This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are turning specifically toward defence production. There are certainly a number of D making headlines, from rookie Matthew Schaefer whom we discussed last week, to Simon Nemec pulling off a hattrick, to Cale Makar casually on an 111-point pace. Today though I want to focus on players who are doing a bit of everything. Not all of them are the true multi-cat studs but all of them are definitely contributing across multiple areas.

To help review I grabbed the Multicategory Report from the Frozen Tools Dobber Reports page and then exported it so I could grab just the columns I was interested in. For some additional context I also added the percent rostered numbers from Yahoo. All of the data is as of November 14th.

Starting left to right the table contains some basic information about each player (name, rostered percent, team, and total games played), and then moves into per game production (points, shots, hits, and blocks per game). There is also a filter applied so that only players who have played at least ten games will be represented. The list is further sorted by points per game.

Brandon Montour tops our list in terms of point production. He did have to miss a few games but does have nine points in 12 games for a 65-point pace. His shot and hit rates are fairly consistent with prior years, but he is seeing an increase in blocks so far. It seems reasonable that the peripherals will continue, but I am not convinced of the point pace. That has nothing to do with Montour's individual skill and everything to do with his situation. Seattle has a hard time scoring at the best of times, and currently Montour has a second power-play problem. Seattle seems to be leaning slightly more into a preferred top unit this year than in years past, meaning Montour's share of the team's power play time has dropped about 15 percent. On a team that struggles to score goals, getting only 35 percent of the power-play time certainly doesn’t help.

Jacob Trouba has 12 points in his last 12 games. Hopefully managers had him rostered for his peripherals and have enjoyed the ride. The good news is that Trouba has increased both his shot and hit rates and is seeing a little bit more time on ice. Add to that that Anaheim has suddenly become a wagon and we might be tempted to think that some of this is for real. The challenge is that basically every metric looking at potential point production is too high. He has four goals and is shooting almost 14 percent when his career average is 3%. The team at five on five is scoring more frequently than we would expect, Trouba is getting in on those goals more often than we would expect, and he is barely seeing any power-play time (about 12 percent). He has been on the second unit more consistently lately though so if that sticks it would help. He certainly is likely to do a bit better than in 24-25 given the way the team is playing, but don't be fooled to think he has turned over a new leaf.

Why isn't Justin Faulk's percent rostered number higher? St. Louis has had kind of a rough start here, but Faulk is looking good. He has significantly increased his shot and block rates over his 24-25 numbers and is getting about a minute more ice time overall. His power-play deployment has fluctuated throughout the season, sometimes on the top unit, sometimes not, and his personal shooting percentage is a bit too high, so maybe he doesn't quite get this point production, but generally he is providing very steady across the board production.

We touched on Alexander Nikishin last week, and I don't have a lot to add. He is still contributing across categories and getting pretty solid minutes for a rookie.

Darnell Nurse is always somewhere on the multi-cat lists and 25-26 is no exception. The thing that is different so far this year is a career-high block rate (getting close to three per game) and a career low in hits. He has also lost a couple of minutes of overall ice time (which has been pretty steadily declining for several years) and currently has a high shooting percentage. Overall, pretty much more of the same for Nurse if the contributions are coming in slightly different categories.

Jackson LaCombe makes the list because of jumps in shots, hits, and blocks. Somehow though he has very much avoided the Anaheim bump as he is only pacing for 34 points on the season. Almost everyone else seems to be going gangbusters, but LaCombe has yet to score a goal. That coupled with a very low IPP seems to indicate some potential for a scoring rebound. LaCombe is still a fixture on the top power-play unit, and has gained about three minutes of total time overall. That certainly explains the increases in peripherals, which is hopefully enough to keep folks interested until the scoring rebounds a bit.

Sean Walker has a reasonable history of cross category contributions, but it has been put into overdrive so far this season. He is eclipsing two per game in shots and hits for the first time, and is also seeing a career high in blocks. That is probably par for the course when you play almost 24 minutes a night when your past career high was about 19. Walker has also been getting a fair amount of power-play time to start the season. The big caveat with all of that though is Walker was leaned on very heavily when both Shayne Gostisbhere and K'Andre Miller were out at the same time. As of their game on November 11th (when both had returned to the lineup), Walker was on the most heavily used pair at even strength with Miller and with him on the second power play too. If that holds it seems pretty reasonable to expect the peripherals to continue.

That is all for this week.

Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.

Professional Women's Hockey League

Hockey is For Everyone

Black Girl Hockey Club

Athletes for Hope