I developed some play-style similarity charts recently for forward lines and defence pairs, and here’s how Kulak – Bouchard looks. Deploying pairs of Kulak/Bouchard and Keith/Barrie could succeed as long as the latter is extremely sheltered, while Kulak – Bouchard faces more strenuous competition. As for the other defence pair, Barrie is above-average at breakout passing and “OZ Support,” which are Kulak’s primary flaws. Barring exceptions, such as players like Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Kane, most players with a PDO higher than ~1.015 or 1.02 will considerably regress in terms of goal differential. In conclusion, although I personally would have preferred if Holland pursued superior-impact players, I certainly like the additions of Brett Kulak and Derick Brassard.

Source: The Nation March 26, 2022 20:20 UTC