Sam Carrick

This Season So Far

The 2022-23 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

11 goals and 8 assists in 64 games — 19 points at 11:28 a night, minus-12, on 80 shots and 85 penalty minutes.

Eleven goals at thirty, in the first season of his career that lasted more than 34 games. He had 15 goals in 111 NHL games spread over eight seasons before this one.

45.8 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 665 minutes, the 17th percentile, on 11:28 a night — the 9th percentile of ice time. His ice went 20-28 against an expectation of 23.84-28.21: four goals of scoring missing, and the goals against landing exactly where the chances said.

The one line he drove was the fourth one. With Nicolas Deslauriers the pair took 49.9 per cent across 540 attempts, against 42.2 for Carrick apart and 41.9 for Deslauriers apart. Deslauriers has signed in Philadelphia.

The Finesse Game

80 attempts at a median of 24 feet, 53 per cent from inside 20, converting at 13.8 per cent — the 72nd percentile, and on 6.54 shots per 60 at the 34th. Eleven goals off eighty shots is a good year at the edge of a roster and not a skill anybody should plan around.

He took 0:09 a night of power play and scored none of his points on it. 1.14 takeaways per 60 is the 17th percentile. There is no offensive case here beyond the eleven goals themselves.

The Physical Game

This is the job. 9.97 hits per 60 is the 89th percentile among forwards and 128 penalty minutes in 111 career games is the rest of it.

He drew 1.72 penalties per 60, the 96th percentile — genuine value from a fourth-line centre, and more than either Troy Terry or Trevor Zegras managed. And then 2.13 penalties taken per 60 is the 98th percentile — nobody on this roster gave away more. The net is minus-0.41, the 11th percentile. He is a man who makes something happen every shift and roughly half of what happens is bad.

Top speed 21.7 mph, the 13th percentile. He forechecks hard without being quick, which means he arrives late and finishes the check anyway.

The Intangibles

One hundred and forty-fourth overall in 2010 by Toronto, and the better part of a decade in the American league before anybody gave him sixty NHL games in a season.

He is 30, and this is what a thirteenth forward looks like when he finally gets a full season: eleven goals, eighty-five penalty minutes and a penalty differential the coach has to keep explaining. Anaheim can do considerably worse for the money, and on a rebuild the fourth line is the one place where a man who competes this hard costs nothing to keep.