Regular season

Josh Norris

Buffalo Sabres · C · #9

Top-six playerMiddle-Six Engine?Reliable minutes: 34 points and honest two-way play

HT: 6'2"
WT: 196 lb
Age: 27
Shoots: L
From: Oxford, USA
Draft: 2017 SJS · R1 #19

77Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

6868pctl

5454pctl

6161pctl

7676pctl

League profile

vs. forwards with 20+ GP

0.7781pctl

0.3078pctl

0.4885pctl

1.656pctl

+1186pctl

968pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

7.4%76pctl

2.4774pctl

0.0728pctl

Def Suppression?

0.6876pctl

Center toolkit

vs. centers with 20+ GP

49.5%50pctl

D-Zone FO %?

44.2%30pctl

13.581pctl

0.4578pctl

3:1790pctl

0:0221pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 34 GP tracked · 9h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

53.6%81pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

66.7%98pctl

O-zone deployment?

45%31pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

17.7 min72pctl

Support received?

18.3 min19pctl

D-zone deployment?

55%69pctl

Micro-metrics

Structural Metric Model · sequences, geometry & leverage from every shot

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.0966pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

0.7948pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.3252pctl

1.01×66pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.23/gm47pctl

Pressure escape rate?

9.5%83pctl

2025-26 regular season · Percentile beams: fill = league percentile, tick = league median · hockeyalpha.com

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs forwards · center = median · 551 EV min

General Offense

4.7933

6.7634

Shot Setups/60?

0.6531

Chance Setups/60?

0.3321

Primary Contributions/60?

5.4529

Rebounds Created/60?

0.4447

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.1167

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.5447

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.0017

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0038

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.1147

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

0.9829

Rush Offense/60?

5.6724

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.5435

0.8757

0.2265

Deflections/60?

1.3147

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.4482

Entries Finished/60?

0.6544

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.5461

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

0.4417

0.1128

0.3319

Exit Involvements/60?

0.0036

Forechecking

2.0735

Dump-In Recoveries/60?

0.1182

Derived from event sequences in public play-by-play data - the ? on each metric explains exactly how it's computed. · hockeyalpha.com

Contract & market

Contract value?

beta · cap data: CapWages

$7.95M

cap hit

$6.62M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

D

Paying a premium (−$1.3M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Josh Norris	77	Middle-Six Engine	34 P · 44 GP	$7.95M	$6.62M	D−$1.3M	this player
Frank Nazar	75	Middle-Six Engine	41 P · 66 GP	$0.95M	$5.99M	A++$5.0M	88%
Morgan Frost	71	Middle-Six Engine	43 P · 82 GP	$4.38M	$4.78M	C+$0.4M	87%
Mikael Granlund	79	Middle-Six Engine	41 P · 58 GP	$7.00M	$7.28M	C+$0.3M	82%
Logan Cooley	80	Middle-Six Engine	43 P · 54 GP	$0.95M	$7.61M	A++$6.7M	81%

Chemistry

Top connection: Zach Benson · 8 goals together

Finishes from

assisters on Josh’s goals

Creates for

goals Josh assisted on

From official goal credits - scorer + assists on every goal, all season.

Recent form · last 10 games

9 pts · 3 G · 6 A · 18 shots in last 10Heating up(+0.6 P/GP vs prior 5)

vs DET

0P

0G 0A

vs DET 03-27

0G 0A · 2 shots · 16:38 TOI

vs SEA

0P

0G 0A

vs SEA 03-28

0G 0A · 1 shots · 15:08 TOI

vs NYI

2P

0G 2A

vs NYI 03-31

0G 2A · 1 shots · 15:04 TOI

@ OTT

0P

0G 0A

@ OTT 04-02

0G 0A · 1 shots · 16:10 TOI

@ WSH

1P

0G 1A

@ WSH 04-04

0G 1A · 4 shots · 15:48 TOI

vs TBL

1P

1G 0A

vs TBL 04-06

1G 0A · 2 shots · 17:10 TOI

@ NYR

1P

0G 1A

@ NYR 04-08

0G 1A · 2 shots · 14:46 TOI

vs CBJ

2P

0G 2A

vs CBJ 04-09

0G 2A · 1 shots · 14:36 TOI

@ CHI

1P

1G 0A

@ CHI 04-13

1G 0A · 2 shots · 12:35 TOI

vs DAL

1P

1G 0A

vs DAL 04-15

1G 0A · 2 shots · 16:55 TOI

Tile tint = points that night · underline = shot volume (full bar = 8+ shots) · oldest on the left

The Territory

attacking → · every recorded touch, normalized to one end

Goal On goal Missed/blocked▲ takeaway▽ giveaway■ hit＋ block◯ faceoff dot (size = wins)296 events shown

The office: the inner slot - 6 of 13 goals live there

Playmaking gravity: 9 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 30 blocks · 3 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2019-20	Ottawa Senators	3	0	0	0	2
2020-21	Ottawa Senators	56	17	18	35	-12
2021-22	Ottawa Senators	66	35	20	55	-7
2022-23	Ottawa Senators	8	2	1	3	-1
2023-24	Ottawa Senators	50	16	14	30	-6
2024-25	Ottawa Senators	53	20	13	33	-5
2024-25	Buffalo Sabres	3	1	1	2	-1
2025-26	Buffalo Sabres	44	13	21	34	11
Career	2 teams	283	104	88	192	-19