This is the 2024-25 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Michael Kesselring
Utah Hockey Club Defense
Six-five, a sixth-round pick, and 21 points in 65 games.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | ARI | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.0 | 17:06 |
| 2023-24 | ARI | 65 | 5 | 16 | 21 | +11 | 66 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 76 | 6.6 | 15:48 |
| 2024-25 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 74 | 5 | 19 | 24 | +10 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 84 | 5.9 | 15:57 |
This Season So Far
The 2024-25 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
65 games, 5 goals and 16 assists for 21 points, 66 penalty minutes, 15:48 a night and plus-11, with 2 game-winners. He took 50.0 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 1,004 minutes, the 53rd percentile, and his ice went 51-40 against an expectation of 41.53-41.52.
Nine and a half goals of finishing above what the chances were worth and level at the other end. Fifty-one goals for on an exactly even chance share is the largest finishing surplus of any defenceman on the club.
The Finesse Game
133 attempts at a median of 51 feet with 68 per cent of them from beyond forty and 10 per cent from inside twenty, 76 of those on goal, converted at 6.6 per cent against a career 5.95 across 84 shots.
Nineteen career assists against 5 goals in 74 games. He shoots from the point and does it often for a third-pairing defenceman — 133 attempts in 65 games — and there is more skill in the first pass than a sixth-round pick is entitled to.
The Physical Game
He is 6-5 and 215 — the tallest defenceman on this roster — and took 66 penalty minutes.
Seventy-two career penalty minutes in 74 games. At 6-5 the reach takes away the cross-ice pass before it is thrown and the front of the net belongs to him; sixty-six penalty minutes in 65 games is what it costs at that size.
The Intangibles
One hundred and sixty-fourth overall in 2018 by Edmonton, two seasons, both of them with this organisation.
A career plus-10 in 74 games. He was a sixth-round pick by a club he never played a game for and has held a place here for a full season at 24.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2023-24 · 1,004 minutes
- Expected goals
- 50%
- 53rd pct
- Shot attempts
- 51.8%
- 70th 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: 51 for, 40 against. Expected: 41.5 and 41.5.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe report ranks him 27 points above where the numbers do. 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 652 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 76 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
2023-24 with ARI · 1004 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, 2023-24
- The club
- ARI took 48.9% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 50.0% — 1.1 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- Second pair, 1,004 minutes at five-on-five — 58th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juuso Välimäki | 48.4% | 51.2% | 52.5% |
| Alex Kerfoot | 49.2% | 50.3% | 45.5% |
| Nick Schmaltz | 46.7% | 51.3% | 50.5% |
48.4% together, 51.2% for him apart and 52.5% for Välimäki apart. Välimäki 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
133 unblocked shots in 2023-24, 5 of them goals. His median goal came from 27 feet. 11% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 68% from beyond forty.