Regular season

Olen Zellweger

Buffalo Sabres · D · #51

Second-pair DSteady Blueliner?85 blocks across 76 games of regular duty

HT: 5'10"
WT: 193 lb
Age: 22
Shoots: L
From: Calgary, CAN
Draft: 2021 ANA · R2 #34

75Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

7676pctl

5252pctl

8080pctl

5555pctl

League profile

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

0.2955pctl

0.0972pctl

0.2046pctl

1.678pctl

+462pctl

371pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

3.7%41pctl

2.6778pctl

0.1251pctl

Def Suppression?

0.6070pctl

Defenseman toolkit

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

1.1232pctl

3.9546pctl

Blocks / 100 shifts?

5.139pctl

1.528pctl

0.3066pctl

0:4665pctl

0:5329pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 44 GP tracked · 12h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

51.6%65pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

49.3%49pctl

O-zone deployment?

58%83pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

17.0 min21pctl

Support received?

16.2 min87pctl

D-zone deployment?

42%17pctl

Micro-metrics

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

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.0856pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

0.4732pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.2946pctl

1.00×61pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.30/gm22pctl

Pressure escape rate?

9.6%84pctl

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

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs defensemen · center = median · 1166 EV min

General Offense

5.3085

5.5690

Shot Setups/60?

1.3987

Chance Setups/60?

1.2990

Primary Contributions/60?

6.6986

Rebounds Created/60?

0.7790

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.0031

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.4666

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.4188

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0572

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.1567

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

2.2177

Rush Offense/60?

8.6588

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.5182

0.4684

0.0025

Deflections/60?

0.2182

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.1590

Entries Finished/60?

0.8891

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.4691

Entry → Chance %?

53%67

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

2.4741

0.5161

1.9638

Retrieval Success %?

21%67

Exit Involvements/60?

0.1589

Exit Success %?

6%89

Forechecking

0.2633

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

$0.84M

cap hit

$6.40M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

A+

Massive surplus value (+$5.6M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Olen Zellweger	75	Steady Blueliner	22 P · 76 GP	$0.84M	$6.40M	A++$5.6M	this player
Jake Walman	77	Steady Blueliner	20 P · 53 GP	$3.40M	$7.09M	A+$3.7M	86%
Alexander Nikishin	76	Steady Blueliner	33 P · 81 GP	$0.93M	$6.75M	A++$5.8M	84%
Sean Durzi	76	Steady Blueliner	27 P · 60 GP	$6.00M	$6.75M	C+$0.7M	83%
Simon Nemec	75	Steady Blueliner	26 P · 68 GP	$0.92M	$6.40M	A++$5.5M	82%

Chemistry

Top connection: Leo Carlsson · 5 goals together

Finishes from

assisters on Olen’s goals

Creates for

goals Olen assisted on

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

Recent form · last 10 games

3 pts · 0 G · 3 A · 8 shots in last 10Steady(+0.2 P/GP vs prior 5)

vs PHI

0P

0G 0A

vs PHI 03-18

0G 0A · 1 shots · 12:31 TOI

@ UTA

0P

0G 0A

@ UTA 03-20

0G 0A · 1 shots · 13:10 TOI

vs BUF

1P

0G 1A

vs BUF 03-22

0G 1A · 2 shots · 12:45 TOI

@ CGY

0P

0G 0A

@ CGY 03-26

0G 0A · 1 shots · 13:25 TOI

@ EDM

0P

0G 0A

@ EDM 03-28

0G 0A · 1 shots · 15:04 TOI

vs TOR

1P

0G 1A

vs TOR 03-30

0G 1A · 0 shots · 13:18 TOI

@ SJS

0P

0G 0A

@ SJS 04-01

0G 0A · 0 shots · 11:44 TOI

vs STL

1P

0G 1A

vs STL 04-03

0G 1A · 0 shots · 19:21 TOI

vs CGY

0P

0G 0A

vs CGY 04-04

0G 0A · 1 shots · 10:52 TOI

vs NSH

0P

0G 0A

vs NSH 04-07

0G 0A · 1 shots · 8:58 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)407 events shown

The office: the inner slot - 3 of 7 goals live there

Playmaking gravity: 29 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 85 blocks · 12 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2023-24	Anaheim Ducks	26	2	7	9	-6
2024-25	Anaheim Ducks	62	7	13	20	1
2025-26	Anaheim Ducks	76	7	15	22	4
Career	1 team	164	16	35	51	-1