What are reasonable and realistic goals for a rookie defencive defenceman? It’s not going to be goals, assists or points – I’m going to be looking at three stats this year the most: Plus Minus, Giveaways/Takeaways ratio, and Game Rating. For plus minus, if I can just stay neutral I’ll be happy. I’d love to be a contributing player off the bat, but am just trying not to be a liability for my team for now. A giveaways to takeaways ratio of under 1 will indicate I’ve striped the puck more than coughed it up. It looks like some of the best GvA/TkA ratio from last year was around 0.6, I’ll just aim for 1 for now, and hope I can get it lower than that. Game Ratings is akin to WAR in baseball, and it might be trying to do too much. It will give me good insight into how I’m performing, beyond just counting points. I’ll likely be looking closer at the DGR to see how I’m doing on that side of the puck more. With one preseason game down and my first goal netted (on a breakaway too), I’m excited to see how my first season goes!