Players

D · Edmonton Oilers

The defenseman who makes mistakes disappear — quietly, twenty minutes a night, against the other team's best.

LW · Ottawa Senators

Minus thirty-one in San Jose, and dead level in the chances.

D · Toronto Maple Leafs

Eleven hundred and thirty-seven games, and thirty-one assists at thirty-five.

C · Florida Panthers

Eleven hundred and eighty-four games, and half his shots from inside twenty feet.

G · Buffalo Sabres

Sixteen games, a .903, and not enough of either to say much.

D · Edmonton Oilers

A steady, unspectacular right-shot defenseman doing exactly what a third pair is supposed to do.

RW · Florida Panthers

Minus twenty-nine in sixty-seven games, and no five-on-five record to explain it with.

G · Ottawa Senators

A .8696, the lowest of any goaltender who played twenty-five games.

RW · Nashville Predators

Forty-four assists and the ninety-fourth percentile, on a club that finished twenty-seventh in defence.

C · Montréal Canadiens

A seventh-round pick who made himself into a penalty-killing centre and has outlasted almost everyone drafted above him.

D · Seattle Kraken

Fifty-two goals for against forty-four, and the thirteenth percentile in shot attempts.

C · Boston Bruins

A hundred and nine shots in fifty-six games from a fourth-liner, and eight goals to show for it.

D · Columbus Blue Jackets

Fifty-four goals for and thirty-three against, and expected goals that say it was a coin flip.

D · Minnesota Wild

Twenty-three years old and already playing twenty-five minutes a night against the other team's best.

C · Dallas Stars

Seven hundred and sixty-six games of defensive-zone faceoffs, and the eleventh percentile.

C · Columbus Blue Jackets

Fifty-nine points at twenty-one, and a shot chart that still has a step to take.

LW · Calgary Flames

Twenty goals, and a shot chart drifting the wrong way at exactly the wrong age.

D · Detroit Red Wings

A thousand and fifty-eight games, sixteen goals from the blue line, and the thirteenth percentile.

D · Washington Capitals

Three hundred and eighty games, twenty-seven goals, and sixty-seven goals for.

D · Winnipeg Jets

A left-shot defenceman who spent seven years absorbing punishment on a bad team and now gets to do it on a good one.

LW · Los Angeles Kings

The most naturally skilled forward on the roster, and the one whose season you can never predict in October.

C · St. Louis Blues

Six foot six, forty-four games, and five points.

C · Detroit Red Wings

A two hundred and first overall pick who played all eighty-two games as a rookie.

D · Florida Panthers

Sixty-three NHL games across nine professional seasons, and no goals in any of them.

D · Seattle Kraken

Twenty-three games, a hundred career games, and two goals in all of them.

D · Winnipeg Jets

A seventh-overall pick, a decade on, with a minus-eighteen in thirty-eight games.

LW · Ottawa Senators

Thirteen goals and four assists, which is the strangest split in this book.

RW · Philadelphia Flyers

Thirteen goals in twenty-nine games, and eighty-third percentile behind them.

LW · Minnesota Wild

A heavy, honest winger fifteen years in, with the production falling away faster than the willingness.

LW · Minnesota Wild

Nineteen seasons, 1,287 games, and a fourth-line role he takes as seriously as any he has had.

G · Los Angeles Kings

A journeyman backup who quietly outplayed the starter last season.

LW · Nashville Predators

Forty goals from a median of thirty-five feet, which almost nobody does.

D · Florida Panthers

A hundred and twenty-sixth overall, twenty-two and a half minutes a night, and two goals.

D · St. Louis Blues

Eleven hundred and twenty-four games, and twenty-six assists at thirty-four.

G · Montréal Canadiens

A rookie goaltender with seventeen games and the best numbers of the three, which is either a small sample or the future.

D · New York Rangers

Fifty-three points in fifty-five games, and the best on-ice rate on the club by a distance.

RW · Washington Capitals

Undrafted, twelve goals, and fifty-eight per cent of his shots from inside twenty feet.

C · Edmonton Oilers

A heavy, useful bottom-six forward coming off a year in which almost nothing went in.

C · Calgary Flames

Twenty-two goals from a median of twenty feet, and a minus-sixteen underneath them.

RW · Vancouver Canucks

Nine hundred and eleven games, five foot nine, and two hundred and forty-six goals.

C · Minnesota Wild

A defensive fourth-line centre on his fourth organisation, doing the same job at each of them.

RW · Columbus Blue Jackets

Five foot ten, a hundred and sixty-five pounds, and the eighteenth percentile.

C · Vegas Golden Knights

Undrafted, eighty-eight games, and ten minutes a night.

RW · San Jose Sharks

Seventeen goals in eleven minutes a night, and the tenth percentile.

C · Seattle Kraken

Undrafted, four hundred and seventy-eight games, and the second percentile.

C · Boston Bruins

Two hundred and fourteen games spread across ten seasons, which tells you the shape of it.

LW · Anaheim Ducks

Forty-one goals, and almost none of them from where you would expect a forty-goal scorer to stand.

D · New York Rangers

Sixteen hundred five-on-five minutes, and fourteen goals from the blue line.

C · Boston Bruins

Thirty-nine goals on a hundred and eighty-one shots, which is the single most fragile number in this book.

G · Detroit Red Wings

A career .909, a season at .901, and a finish at .863.

D · Pittsburgh Penguins

Five foot ten, a hundred and seventy pounds, and sixty-six goals for against twenty-one.

C · Tampa Bay Lightning

Eight hundred and forty-four games, and fifty-seven per cent of his shots from inside twenty feet.

RW · Ottawa Senators

Thirteen hundred and forty-five games, eleven hundred and sixty-five points, and plus twenty at thirty-eight.

C · New Jersey Devils

Nineteen goals and seven assists, which is a very strange season.

C · Tampa Bay Lightning

The ninety-fifth percentile, plus twenty-six, and thirteen minutes a night.

C · San Jose Sharks

Seven hundred and thirty-one games, undrafted, and the second percentile.

D · Carolina Hurricanes

Fifty points in fifty-five games from the second pair, at thirty-three.

C · Tampa Bay Lightning

Five foot nine, undrafted, and the seventy-ninth percentile at thirty-four.

RW · San Jose Sharks

Undrafted, twenty-one goals, and sixty per cent of his shots from inside twenty feet.

C · Anaheim Ducks

Six hundred and fifty-one career points, and a body of work that keeps outrunning the eye test.