Scouting Report: Alex Goligoski

7 years ago

My Scouting Report series continues today, and once again we are focusing on the blue line.

You can read the Jason Demers report here.
Justin Faulk
Tyson Barrie
Kris Russell

Today, we look at the 61st pick from the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Alex Goligoski. Goligoski played three seasons at the University of Minnesota after the Penguins drafted him.

In 2007/2008 he made his pro debut playing 70 games in the AHL. He started the next season in the NHL, but he was sent down to the AHL in early February and finished the season there (Another example of a young player not asking to be traded or sulk, because he didn’t stick with team, despite playing 21 minutes/game before being sent down). He did get recalled for the playoffs and played two games.

He became a regular in 2009/2010 and has played top-pairing minutes ever since.

Goligoski was moved to Dallas at the trade deadline in 2011 for James Neal and Matt Niskanen. Goligoski has been the Stars #1 Dman since the trade, and he’s been extremely healthy.

He has played 291 of a possible 294 games over the past four seasons. That is seventh most among D-men. He’s played the 13th most EV minutes during these four seasons, and the 23rd most (D-men) on the PP.

His PP production to icetime ratio is not great, however, sitting 46th among the 53 D-men who have played 500+ PP minutes the past four seasons.

The Basics:

Defence

Turns 31 years old in July

5’11” and 185 pounds.

Shoots left.

UFA this summer.

Current salary: $4.6 million (same as cap hit).

CAREER STATS

YEAR	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%
2007-08	PIT	3	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
2008-09	PIT	45	6	14	20	5	16	4	8	0	0	0	0	61	9.8
2009-10	PIT	69	8	29	37	7	22	2	17	0	0	0	0	98	8.2
2010-11	PIT	60	9	22	31	20	28	4	17	0	0	4	1	101	8.9
2010-11	DAL	23	5	10	15	0	12	3	7	0	0	0	0	61	8.2
2011-12	DAL	71	9	21	30	0	16	2	9	0	1	1	0	140	6.4
2012-13	DAL	47	3	24	27	4	18	0	11	0	1	0	0	80	3.8
2013-14	DAL	81	6	36	42	9	28	3	15	0	0	0	0	141	4.3
2014-15	DAL	81	4	32	36	0	24	0	8	0	2	0	0	122	3.3
2015-16	DAL	82	5	32	37	21	34	1	5	0	1	1	0	127	3.9
Career	–	562	55	222	277	68	200	19	97	0	5	6	1	933	5.9

Icetime over his NHL career.

Year GP TOI/game EVTOI/G SHTOI/G PPTOI/G
2016 82 23:50     19:32    2:20       1:57
2015   81 23:48 18:46    2:56       2:05
2014 81     24:18     18:31        2:28       3:18
2013   47     22:23     18:03        1:26       2:53
2012   71    22:46     18:20        1:16       3:09
2011   23     26:04    20:03 1:42       4:18 (Dallas)
2011   60     20:45      15:40       1:11       3:53 (Pittsburgh)
2010   69     21:25      17:21       1:22     2:49
2009   45     18:18      14:13       0:05       4:00

He’s been used as a top pairing defender for the past seven seasons. He was a first unit PP player until John Klingberg arrived, but he has never had great PP production, so he is likely more of a second pair PP player.

The Stars have used him a lot the past three seasons, and I’m curious why Jim Nill hasn’t re-signed any of his three UFA defenders — Goligoski, Demers and Russell — thus far. Considering the lack of quality UFA defenders, it is surprising the Stars haven’t signed any of theirs yet. If I had to pick one to retain, Goligoski would be my first choice.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

David Johnson (hockeyanalysis on twitter) the man in charge of stats.hockeyanalysis.com took a look at Goligoski’s stat lines.

When I analyze players I generally like to
look at several seasons and situations and look for trends. I also like to look
at score situations differently as players can play different roles based on
the score. While I look at corsi stats to get a grounding on the player I
generally put more weight on goals data, especially if there are consistent
trends over multiple seasons and score situations. I also look at RelTM (or
straight Rel) stats to factor out QoT.

Here are Alex Goligoski’s relevant stats over
the last several seasons.

