Sonny Milano was Washington’s most exciting player to watch – when he was healthy.
By the Numbers
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| 15 | goals |
| 8 | assists |
| 49 | games played |
| 12.5 | average ice time |
| On-ice percentages | |
| 48.1 | 5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 51.2 | 5-on-5 expected goal percentage |
| 56.8 | 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.
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.
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.
Peter’s Take
It’s easy to get blasé about hockey, but I defy you not to be exhilarated by Sonny Milano’s skills. He spent his early teens cutting stunt videos in his basement, and somehow it translated into top-end stick skills in the world’s best hockey league. That’s how Milano can turn low shot volume (a lower individual shot-attempt rate than any Caps forward except Dowd) into the team’s highest individual goal rate (though Mantha was ahead before his trade). Milano shot 30 percent in all situations, so he was certainly lucky, but he’s also elite at puck-handling.
But Milano’s 2023-24 was plagued by injuries. He was apparently playing hurt early in the season before leaving the lineup in December until mid-February. He got banged up again at the end of the regular season and couldn’t generate any offense in the playoffs (two shots on goal in 45 minutes).
I think the offseason will do wonders for Milano, who has got so many facets to his game. As Washington navigates a thin and young lineup, they should be able to rely on a player as dependable – and exciting – as Sonny.
Player Summary by ChatGPT
A classic Taurus, Sonny Milano (birth name: Sonny Milano) is hardworking, stubborn, sensual, dependable, determined, patient, materialistic, generous, gentle, kind, lazy, loyal, organized, possessive, reliable, slow and steady, taurus, trustworthy, and understanding.
In his 2023-24 campaign, Milano tallied 49 gp 15 g 8 a 23 p 4 +- 10 pim 12 ev 3 pp 0 shg 2 gwg.
Sonny on RMNB
- Starting with maybe my favorite story of the year.
Washington Capitals 2023-24 promotional calendar highlighted by Sonny Milano Chia Pet giveaway
- On the giveaway: “Everyone back home loves it. It’s pretty fun. I’m excited about that. I had a bobblehead my first year in the AHL but not a Chia Pet. For sure I’ll keep it.”
- Milano struggled to score early on (three goals, four assists in his first 21 games) and even earned a healthy scratch in early December.
- Something was up, and Milano went on injured reserve about a week later.
- Consequently, Milano did not play on his own Chia Pet giveaway night. Don’t worry, he still got in on the action.
Sonny Milano still participated in Chia Milano giveaway night despite missing game due to injury
- It took almost two months for him to get back in fighting trim.
- He finally returned on February 17, having been out since December 10.
- Once back and healthy, he started scoring. He became the first non-Ovechkin Cap to have a five-game goals streak in more than five years.
- He was on fire and a chief contributor to the playoff push.
- And then, against the Hurricanes…
We’ll forever remember this night as The Sonny Milano Hat Trick Game
- Then he got hurt again. He returned after two games, but something was still wrong. He was not 100 percent for the playoffs.
Your Turn
If Milano can stay healthy, how much offense can we expect from him? Will he be part of the core of a team undergoing massive changes?
