Rickard Rakell

Last Season

Twenty-four goals and 24 assists in 60 games — 48 points, minus-two, at 18:57 a night with seven power-play goals. Twenty-two games missed.

The Finesse Game

The shot chart is excellent. Fifty-eight per cent of his unblocked attempts came from inside twenty feet, median 17, with only eight per cent from beyond forty — and twenty-six goals came out of 244 tries.

That is a finisher who has worked out that the outside is a waste of his time. Two hundred and sixty goals in 862 career games.

Twenty-four assists is honest second-line work.

The Physical Game

Six foot one, 194, and he is not physical — eight penalty minutes in 60 games is one of the lowest rates in this edition.

He gets to the paint by timing rather than force, which works and is also why he takes a beating and misses games.

The Intangibles

Fifty-one point three per cent of the expected goals, 66th percentile, with the goals 37-32 in his favour across 847 minutes.

Twelve points in his last ten, nine of them goals — the hottest finish of anyone in this book.

He is 33 and Pittsburgh finished thirty-five goals above its expected total, second-best in the league. A good share of that is this shot chart and Crosby’s and Brazeau’s, which is the honest version: this club shoots from the right places.