By the Numbers: Chandler Stephenson

The Kraken fortified the center of the ice this off-season when they signed two-time Stanley Cup winner, Chandler Stephenson to a seven-year contract. Across eight NHL seasons, the 30-year-old center has built a strong reputation based on his two-way play, speed, and playmaking, and Kraken general manager Ron Francis praised Stephenson’s “pace and sneaky skill” upon signing him.

Bringing in Stephenson helps the Kraken fill in the center position with a player who can play big minutes. He’s averaged 18-plus minutes per game for the last four seasons, traditionally playing in a top-six role. Additionally, in the last two campaigns, he’s clocked over 200 power play minutes and 100 minutes on the penalty kill. You’ve seen his name in the faster skater competition in 2023 (he came in third) and on Selke trophy (awarded to the best defensive forward) ballots. How does all that translate to making the Kraken better?

Let’s dig in.

Making the Plays

It doesn’t always show up on a box score, but Stephenson excels at putting the puck where it needs to be via his passing.

Looking at just last season, among the forwards on his former team (Vegas Golden Knights), he was one of the top three forwards in terms of executing passes (5-on-5) in each of the three zones (per Sportlogiq). He was also top three in terms of completion rate that led to a successful play after – and in the neutral zone, no Vegas skater was better than Stephenson. His 83.4-percent completion rate wasn’t just first overall on his former team, it put him in the top 15 among the 497 NHL forwards who played at least 100 minutes; and his overall completion rate of 73.1-percent ranked in the top 30.

Here we see Stephenson (VGK20) bring the puck into the zone and then execute a cross-slot pass to set up a scoring chance for his teammate.

But Stephenson doesn’t just use passing to move the puck. As we saw above, he can also be effective in transition—specifically, carrying the puck into the offensive zone. Last year, he attempted a 57.6-percent success rate on entries with a play after—that averaged out to 2.34 entries per 20 minutes of play.

Once the center gets the puck into the offensive zone, he can feed dangerous chances for his teammates. Both Corey Sznajder’s All Three Zones and Sportlogiq show Stephenson as effective at passes to the slot. In fact, last year on the Golden Knights, only Jack Eichel attempted more slot passes than Stephenson (5.1 versus 3.9 per 20 minutes of 5-on-5 play), and Stephenson’s completion rate was actually higher (41.5% versus 34.7%).

Here we see Stephenson read the play and get behind the defense for a stretch pass that he corrals before entering the zone. He pulls the defender low in the zone with him and then sends a backward pass to Michael Amadio for the quick strike goal.

Stephenson has been able to make that setup prowess a big part of a power play also. He grew into a special teams fixture during his five years in Vegas and averaged over two assists per 60 minutes of play for the past three seasons.

Reliable and Responsible

Stephenson’s defensive ability has been chronicled, but equally important isn’t what he keeps opponents from doing, it’s what he doesn’t do to give opponents an advantage.

Looking at takeaway plus-minus, Stephenson has been on the plus side his entire NHL career and ended last season with his third-best margin (plus-.99 per 60 minutes of play, per Evolving-Hockey.com) in all situations. Also worth noting is that last year he had his lowest rate of giveaways (.78 per 60).

The Saskatoon native also doesn’t find himself in the penalty box a lot. In the last seven seasons, only once, did he have a negative penalty drawn versus penalty taken differential (minus-.19 per 60, 2019-20).

On the Spot on the Dot

To make plays and score goals, you need to have possession of the puck. And faceoffs are some of the most frequent opportunities to make that happen. Stephenson has been effective there. His faceoff win percentage has been over 50-percent each of the last four seasons and last year, among Vegas skaters, he was second only to William Karlsson in faceoff plus-minus (plus-1.6 in 5-on-5 play, per Evolving-Hockey.com) and bested all Kraken pivots in that measure.

Stephenson put his ability to use on the power play, as well. With the skater advantage, the center logged the third most minutes on the Golden Knights (214) and was plus-10.93 on the dot.

Overall, Stephenson brings versatility to the Kraken forward group and strengthens the center position. His skating ability helps put him in the places he needs to be to make plays that contribute defensively and offensively, adding further tenacity and skill to the Seattle roster.

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