Regular season

Sam Malinski

Colorado Avalanche · D · #70

Second-pair DSteady Blueliner?95 blocks across 82 games of regular duty

HT: 5'11"
WT: 190 lb
Age: 28
Shoots: R
From: Lakeville, USA

78Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

6969pctl

8181pctl

8383pctl

4949pctl

League profile

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

0.4983pctl

0.1075pctl

0.3984pctl

2.090pctl

+43100pctl

159pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

2.3%23pctl

3.7592pctl

0.2182pctl

Def Suppression?

0.3743pctl

Defenseman toolkit

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

1.1637pctl

3.9445pctl

Blocks / 100 shifts?

5.344pctl

1.938pctl

0.3069pctl

0:1454pctl

0:4525pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 50 GP tracked · 15h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

61.0%99pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

69.0%99pctl

O-zone deployment?

50%49pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

17.1 min29pctl

Support received?

17.2 min52pctl

D-zone deployment?

50%51pctl

Micro-metrics

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

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.0422pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

0.3827pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.1210pctl

0.91×13pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.11/gm91pctl

Pressure escape rate?

9.0%75pctl

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

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs defensemen · center = median · 1363 EV min

General Offense

6.9592

5.7692

Shot Setups/60?

1.5892

Chance Setups/60?

1.5092

Primary Contributions/60?

8.5492

Rebounds Created/60?

0.8492

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.0030

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.7990

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.3182

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0468

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.3591

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

3.5692

Rush Offense/60?

10.6593

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.3564

0.1326

0.0446

Deflections/60?

0.0022

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.1387

Entries Finished/60?

0.5787

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.1359

Entry → Chance %?

23%18

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

2.6850

0.4450

2.2452

Retrieval Success %?

16%47

Exit Involvements/60?

0.0983

Exit Success %?

3%84

Forechecking

0.3546

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

$1.40M

cap hit

$7.44M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

A+

Massive surplus value (+$6.0M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Sam Malinski	78	Steady Blueliner	40 P · 82 GP	$1.40M	$7.44M	A++$6.0M	this player
Charle-Edouard D'Astous	73	Steady Blueliner	29 P · 70 GP	$0.78M	$5.74M	A++$5.0M	80%
K'Andre Miller	78	Steady Blueliner	37 P · 72 GP	$7.50M	$7.44M	C−$0.1M	79%
Sean Durzi	76	Steady Blueliner	27 P · 60 GP	$6.00M	$6.75M	C+$0.7M	79%
Mattias Ekholm	76	Steady Blueliner	41 P · 82 GP	$6.25M	$6.75M	C+$0.5M	78%

Chemistry

Top connection: Nathan MacKinnon · 6 goals together

Finishes from

assisters on Sam’s goals

Creates for

goals Sam assisted on

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

Recent form · last 10 games

8 pts · 4 G · 4 A · 28 shots in last 10Cooling off(-0.8 P/GP vs prior 5)

vs CGY

2P

1G 1A

vs CGY 03-30

1G 1A · 4 shots · 21:55 TOI

vs VAN

3P

2G 1A

vs VAN 04-01

2G 1A · 2 shots · 20:52 TOI

@ DAL

0P

0G 0A

@ DAL 04-04

0G 0A · 3 shots · 22:52 TOI

vs STL

0P

0G 0A

vs STL 04-05

0G 0A · 2 shots · 20:07 TOI

@ STL

1P

0G 1A

@ STL 04-07

0G 1A · 5 shots · 19:34 TOI

vs CGY

0P

0G 0A

vs CGY 04-09

0G 0A · 2 shots · 20:32 TOI

vs VGK

0P

0G 0A

vs VGK 04-11

0G 0A · 0 shots · 21:46 TOI

@ EDM

1P

1G 0A

@ EDM 04-13

1G 0A · 4 shots · 23:55 TOI

@ CGY

1P

0G 1A

@ CGY 04-14

0G 1A · 2 shots · 20:36 TOI

vs SEA

0P

0G 0A

vs SEA 04-16

0G 0A · 4 shots · 19:57 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)533 events shown

The office: the high slot - 2 of 8 goals live there

Playmaking gravity: 35 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 96 blocks · 10 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2023-24	Colorado Avalanche	23	3	7	10	3
2024-25	Colorado Avalanche	76	5	10	15	8
2025-26	Colorado Avalanche	82	8	32	40	43
Career	1 team	181	16	49	65	54