Joel Armia

Last Season

Thirteen goals and 25 points in 67 games on fourteen minutes a night. That is roughly his career rate, which has been the same for a decade.

The Finesse Game

Better hands than the frame suggests. He can beat a defenceman in a small space, he protects the puck well below the goal line, and the shot is a genuine one when he decides to use it. On the penalty kill he is a real shorthanded threat because of the reach and the ability to hold onto a puck under pressure.

The problem has always been consistency of effort rather than capability. There are stretches where he is the best forechecker on his line and stretches where he floats through a period. Scouts have said the same thing about him since Buffalo drafted him sixteenth overall.

The Physical Game

Six-three and 215 and he uses it selectively. When he is engaged he is very hard to handle along the wall; when he is not, he is a large man skating in straight lines. He is not an intimidating player and has never been asked to be.

The Intangibles

The talent got him drafted in the first round and the inconsistency is why he is on his fourth organisation. He has also been a genuinely useful playoff player, which teams remember.

At thirty-three, what you see is what there is: a bottom-six winger with top-six hands who will give you a dangerous month and a quiet one.