5v5	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	-2.34	-2.1	-0.1	0.07	-0.29	3.8
2014-15	3.94	-2.91	2.9	0.34	-0.04	3.5
2015-16	6.82	3.05	1.3	0.82	0.12	6.5

5v5 Leading	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	-4.01	1.86	-2.7	1.04	0.11	8.2
2014-15	4.65	-0.41	2.3	0.95	0.71	4.8
2015-16	7.55	0.17	3.3	-0.09	-0.49	3.8

5v5 Trailing	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	2.78	-1.56	1.9	-0.27	-0.27	-0.2
2014-15	5.74	-0.64	2.2	-0.89	-0.14	-6.4
2015-16	8.44	8.56	-1.1	2.32	0.85	8.3

5v5 Tied	CF60 RelTM	CA60 RelTM	CF% RelTM	GF60 RelTM	GA60 RelTM	GF% RelTM
2013-14	-6.16	-5.56	-0.2	-0.72	-0.73	0.7
2014-15	0.49	-7.17	3.4	0.72	-0.75	12.5
2015-16	6.39	1.09	2	0.2	0.48	-3.8

Goligoski’s teammates generally had better
on-ice statistics (CF%RelTM and GF% RelTM) when playing with Gologiski than
when not. This is largely driven by the offensive numbers as the Stars
generated more shots and a higher goal rate when Gologoski was on the ice.
While the offense is good, the defensive numbers are a little more mixed.

While it appears that Goligoski is a good
offensive contributor (he ranks highly in points/60 among defensemen as well),
we need to damper our enthusiasm a little. Gologoski’s role leans more towards
offensive situations and he is typically on the ice with Dallas’ offensive
stars. Among defensemen his individual points percentage (the percentage of
goals scored while he was on the ice that he had a point on) is only a little
above average. This could indicate that he is less integral to the Dallas Stars
offense than some other players are to their team’s offense.

This is not to suggest he is a bad
defenseman. He clearly has some offensive skills and is fully capable of being
an offensive contributor on a highly offensive team. Furthermore his defensive
numbers don’t suffer as significantly as some other elite offensive defenseman.
Gologoski is not an elite defenseman but he’ll fit on the top pairing of most
NHL teams at this stage of his career.

SCOUTING REPORT

This week’s scouting report on Goligoski comes from an active NHL player and two current NHL scouts.

Here is the player’s assessment of Goligoski:

Coming off highest
point total, 42, of his career. His vision has really matured.
Can
move/skate the puck up the ice really well. Very good laterally.
Really
good PP guy. He got pushed to second PP unit for most of the year with Klingberg
emerging in Dallas. Doesn’t have a bomb of a shot, but gets pucks on goal and he is good at not getting his shot blocked.
Not
physical, and he can struggle again against big strong forwards.

Scout #1

Alex is a minute eater. This season he became more of a consistent player. At times he wasn’t mentally sharp with plays that made you scratch your head, but I felt overall he was much more consistent on a game-by-game basis. He is a little undersized, and he defends with a good stick and positioning. He is light so doesn’t punish anyone.

He is a good puck mover and a good puck transporter. More of a second PP guy. He will put up some offense, but he won’t blow you away offensively. Alex is a terrific person, hard worker who can
play a lot of minutes. I think he is a little bit better version of what the Oilers already have in Andrej Sekera.

Scout #2

He’s a puck mover. Skates well, has good mobility and
won’t get into trouble because of his feet. Manages the puck smartly with his
partner on breakouts and will look to find a first pass coming out of his zone.
He will join the rush late, if the play is there, rather than skate it himself for entries, however, he can create from the back end in the offensive zone by walking the blueline,
finding passing lanes and jumping in for chances.

More of a thinker than hard player defensively. Lacks
some size in the cycle game and can have trouble with bigger bodies. Has a good
skill level, but is not a true #1 PP quarterback. More of a second unit guy, who can moonlight (fill in) in your first unit when necessary.

WRAP UP…

Goligoski will be the most attractive UFA defender on the market, if he doesn’t re-sign in Dallas. He will command Sekera-like money, and considering his production, he should earn more than $5.5 mill/year. He would be an upgrade for the Oilers, but Edmonton has too many left-shot defenders, and they need to spend money, or assets, trying to acquire a RD.

Goligoski is extremely productive at EV, and that is why he is so valuable. He’s produced the ninth most EV points (he is 13th in pts/60) among defenders since the start of the 2012/2013 season. His 88 points trail only Erik Karlsson (120), Brent Burns (115), Viktor Hedman (97), Alex Pietrangelo (92), Dustin Byfuglien (91), Roman Josi (90) and PK Subban and Duncan Keith (89).

He isn’t a defensive liability either. He has a good stick, and if paired with a bigger, stronger defender his lack of size won’t be as much of an issue.

The Buffalo Sabres have a lot of cap space and could use a top-pair LD. Goligoski would be a welcome addition to their team, and pairing him with Rasmus Ristolainen would be a great off-season acquisition. He’d also be a huge positive in moving the puck up to their young skilled forwards.

I could see him landing a six or seven year deal worth $5.6 to $6 million/year.

Recently by Jason Gregor:

Scouting Report: Alex Goligoski

CAREER STATS

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

SCOUTING REPORT

WRAP UP…

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