Heading into this season many New York Islanders fans had high hopes for Ryan Pulock, who closed out 2017-18 looking like he may be poised to become a top-20 scoring NHL defenseman. While his offensive performance has disappointed through 25 games, he just may be rounding into a more balanced player, capable of facing top opponents at 5v5 while playing regular minutes on the penalty kill.
Entering the season Pulock was one of five NHL defensemen with 125+ all-situations shots-on-goal this 2018 calendar year. What is more, the other four, Brent Burns, Dougie Hamilton, Roman Josi, and Seth Jones, all played 100+ minutes more than he did in 2018.