Sam Gagner

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

81 games for Detroit, 13 goals and 18 assists at 13:37 a night, minus-4, thirty-two penalty minutes, 132 shots, one short-handed goal. Sixth overall in 2007 by Edmonton, fifteen seasons, 967 games, 505 points.

The Finesse Game

7.18 shots per 60 is the 48th percentile at 9.8 per cent, from a 25-foot median with forty-seven per cent of his attempts from inside twenty feet.

2.02 even-strength points per 60 is the 65th percentile and three per cent of his points came on the power play — off thirty-nine seconds a night, which for a man with fifty-three career power-play goals is the clearest statement of where he now stands.

0.761 giveaways per 60 is the 20th-fewest of the 393 forwards who played forty games.

43.4 per cent of the expected goals is the 37th-lowest of the same 393 and 46.1 per cent of the attempts the 17th percentile, out of 38.7 per cent offensive-zone time, the 32nd-lowest of the 365 forwards the tracking covers, and 42.1 per cent offensive-zone starts, the 119th-lowest of 652 skaters.

His ice went 33-40 against an expectation of 29.72-38.69 — three ahead in front and a goal and a half more against, which off shares that bad is a considerably better outcome than the model expected.

The Physical Game

2:22 a night short-handed is the 9th-most of the 393 forwards who played forty games, out of 42.1 per cent offensive-zone starts.

1.14 hits per 60 is the 28th-fewest of the same 393 and 1.36 blocks the 34th percentile, at 5-11 and 200 pounds.

0.38 penalties drawn per 60 is the 9th percentile against 0.87 taken — a net of minus 0.49, the 8th percentile among forwards.

The Intangibles

21.1 mph is the 9th-slowest top speed of the 365 tracked forwards, with 1.69 bursts over twenty miles an hour per 60 — the 28th-fewest — and 8.86 miles per 60, the 14th-lowest.

All three measurements are in the bottom tenth of the league. There is no reading of that except the obvious one at 33.

He is 33, sixth overall in 2007, with 505 points in 967 games and a career plus-minus of minus-133 accumulated across seven organisations. Thirty-one points and the 9th-largest penalty-killing workload among forwards is honest fourth-line work. The skating says how much longer it can be done, and the answer the chips give is: not much.