Players

RW · Los Angeles Kings

Six-five, 230 pounds, and skates like a winger half his size — the question has always been what he does with it.

D · Chicago Blackhawks

Twenty-two minutes a night, forty-two points, and the only defenceman here whose numbers are average.

D · Dallas Stars

A hundred and seven games across eight seasons, and not one shot from inside twenty feet.

D · Pittsburgh Penguins

Undrafted, forty-six games, and two goals.

C · Anaheim Ducks

The centre the rebuild was for, and last season he started looking like it.

C · Buffalo Sabres

Six goals in his last ten games, at thirty-four, in ten minutes a night.

D · Montréal Canadiens

An undersized right-shot defenceman who plays nineteen honest minutes and asks for nothing.

LW · Carolina Hurricanes

Ten and three-quarter minutes a night, and half his shots from inside twenty feet.

LW · Philadelphia Flyers

Plus twenty-six from a fifth-round pick, and a median shot from fifteen feet.

C · Seattle Kraken

Twenty years old, five foot ten, and forty-seven per cent of his shots from inside twenty feet.

RW · Montréal Canadiens

Five-foot-eight, and he just scored fifty-one goals.

D · Los Angeles Kings

Nine hundred and fifty games of steady, unloved, entirely necessary defensive minutes.

D · Ottawa Senators

Five hundred and sixty-nine games, and the quiet half of a very good blue line.

D · Carolina Hurricanes

Undrafted, twenty minutes a night, and two goals in a hundred and sixty-seven tries.

D · Detroit Red Wings

Fifteen hundred minutes, and the ninth percentile in every one of them.

RW · Pittsburgh Penguins

Twenty-one goals from thirteen minutes a night, and a median shot from thirty-three feet.

D · New Jersey Devils

Twenty-nine shots, and not one of them from inside twenty feet.

RW · New York Rangers

Six foot four, twenty-eight games, and five points in his last ten.

D · Columbus Blue Jackets

Undrafted, a hundred and fifty-two games, and no goals in forty of them.

C · New York Islanders

Nine hundred and seventy-eight games in one uniform, and half his shots from the paint.

D · Los Angeles Kings

A 22-year-old right-shot defenceman who already runs a power play and is still learning where to stand without the puck.

D · Boston Bruins

Concedes the outside on purpose, and it worked better than almost anyone noticed.

D · Chicago Blackhawks

Nine hundred and ninety games, thirty-seven years old, and the eighty-second percentile.

LW · Minnesota Wild

Two Stanley Cups, a relentless motor, and a twenty-goal season at thirty-four.

C · Nashville Predators

Sixty-four goals for and thirty against while he was on the ice, in Colorado.

LW · Detroit Red Wings

Six hundred and fifty-eight games, and the thirteenth percentile last season.

LW · Winnipeg Jets

A pure scorer who has quietly put up three hundred goals without ever being talked about.

G · Calgary Flames

A .909 in thirty-one games, better than the starter, and nobody expects him to keep the job.

C · Detroit Red Wings

Sixty per cent of his shots from inside twenty feet, and nine goals.

RW · Calgary Flames

Forty-five points, minus-twenty-nine, and two hundred shots taken from too far away.

C · Ottawa Senators

Ninety-two penalty minutes at thirty-three, and seven hundred and twenty-three games.

C · Philadelphia Flyers

Nine hundred and fifty-two games, a Selke, and a body that took two years back.

C · Columbus Blue Jackets

Twenty-four goals at thirty-four, from a median of sixteen feet.

C · Ottawa Senators

The ninety-eighth percentile, and forty-eight goals for against fifty-four.

D · Buffalo Sabres

Six foot eight, and the fifth percentile in expected goals while he was on the ice.

C · Pittsburgh Penguins

Fourteen hundred and twenty games, seventeen hundred and sixty-one points, and fourteen in his last ten.

LW · New York Rangers

Twenty goals, sixty-five penalty minutes, and forty-seven per cent of his shots from the paint.

G · Seattle Kraken

Forty-seven appearances, a .8959, and .865 over the last ten.

C · Edmonton Oilers

A 6-4 winger with a decent set of hands who has spent three years being almost ready.

C · Montréal Canadiens

The third pick in his draft, seven years on, with 136 career points and a knee that keeps ending his seasons.

D · Buffalo Sabres

Seventy-four points, twenty-four minutes a night, and the numbers finally agree with the pedigree.

C · Montréal Canadiens

A defensive centre back where his career started, with the offence now almost entirely gone.

C · Detroit Red Wings

Twenty-eight games at twenty-one, and the best of a bad set of Detroit numbers.

D · New York Islanders

Thirty assists from the blue line, and a penalty kill that finished last.

RW · Detroit Red Wings

Five foot eight, forty-one goals, and nobody has stopped him yet.

D · Winnipeg Jets

A sixth-round pick who became the quiet half of one of the most settled defence pairings in the league.

RW · Montréal Canadiens

A rookie with sixty-two points who was already the most creative player on the ice most nights.

LW · Carolina Hurricanes

Seven hundred and eight games, fifty-three goals, and a job that barely exists any more.

G · Dallas Stars

Undrafted, and he out-saved the starter on the same defence.

C · Pittsburgh Penguins

Plus sixteen from the fourth line, and a hundred and ten shots.

C · Edmonton Oilers

A defensive center who has made a long career out of the shifts nobody wants and the faceoffs nobody counts.

D · New Jersey Devils

A thousand and fifty-six games, undrafted, and a median shot from fifty-eight feet.

RW · Buffalo Sabres

The best on-ice rate on the roster, and he gets it by shooting from seventeen feet.

G · Montréal Canadiens

A fifth-round goaltender who took the crease and did not give it back.

D · Montréal Canadiens

A big right-shot defenceman who plays twenty-two minutes and has never quite been the player his best season promised.

C · Chicago Blackhawks

Five hundred and sixty-five games, and a career year that landed on the worst possible team.

RW · New York Rangers

Thirty-seven goals, twenty of them on the power play.

G · Anaheim Ducks

The goaltender this club has committed to, coming off the season that made the commitment a question.

D · Los Angeles Kings

Eighteen years, two Cups and 1,279 games in one sweater, still playing the most minutes on the team.

C · Seattle Kraken

Six foot nine, a hundred and eight penalty minutes, and six minutes and forty-five seconds a night.