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Aaron Ness

#42 · Defence · Arizona Coyotes

Born May 18, 1990 in Roseau, Minnesota, USA · 5'10", 184 lb · Shoots left · Drafted 40th overall in 2008 by NYI (round 2)

Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2019-20. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Derek Forbort CGY · 1 P in 20 GP Gustav Lindstrom DET · 1 P in 16 GP Zach Whitecloud VGK · 1 P in 16 GP Carl Dahlstrom WPG · 1 P in 15 GP Nick Seeler CHI · 1 P in 12 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

01232011-12: 0 points011-122013-14: 3 points313-142015-16: 2 points215-162016-17: 0 points016-172017-18: 1 points117-182019-20: 1 points119-202020-21: 0 points020-21

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2011-12 NYI 9 0 0 0 0 2 6 2 0.00
2013-14 NYI 20 1 2 3 -13 10 23 14 0.15
2015-16 WSH 8 0 2 2 4 2 8 4 0.25 $575K
2016-17 WSH 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 0.00 $613K
2017-18 WSH 8 0 1 1 2 8 2 1 0.13 $613K
2019-20 ARI 24 0 1 1 1 0 11 17 0.04 $725K
2020-21 ARI 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.00 $725K
7 seasons Career 72 1 6 7 -7 22 51 42 0.10

2019-20 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
24 0 1 1 1 0 11 17 0.04 0.0 12:32

Contract

$725KCap hitends in 2021, then UFA
$725KCap dollars per point1 points in 24 games
$532KCap dollars per goal above replacement1.4 goals above replacement
$1.8MWorth at the going ratewhat teams paid for a season like his
+$1.1MValueworth minus cap hit; below zero is overpaid

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. Value is coloured by where it ranks among the 668 ranked skaters whose contract is known. How value is worked out.

The contract

Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. It runs through 2020-21, with 1 season left after this one, and he is then an unrestricted free agent.

Season Cap hit
2019-20 $725K
2020-21 $725K

Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2019-20 to 2020-21 $725K
2016-17 to 2017-18 $613K
2015-16 to 2015-16 $575K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2019-20 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2019-20 analytics

Rating

+1.4Goals above replacement380th of 670 skaters, 113th of 231 defencemen
+0.2Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
+0.4Goals above averagethe five parts below added up

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 231 ranked defencemen: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile.

Even-strength offence-1.1 52nd percentileEven-strength defence+0.6 63rd percentilePower play0.0 53rd percentilePenalty kill+0.0 52nd percentilePenalties+0.9 97th percentile

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater, and the rank beside it is among defencemen. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. Provisional: under 40 games it is more chance than player. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-1-0.500.511.52011-122013-142015-162016-172017-182019-202020-21Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

49.6Corsi for %269 attempts for, 273 against
+1.7CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
49.3Expected goals for %10.8 expected for, 11.0 against
+4.5xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
50.0Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
50.0Goals for %13 for, 13 against
99.4PDO8.6% shooting + 90.8% saves
27Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Defence pairGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Aaron Ness · Jordan Oesterle17145:0049.846.74-5
Aaron Ness · Ilya Lyubushkin1383:5847.051.93-5
Alex Goligoski · Aaron Ness937:0352.651.13-1
Aaron Ness · Oliver Ekman-Larsson65:0444.451.61-0

The pairs he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's pairs that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

0Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.3Expected goalsfrom 19 unblocked attempts
-0.3Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.05 expected goals per 60 minutes1st
Shot quality 1.4% chance per attempt1st
Finishing -0.3 goals above expected46thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 229 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Game 20Expected 0.3Goals 0

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Feb 25, 2020 vs FLA L 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12:22
Feb 22, 2020 vs TBL W 7-3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 13:30
Feb 20, 2020 @ STL L 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 11:02
Feb 8, 2020 @ BOS L 2-4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 10:53
Feb 6, 2020 vs CAR L 3-5 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 12:58
Feb 4, 2020 vs EDM W 3-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10:30
Dec 29, 2019 vs DAL L 2-4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 3 10:54
Dec 19, 2019 vs MIN L 5-8 0 0 0 -2 0 1 1 10:57
Dec 17, 2019 @ SJS W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 14:30
Dec 14, 2019 vs NJD L 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 13:34
Dec 12, 2019 vs CHI W 5-2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 13:12
Dec 10, 2019 vs CGY L 2-5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 3 15:21
Nov 21, 2019 vs TOR L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 16:33
Nov 18, 2019 vs LAK W 3-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15:06
Nov 16, 2019 vs CGY W 3-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 10:52
Nov 14, 2019 @ MIN L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15:26
Nov 11, 2019 @ WSH W 4-3 (SO) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 11:13
Nov 9, 2019 vs MIN L 3-4 0 1 1 2 0 2 1 12:35
Nov 7, 2019 vs CBJ L 2-3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 09:51
Nov 5, 2019 @ CGY L 3-4 (OT) 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 11:00
Nov 4, 2019 @ EDM W 3-2 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12:04
Nov 2, 2019 vs COL W 3-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 13:51
Oct 30, 2019 vs MTL L 1-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11:58
Oct 28, 2019 @ BUF W 3-2 (SO) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 10:38