Nick DeSimone

Last Season

Two goals and six assists in 40 games — eight points, plus-four, at 14:13 a night with only ten penalty minutes.

The Finesse Game

Fifty-five unblocked attempts from a median of 48 feet, 71 per cent from beyond forty, two goals. Twenty-one points in 98 career games.

Six assists in 40 games is a modest third-pair return and the offensive game is not the reason he plays.

The Physical Game

Six foot two, 194, and light. Ten penalty minutes in 40 games is a very low rate.

He is not physical, does not clear a crease, and defends with position and stick. The skating is fair.

The Intangibles

Fifty-four point eight per cent of the expected goals, 86th percentile, and 54.2 per cent of the shot attempts, 87th, across 558 minutes, with the chances 22.5 to 18.6 in his favour and the goals 26-18.

Those are the best figures of any Utah defenceman, from the seventh spot on the depth chart and in half a season.

He is 31, undrafted out of Union, and spent eight years in the American League before this. A thirty-one-year-old depth defenceman posting an 86th percentile in sheltered minutes is exactly the sort of thing that looks like a find and usually is not — but on this blue line it earned him games.