This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Matt Roy
Washington Capitals Defense
A seventh-round pick with a career plus-85, and his ice went 61-38.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | LAK | 25 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 5.9 | 17:08 |
| 2019-20 | LAK | 70 | 4 | 14 | 18 | +16 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 3.6 | 18:07 |
| 2020-21 | LAK | 44 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 3.5 | 19:15 |
| 2021-22 | LAK | 67 | 2 | 19 | 21 | +23 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 153 | 1.3 | 20:59 |
| 2022-23 | LAK | 82 | 9 | 17 | 26 | +8 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 135 | 6.7 | 18:47 |
| 2023-24 | LAK | 81 | 5 | 20 | 25 | +21 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 135 | 3.7 | 20:54 |
| 2024-25 | WSH | 69 | 3 | 21 | 24 | +18 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 3.6 | 19:53 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 438 | 27 | 103 | 130 | +85 | 143 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 710 | 3.8 | 19:32 |
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
3 goals and 21 assists in 69 games — 24 points at 19:53 a night, plus-18, on 84 shots, and 25 penalty minutes.
49.6 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five, the 47th percentile. His ice went 61-38 against an expectation of 45.17-45.98 — sixteen goals better than expected for and eight fewer conceded, which is a considerable distance from what the chances predicted at both ends.
The Finesse Game
84 attempts in 69 games at a median of 56 feet with 77 per cent from beyond 40 and 7 per cent from inside 20, and 3 goals. 27 goals in 438 career games.
21 assists. The first pass is early and correct and the puck leaves the zone, which is the whole offensive contribution and is worth more than the point totals suggest.
The Physical Game
6-2 and 220 and he defends the rush better than almost anybody on this roster. He closes gaps early, he takes the puck with his stick before contact is needed, and he clears the front of his own net when it is.
25 penalty minutes in 69 games at twenty a night is a low rate. He kills penalties, he blocks shots, and he is the man sent out to protect a lead.
The Intangibles
A seventh-round pick in 2015 — 194th overall — out of Michigan Tech, and 438 games and a career plus-85.
He is 30. He played six seasons in Los Angeles as a second-pairing right shot nobody outside that city discussed, and Washington signed him for six years in the summer of 2024. He is the least-known genuinely good defenceman in this edition.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,156 minutes
- Expected goals
- 49.6%
- 48th pct
- Shot attempts
- 48.6%
- 39th 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: 61 for, 38 against. Expected: 45.2 and 46.0.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 18 points of one another. 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.
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 — 75 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 · 1156 minutes at five-on-five
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
- WSH took 50.8% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 49.6% — 1.2 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Third pair, 1,156 minutes at five-on-five — 81st percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Fehérváry | 50.3% | 48.8% | 55.1% |
| Rasmus Sandin | 51.5% | 48.5% | 50.4% |
| Aliaksei Protas | 55.4% | 47.0% | 51.0% |
50.3% together, 48.8% for him apart and 55.1% for Fehérváry apart. Fehérváry was better away from him while his own share held, which is a mark against him more than for him.
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
147 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 3 of them goals. His median goal came from 64 feet. 8% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 77% from beyond forty.