Wyatt Kaiser

Last Season

Six goals and 11 assists in 77 games — 17 points, minus-16, at 19:37 a night with 1,340 five-on-five minutes.

The Finesse Game

The skating is fine and the first pass is quick, which is why a third-round pick is playing top-four minutes at 23. Six goals from 112 unblocked attempts, median 48 feet, eleven per cent inside twenty — a point shooter who gets a few through.

Eleven assists in 77 games from those minutes is a low return and says the offence is not coming.

The Physical Game

Six foot even, 190, and small for the job. Thirty-four penalty minutes. In front of his own net he is outmuscled routinely and the club has no bigger option to move him for.

The Intangibles

Forty-four per cent of the expected goals, tenth percentile; 45.3 per cent of the shot attempts, 13th. The expected goals ran 48.7 to 61.9 against across 1,340 minutes and the actual goals 53-69.

Five points in his last ten.

Every defenceman on this roster posted numbers in this range and it is genuinely difficult to separate the men from the situation. What can be said is that Kaiser is 23, has 175 games, and is being asked to play a role two levels above where a third-round pick should be at this stage. That is Chicago’s problem more than his.