Nicolas Aube-Kubel started the season on waivers and finished it as Washington’s best defensive player.
By the Numbers
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| 6 | goals |
| 10 | assists |
| 60 | games played |
| 12.2 | average ice time |
| On-ice percentages | |
| 43.3 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 41.8 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage |
| 55.3 | 5-on-5 actual goal percentage |
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple bobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by All Three Zones
About this player card: This image from Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones shows how the player compares to league averages in different microstats in the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Blue bars mean the player has a higher rate in that statistic compared to league average, and orange means a lower rate. The numbers are Z-scores, also known as standard deviations, indicating how far the number is from league average, where more than two standard deviations means the player is on the extreme edge of the league.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player: “On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?” The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. At left are the player’s numbers in various statistics along with the average number for that same stat among players of the same position and the player’s percentile rank in it. At right is a radar chart for various statistics, where the bigger the shape the better the player performs in those measures.
Peter’s Take
We’re going to be talking about the fourth line a lot in the first week and change of this series. Along with Beck Malenstyn and Nic Dowd, Aube-Kubel got some of the toughest assignments in the entire NHL this year, and he handled them marvelously. He started ten times more shifts in the defensive zone than in the offensive zone, the outer extremes of zone deployment, and he still managed to outscore opponents 16 to 14 when with Dowd and Malenstyn. The team got badly outshot in those shifts, but some degree of that is to be expected – and we’ll explore than more for later players.
For NAK himself, he’s simply a great board-battler, a great stick-checker, a great puck-getter. He was uniquely tenacious on that fourth line, and so I wasn’t surprised when he did well apart from them as well. NAK without Dowd and Malenstyn saw the Caps control 53.9 percent of shot attempts (in normal-to-favorable deployments) compared to 41.0 percent when they were together. He’s a perfect example of a utility player who can be useful in stints in bigger roles. That’s what was asked of him, and that’s what he delivered.
Aube-Kubel is a free agent this summer, with his $1.2 million deal expiring. The Caps could do far worse at a price like that, but the player could probably command more on the open market. And with Washington’s offseason strategy so uncertain, I can’t say if an extension would fit.
Player Summary by ChatGPT
The hockey world is buzzing about the man they call Nak. Nicolas Aube-Kubel, winger for the Washington Capitals, has been making waves since the day he stepped onto the scene. This Albertan will be a birthday boy soon (May 10), and on that day the celebration will be riotous and jubilant, because this Albertan scored 16 points for the Washington Capitals in the just-ended campaign.
NAK on RMNB
- Before the season began, the Caps placed Aube-Kubel on waivers. He cleared and returned to the Caps a month later.
- Halloween costume: Taylor.
- In December, NAK was invited to fight Jacob Trouba (6’3″ to Aube-Kubel’s 6’0″). NAK declined. He fought Jimmy Vesey instead. “Coming down my end, Trouba asked me to fight and I was like ‘uhhhh,’” Aube-Kubel said. “Vesey is more my size so gotta accept that challenge.” Trouba and Vesey are the same height.
- Aube-Kubel was a defensive staple on Washington’s fourth line, which was very successful in the midseason.
- In February he had a top-line cameo.
- He was the target of trade rumors at the deadline but was not dealt.
Your Turn
Would you want NAK back and what would you pay?
