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Luke Witkowski

#20 · Defence · Detroit Red Wings

Born Apr 14, 1990 in Holland, Michigan, USA · 6'2", 210 lb · Shoots right · Drafted 160th overall in 2008 by TBL (round 6)

Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2018-19. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Alexander Petrovic EDM · 2 P in 35 GP Joshua Brown FLA · 2 P in 37 GP Luke Schenn VAN · 2 P in 26 GP Philippe Myers PHI · 2 P in 21 GP Dalton Prout CGY · 2 P in 20 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.

012342014-15: 0 points014-152015-16: 0 points015-162016-17: 4 points416-172017-18: 4 points417-182018-19: 2 points218-192019-20: 3 points319-202021-22: 0 points021-22

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

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2014-15 TBL 16 0 0 0 0 15 10 37 0.00
2015-16 TBL 4 0 0 0 0 4 1 8 0.00 $575K
2016-17 TBL 34 0 4 4 -1 39 24 81 0.12 $575K
2017-18 DET 31 1 3 4 -1 68 16 57 0.13 $750K
2018-19 DET 34 0 2 2 -5 23 14 67 0.06 $750K
2019-20 TBL 12 1 2 3 -4 13 10 38 0.25 $700K
2021-22 DET 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 $750K
7 seasons Career 132 2 11 13 -11 162 75 289 0.10

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
2015-16 TBL 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.00
1 season Playoffs 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.00

2018-19 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
34 0 2 2 -5 23 14 67 0.06 0.0 9:36

Contract

$750KCap hit2018-19
$375KCap dollars per point2 points in 34 games
$324KWorth at the going ratewhat teams paid for a season like his
-$426KValueworth 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. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show. Value is coloured by where it ranks among the 696 ranked skaters whose contract is known. How value is worked out.

The contract

Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. When it ends is not known.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2021-22 to 2022-23 $750K
2019-20 to 2020-21 $700K
2017-18 to 2018-19 $750K
2016-17 to 2016-17 $575K
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 2018-19 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.

2018-19 analytics

Rating

-0.4Goals above replacement566th of 699 skaters, 188th of 244 defencemen
-0.1Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-1.5Goals above averagethe five parts below added up

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 244 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-0.7 54th percentileEven-strength defence-1.0 35th percentilePower play0.0 77th percentilePenalty kill+0.1 65th percentilePenalties+0.0 80th 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.

-1-0.500.512014-152015-162016-172017-182018-192019-202021-22Goals 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

44.3Corsi for %258 attempts for, 324 against
-0.1CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
41.2Expected goals for %10.8 expected for, 15.4 against
-0.8xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
43.1Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
41.4Goals for %12 for, 17 against
98.5PDO8.0% shooting + 90.5% saves
28Attempts 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
Justin Abdelkader · Luke Witkowski · Jacob de la Rose211:2945.835.80-1
Luke Witkowski · Matt Puempel · Dominic Turgeon18:3438.518.60-1
Frans Nielsen · Justin Abdelkader · Luke Witkowski41:310.00.00-0
Justin Abdelkader · Luke Witkowski · Andreas Athanasiou10:440.00.00-0

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
0.5Expected goalsfrom 21 unblocked attempts
-0.5Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.09 expected goals per 60 minutes4th
Shot quality 2.4% chance per attempt16th
Finishing -0.5 goals above expected42ndOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 244 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Game 20Expected 0.5Goals 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
Apr 6, 2019 vs BUF L 1-7 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 10:01
Apr 4, 2019 @ PIT L 1-4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 09:07
Apr 2, 2019 vs PIT W 4-1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 10:12
Mar 31, 2019 vs BOS W 6-3 0 0 0 1 5 0 4 08:43
Mar 29, 2019 vs NJD W 4-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 11:18
Mar 28, 2019 @ BUF W 5-4 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 2 0 2 09:28
Mar 25, 2019 @ SJS W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 05:09
Mar 23, 2019 @ VGK W 3-2 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 11:19
Mar 21, 2019 @ STL L 2-5 0 0 0 -2 0 0 2 14:32
Mar 19, 2019 @ NYR W 3-2 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 12:37
Mar 16, 2019 vs NYI W 2-1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 11:42
Mar 14, 2019 vs TBL L 4-5 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 13:47
Mar 12, 2019 @ MTL L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 18:42
Mar 9, 2019 @ TBL L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12:31
Mar 2, 2019 @ ARI L 1-3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 05:34
Feb 26, 2019 vs MTL L 1-8 0 0 0 -2 0 1 5 10:09
Feb 2, 2019 @ OTT W 2-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 05:37
Jan 8, 2019 vs MTL L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 10:51
Jan 6, 2019 vs WSH L 2-3 0 0 0 -1 0 1 1 12:54
Jan 4, 2019 vs NSH W 4-3 (OT) 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 10:59
Jan 2, 2019 vs CGY L 3-5 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 09:41
Dec 31, 2018 vs FLA L 3-4 (SO) 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 08:52
Dec 23, 2018 @ TOR L 4-5 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 02:45
Dec 15, 2018 @ NYI L 3-4 (SO) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 03:39
Dec 11, 2018 @ WSH L 2-6 0 0 0 -1 0 2 2 11:56
Dec 8, 2018 vs NYI L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 11:25
Dec 6, 2018 @ TOR W 5-4 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11:33
Dec 4, 2018 vs TBL L 5-6 (SO) 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 09:12
Dec 2, 2018 vs COL L 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 04:40
Dec 1, 2018 @ BOS W 4-2 0 0 0 0 5 0 3 05:54
Nov 3, 2018 vs EDM L 3-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 03:51
Nov 1, 2018 vs NJD W 4-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 09:39
Oct 30, 2018 @ CBJ W 5-3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 07:26
Oct 18, 2018 @ TBL L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 10:34