Parker Wotherspoon

Last Season

Three goals and 27 assists in 80 games — 30 points, plus-17, at 20:10 a night with 55 penalty minutes. His five-on-five work was done in Pittsburgh.

His 188th career game.

The Finesse Game

Ninety-four unblocked attempts from a median of 53 feet, 70 per cent from beyond forty, and not one of them from inside twenty feet — no other defenceman in this edition took ninety shots without once entering the slot.

Three goals. Four goals in 188 career games.

Twenty-seven assists is a genuinely strong return and a career high by twenty — it is all first pass, and the first pass is the whole player.

The Physical Game

Six foot one, 190, and light. Fifty-five penalty minutes in twenty minutes a night is a moderately high rate.

He defends with stick and position, blocks shots, and is moved out of his own crease by heavy forwards.

The Intangibles

Fifty point three per cent of the expected goals, 56th percentile, and 51.7 per cent of the shot attempts, 73rd, across 1,402 minutes in Pittsburgh.

Twenty minutes a night on a club that finished fourth at generating even-strength offence, and level chance share out of it, is a good season for a player who was a spare part until he was 27.

He is 29, a fourth-round pick, and joins a blue line with Theodore, Hanifin and Andersson. He is the fourth option and probably the cheapest useful one in the league.