Players

D · Seattle Kraken

22 and a half minutes a night, and minus 21.

D · Anaheim Ducks

A minus-14 that the arithmetic refuses to blame him for.

C · Chicago Blackhawks

The only Chicago skater whose on-ice numbers were merely below average.

LW · Los Angeles Kings

An undrafted winger who out-works his way into a top-6 role and has never once looked comfortable there or out of place.

D · Winnipeg Jets

A defenceman playing 25 minutes a night against the best players in the league and producing while he does it.

D · New York Rangers

29 games at 23, zone starts dead even, and a better chance share than the club he played for.

D · Tampa Bay Lightning

Plus 41, 21 and a half minutes, and the 90th percentile.

D · Edmonton Oilers

A long, mobile 6-4 Russian defenseman who has just started to look like the first-round pick he was.

G · Pittsburgh Penguins

5 appearances, a shutout, and the most interesting goaltender in the organisation.

D · Edmonton Oilers

13 years of shutdown minutes on bad teams, arriving here with a body that has taken a great deal of punishment.

D · Toronto Maple Leafs

6-5, 39 games, no goals, and the 4th percentile.

D · Dallas Stars

6-8, 1,139 games, and minus 23.

C · Winnipeg Jets

13 years, 8 organisations, and a checking centre who keeps being useful enough to re-sign.

C · Chicago Blackhawks

41 points in 66 games at 21, and nothing underneath it that agrees.

C · Colorado Avalanche

A first-round pick who took 8 years to arrive and then scored 100 points.

G · San Jose Sharks

219 games, and the best save percentage in a bad crease.

LW · St. Louis Blues

57 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet, and the 77th percentile.

C · Colorado Avalanche

1,000 games of quiet, heavy, reliable centre play, and 33 goals at 34.

D · Calgary Flames

The second pick in 2022, on his second club, still waiting to be what that meant.

C · Anaheim Ducks

8 assists in 29 games from a sixth-round pick who keeps almost sticking.

C · Montréal Canadiens

A fast, skilled forward who has never been able to hold a top-6 job or stay healthy long enough to try.

RW · Columbus Blue Jackets

6-4, 49 points, and the 97th percentile.

RW · Winnipeg Jets

1,000 games of heavy, honest wing play, with the goals now drying up.

D · Carolina Hurricanes

33 points and plus-18 as a rookie, at 24, after 5 years of waiting.

RW · New Jersey Devils

A median shot from 13 feet, and 38 games to take it.

C · Buffalo Sabres

On for 33 goals and 10 against, in 535 minutes he was fit for.

C · Pittsburgh Penguins

The 91st percentile, and 53 goals for against 39.

C · Edmonton Oilers

A first-overall pick who became something more useful than a star: the player who makes whichever line he is put on work.

D · San Jose Sharks

798 games, 104 penalty minutes, and 7 goals.

RW · Toronto Maple Leafs

750 games, 691 points, and 30 goals in 65.

D · Carolina Hurricanes

A seventh-round pick, 5-11, and 38 NHL games out of nowhere.

C · Utah Mammoth

Undrafted, 265 games, and 39 points in all of them.

LW · Vancouver Canucks

Undrafted, 6-4, 17 goals, and minus 12.

C · Nashville Predators

64 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet — the highest share in this book.

G · Dallas Stars

A career .910, a season at .899, and a finish at .876.

LW · Vancouver Canucks

The lowest chance share of any regular in the National Hockey League.

D · Vancouver Canucks

6-7, 252 pounds, and plus 9.

RW · Columbus Blue Jackets

101 penalty minutes, 15 goals, and the 86th percentile.

RW · Vegas Golden Knights

448 games, and 60 goals for against 37.

D · San Jose Sharks

949 games, 34 assists, and minus 28.

C · San Jose Sharks

6-4, 58 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet, and 4 goals.

C · Buffalo Sabres

11 goals on 60 shots, and the underlying numbers of a player who belongs.

LW · Washington Capitals

929 goals, 1,573 games, and 32 more at 40.

D · Calgary Flames

Undrafted, 177 games, and a seventh defenceman who keeps playing.

C · New York Islanders

4 penalty minutes in 74 games, and half his shots from inside 20 feet.

LW · New York Islanders

905 games, 2 Stanley Cups, and 31 goals for against 54.

C · New York Islanders

925 games, and a median shot from 15 feet.

LW · Los Angeles Kings

An undrafted Russian who became one of the great playmakers of his era, still producing at a rate that makes the defensive arguments academic.

D · St. Louis Blues

6-6, 800 games, and 73 per cent of his shots from beyond 40 feet.

D · Calgary Flames

9 points in 37 games, the 8th percentile in chances, and the most interesting player on this roster.

RW · Boston Bruins

100 points, and only 29 of them goals, which has never been true of him before.

G · Boston Bruins

1 appearance, 7 goals against, and a career that has been almost entirely spent waiting.

LW · Toronto Maple Leafs

6-4, 537 games, and 2 Stanley Cup runs.

D · Utah Mammoth

386 games, 77 per cent of his shots from beyond 40 feet, and 53 goals for.

D · New York Islanders

642 games, 30 goals, and the 82nd percentile in possession.

D · Nashville Predators

The 11th percentile, and the second-most 5-on-5 minutes on the club.

C · Winnipeg Jets

A skilled playmaker who keeps producing at a middle-6 rate and has never quite forced his way higher.

RW · New York Rangers

61 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet, as a 20-year-old rookie.

RW · Los Angeles Kings

41 years old, 1,464 games, and still standing exactly where he has always stood: in the goaltender's eyes.

D · Los Angeles Kings

A gifted small puck-mover who has spent 5 professional seasons unable to stay healthy or hold a spot.