percentile.

Both are correct and they are measuring different things. Plus-minus counts overtime three-on-three, four-on-four, empty-net goals and shorthanded goals for — none of which appear in the five-on-five column, which covers the first three periods at even strength only. That is where a gap of this size comes from.

Which one describes his season better is the reader’s call. The five-on-five figure is the larger sample and the one tied to the expected goals beside it.

What is not in doubt: an undrafted defenceman played 61 NHL games at 26. That is a good story regardless of which column you trust.