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Ice Lab

Defence · #21 · Rookie

Alexander Nikishin

Age
25
Shoots
Left
Height
191 cm
Weight
99 kg
Born
Orel, RUS
Draft
2020, round 3, #69 (CAR)

2025–26

Games
81
Goals
11
Points
33
TOI per game
18:11
xGF% (5v5)
55.2%
Goals above expected
+3.1

Season

The regular-season line, by team for traded players.

2025–26CAR81112233+1818:111229.0%107.955.2%

Form

Rolling averages smooth out single games so the trend shows.

Form, ten-game rolling

Points and individual expected goals per game (left scale), averaged over the previous ten games. Ice time is on the second chart.

Points per gameixG per gameTOI per game (minutes)
00.20.40.60.81020304050607080
14m16m18m20m22m1020304050607080Game

Player card

How this season compares with everyone else at the position, and the players with the most similar profile.

Overall rating

1st pair

81st percentile among qualified defencemen, blending scoring 30%, play-driving 50%, usage 20%.

  1. 1st pair
  2. 2nd pair
  3. 3rd pair
  4. Extra / AHL

Scoring

1st pair
  • Goals /600.4590th pct
  • Assists /600.9071st pct
  • ixG /600.3287th pct
  • Shots /604.9782nd pct

Play-driving

1st pair
  • xGF% (5v5)55.2%88th pct
  • CF% (5v5)58.5%96th pct
  • Relative xGF%−2.432nd pct
  • xGA /60 (lower is better)2.4757th pct

Usage

3rd pair
  • TOI per game18:1145th pct
  • PP time share30.5%77th pct
  • PK time share23.4%35th pct
  • Quality of competition23.3%9th pct

Percentiles among defencemen with 200+ minutes at 5-on-5 and 20+ games. Ratings rank each column's average percentile among the same players and read it as a role on a depth chart (how).

Finishing

Did the goals match the chances?

Goals against expected goals

Cumulative goals (solid) and individual xG (dashed) through the season. The gap is finishing: above the dashed line, the player scored more than an average shooter would from the same chances.

+3.1 goals above expected

0246810121020304050607080Game

Goals above expected, everyone at the same position with 20+ games

−8−6−4−20+2+4+6+8+10

Speed and tracking

From the NHL's EDGE tracking system (2021–22 on): skating speed, shot speed, distance and zone time, for the selected seasons and then every tracked season, to show improvement or decline.

Tracking data (NHL EDGE)

Values from the NHL's puck and player tracking, with the NHL's own league percentile for each. Missing values mean the player wasn't tracked enough.

Tracking

  • Top skating speed36.0 km/h78th pct
  • Speed bursts over 20 mph6587th pct
  • Hardest shot160.0 km/h95th pct
  • Distance skated348 km73rd pct
  • Offensive-zone time47.3%98th pct
Tracking, season by season

Each season against the other defencemen that season with 20+ games. A season in progress appears once half its games are played, as provisional: season bests only grow. Bursts and distance are per 60 minutes of ice time, so seasons with fewer games still compare. Percentiles are on these rates, so they can differ from the NHL's, which are on season totals.

This playerMedian defencemanMiddle half (25th–75th percentile)Hollow dot: too few games to rank, or a season in progress (*, dashed). Dotted line: no NHL games that season.

Top skating speed

36.0 km/h71st pct

2025–26 only

3434.53535.53636.525–262025–26: 36.0 km/h, 71st percentile (81 games)

Bursts over 20 mph per 60

2.678th pct

2025–26 only

0.511.522.5325–262025–26: 2.6, 78th percentile (81 games)

Distance skated per 60

14.2 km83rd pct

2025–26 only

1313.51414.525–262025–26: 14.2 km, 83rd percentile (81 games)

Hardest shot

160.0 km/h94th pct

2025–26 only

14014515015516016525–262025–26: 160.0 km/h, 94th percentile (81 games)

Offensive-zone time

47.3%98th pct

2025–26 only

38%40%42%44%46%48%50%25–262025–26: 47.3%, 98th percentile (81 games)