Regular season

Zach Benson

Buffalo Sabres · LW · #6

Middle-six playerMiddle-Six Engine?Reliable minutes: 43 points and honest two-way play

HT: 5'10"
WT: 177 lb
Age: 21
Shoots: L
From: Chilliwack, CAN
Draft: 2023 BUF · R1 #13

73Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

6161pctl

5252pctl

4949pctl

7777pctl

League profile

vs. forwards with 20+ GP

0.6674pctl

0.2055pctl

0.4683pctl

1.865pctl

+2798pctl

555pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

7.6%77pctl

1.9359pctl

0.0624pctl

Def Suppression?

0.6171pctl

Winger toolkit

vs. wingers with 20+ GP

6.751pctl

2.327pctl

0.5490pctl

1.2725pctl

1:4456pctl

0:5673pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 42 GP tracked · 11h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

52.9%75pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

63.8%94pctl

O-zone deployment?

45%30pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

17.4 min46pctl

Support received?

18.4 min19pctl

D-zone deployment?

55%70pctl

Micro-metrics

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

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.1489pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

2.0995pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.5690pctl

0.99×50pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.30/gm22pctl

Pressure escape rate?

8.5%65pctl

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

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs forwards · center = median · 859 EV min

General Offense

6.1559

8.1055

Shot Setups/60?

0.7736

Chance Setups/60?

0.6337

Primary Contributions/60?

6.9156

Rebounds Created/60?

0.2827

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.1476

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.5648

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.2846

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0037

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.1456

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

1.1938

Rush Offense/60?

7.5447

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.9877

1.2680

0.2876

Deflections/60?

1.8973

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.2170

Entries Finished/60?

0.6341

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.4955

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

1.0543

0.5681

0.4921

Retrieval Success %?

53%88

Exit Involvements/60?

0.0772

Exit Success %?

7%71

Forechecking

2.2335

Dump-In Recoveries/60?

0.0042

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

$0.95M

cap hit

$5.37M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

A+

Massive surplus value (+$4.4M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Zach Benson	73	Middle-Six Engine	43 P · 65 GP	$0.95M	$5.37M	A++$4.4M	this player
Simon Holmstrom	70	Depth Forward	41 P · 79 GP	$3.63M	$4.50M	B+$0.9M	89%
Tyson Foerster	73	Middle-Six Engine	17 P · 29 GP	$3.75M	$5.37M	B+$1.6M	86%
Noah Cates	74	Two-Way Force	47 P · 82 GP	$4.00M	$5.68M	B+$1.7M	86%
Connor McMichael	74	Middle-Six Engine	46 P · 78 GP	$2.10M	$5.68M	A+$3.6M	84%

Chemistry

Top connection: Jack Quinn · 9 goals together

Finishes from

assisters on Zach’s goals

Creates for

goals Zach assisted on

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

Recent form · last 10 games

8 pts · 3 G · 5 A · 24 shots in last 10Heating up(+1.2 P/GP vs prior 5)

vs DET

0P

0G 0A

vs DET 03-27

0G 0A · 1 shots · 16:55 TOI

vs SEA

1P

0G 1A

vs SEA 03-28

0G 1A · 1 shots · 14:39 TOI

vs NYI

0P

0G 0A

vs NYI 03-31

0G 0A · 4 shots · 13:02 TOI

@ OTT

0P

0G 0A

@ OTT 04-02

0G 0A · 1 shots · 17:35 TOI

@ WSH

0P

0G 0A

@ WSH 04-04

0G 0A · 3 shots · 15:20 TOI

vs TBL

1P

0G 1A

vs TBL 04-06

0G 1A · 3 shots · 17:44 TOI

@ NYR

2P

2G 0A

@ NYR 04-08

2G 0A · 3 shots · 12:59 TOI

vs CBJ

1P

0G 1A

vs CBJ 04-09

0G 1A · 1 shots · 15:39 TOI

@ CHI

1P

0G 1A

@ CHI 04-13

0G 1A · 4 shots · 14:22 TOI

vs DAL

2P

1G 1A

vs DAL 04-15

1G 1A · 3 shots · 24:22 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)196 events shown

The office: the inner slot - 5 of 13 goals live there

Playmaking gravity: 12 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 31 blocks · 12 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2023-24	Buffalo Sabres	71	11	19	30	-3
2024-25	Buffalo Sabres	75	10	18	28	-2
2025-26	Buffalo Sabres	65	13	30	43	27
Career	1 team	211	34	67	101	22