Regular season

Alexander Nikishin

Carolina Hurricanes · D · #21

Second-pair DSteady Blueliner?94 blocks across 81 games of regular duty

HT: 6'3"
WT: 218 lb
Age: 24
Shoots: L
From: Orel, RUS
Draft: 2020 CAR · R3 #69

76Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

7878pctl

6666pctl

8080pctl

5252pctl

League profile

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

0.4174pctl

0.1486pctl

0.2765pctl

1.577pctl

+1890pctl

1086pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

2.7%28pctl

2.8180pctl

0.1563pctl

Def Suppression?

0.5463pctl

Defenseman toolkit

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

1.1637pctl

3.8240pctl

Blocks / 100 shifts?

5.241pctl

5.485pctl

0.3068pctl

1:2677pctl

1:0535pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 51 GP tracked · 15h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

58.6%96pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

58.2%85pctl

O-zone deployment?

65%96pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

16.9 min16pctl

Support received?

16.0 min91pctl

D-zone deployment?

35%4pctl

Micro-metrics

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

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.0534pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

0.2316pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.3253pctl

0.97×39pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.16/gm75pctl

Pressure escape rate?

8.8%71pctl

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

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs defensemen · center = median · 1268 EV min

General Offense

4.3073

4.0274

Shot Setups/60?

1.1882

Chance Setups/60?

0.8070

Primary Contributions/60?

5.4976

Rebounds Created/60?

0.6688

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.1489

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.5274

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.2473

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0034

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.1466

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

1.9468

Rush Offense/60?

6.6274

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.4373

0.5288

0.1984

Deflections/60?

0.0544

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.1489

Entries Finished/60?

0.3363

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.1977

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

2.8960

0.7181

2.1847

Retrieval Success %?

25%80

Exit Involvements/60?

0.1489

Exit Success %?

5%88

Forechecking

0.8586

Dump-In Recoveries/60?

0.0048

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

$0.93M

cap hit

$6.75M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

A+

Massive surplus value (+$5.8M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Alexander Nikishin	76	Steady Blueliner	33 P · 81 GP	$0.93M	$6.75M	A++$5.8M	this player
Sean Durzi	76	Steady Blueliner	27 P · 60 GP	$6.00M	$6.75M	C+$0.7M	91%
Damon Severson	76	Steady Blueliner	32 P · 71 GP	$6.25M	$6.75M	C+$0.5M	87%
Jake Walman	77	Steady Blueliner	20 P · 53 GP	$3.40M	$7.09M	A+$3.7M	85%
Olen Zellweger	75	Steady Blueliner	22 P · 76 GP	$0.84M	$6.40M	A++$5.6M	84%

Chemistry

Top connection: Sebastian Aho · 8 goals together

Finishes from

assisters on Alexander’s goals

Creates for

goals Alexander assisted on

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

Recent form · last 10 games

4 pts · 1 G · 3 A · 8 shots in last 10Heating up(+0.4 P/GP vs prior 5)

vs MTL

0P

0G 0A

vs MTL 03-29

0G 0A · 1 shots · 18:12 TOI

@ CBJ

0P

0G 0A

@ CBJ 03-31

0G 0A · 1 shots · 15:56 TOI

vs CBJ

1P

1G 0A

vs CBJ 04-02

1G 0A · 1 shots · 16:18 TOI

vs NYI

0P

0G 0A

vs NYI 04-04

0G 0A · 2 shots · 16:43 TOI

@ OTT

0P

0G 0A

@ OTT 04-05

0G 0A · 0 shots · 17:31 TOI

vs BOS

1P

0G 1A

vs BOS 04-07

0G 1A · 3 shots · 20:43 TOI

@ CHI

1P

0G 1A

@ CHI 04-09

0G 1A · 0 shots · 23:22 TOI

@ UTA

0P

0G 0A

@ UTA 04-11

0G 0A · 0 shots · 21:28 TOI

@ PHI

0P

0G 0A

@ PHI 04-13

0G 0A · 0 shots · 23:38 TOI

@ NYI

1P

0G 1A

@ NYI 04-14

0G 1A · 0 shots · 23:40 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)443 events shown

The office: the high slot - 3 of 11 goals live there

Playmaking gravity: 30 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 95 blocks · 17 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2025-26	Carolina Hurricanes	81	11	22	33	18
Career	1 team	81	11	22	33	18