21/22 Seasons In Review – Matt Roy

Happy Weekend, Insiders!

Lots has happened over the last few days in terms of additions, mainly the Kevin Fiala acquisition, as well as a few RFA’s and AHL signings. We now get back to the 2021-22 season just for a couple more days, with our last two seasons in review, featuring a pair of steady defensemen in Mikey Anderson and Matt Roy. We’ll start today with the more veteran Roy – age before beauty, I suppose – in a review that will likely go as you might imagine it to. Roy is a reliable, solid contributor for the Kings who plays his role well and excels in key areas.

Matt Roy
NHL Statline – 67 games played, 2 goals, 19 assists, +23 rating, 28 penalty minutes
NHL Playoff Statline – 7 games played, 0 goals, 1 assist, -3 rating, 0 penalty minutes
Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 55.7% (+2.0%), SCF – 56.5% (+3.7%), HDCF – 56.7% (+5.8%)

Todd McLellan nicknamed Matt Roy “Steady Eddie” for a reason. Roy is not a player who has a ton of fluctuation in his game and as we’ve watched him now over the last three seasons, we’ve come to really understand what that means. Roy’s day-to-day demeanor and on-ice output remains relatively unchanged. He’s rarely too high or too low and you see generally the same game from Roy night-in and night-out. For those reasons, he’s become a valuable part of the Kings defensive cocrps and he is a player who has earned the trust of the coaching staff in all situations.

Trending Up – Want proof that Roy is one of the NHL’s best defensemen at keeping the puck out of his team’s net? Among blueliners around the league with at least 1,000 minutes played this season, Roy ranked fourth across all 32 teams in terms of fewest goals against per/60 minutes. With the same parameters, Roy also placed inside the Top-5 in terms of fewest high-danger goals against. A defenseman who does not allow goals when he is on the ice. Good in my book.

What’s the best way to keep the puck out of your net? Possess the puck! When looking across the NHL, Roy ranked inside the league’s Top-12 in terms of shot attempts for, scoring chances for and high-danger chances for, all on a per/60 basis. When Roy was on the ice, the Kings had the puck and created chances in the offensive zone, both in terms of quantity and quality. Roy also led the Kings from an individual perspective in both shot attempts and scoring chances. All good signs from the quickly establishing veteran.

Looking at Roy’s possession metrics as a whole, he improved across the board from 2020-21 to 2021-22. Roy saw each of his chances for metrics – shot attempts, scoring chances and high-danger chances – rise. He saw each of those three metrics fall when it came to the chances against column. How it shook out was an increase of more than nine percentage points in percentage of shot attempts controlled, nearly 14 percentage points in scoring chances and nearly 15 percentage points in high-danger chances. Massive improvements, with career highs for the Michigan native in both SCF% and HDCF%.

Trending Down – Typically, the biggest thing that goes against Roy – and outside of Drew Doughty and Sean Durzi this has mostly applied to the team’s group of defensemen as a whole – is that his outstanding possession metrics have not yet translated into more individual production. Roy had 21 points from 67 games, respectable totals, but scored just two goals this season, despite possessing a heavy shot and a willingness to use it. We’ve covered his chance creation numbers, but Roy’s 5-on-5 shooting percentage was just 1.6 percent, while his on-ice shooting percentage was 7.0 percent. These ranked just 128th and 129th respectively out of the 143 defensemen to play 1,000+ minutes this season. Even a slight uptick in those areas would see growth in his raw production.

There’s not a ton else to knock Roy for. He struggled a bit coming off of injury in early-April, allowing a goal against at 5-on-5 in his first five games back in the lineup, but he was thrust into a playoff push after being out of the lineup for a month. He was also asked to play the left side for some of that time, due to other injuries, and he showed some discomfort playing an unfamiliar side. Roy posted the team’s lowest percentage of shot attempts controlled in the postseason, though he saw Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl more frequently than any other Edmonton forward. All small sample sizes in this paragraph and general consensus would be none are more than a slight concern.

2022-23 Status – Roy is under contract with the Kings for two more seasons with a cap hit of just over $3 million. Roy has solidified his place in the pecking order behind Drew Doughty, with the expectation that he will enter training camp in the fall as the organization’s second pairing defenseman on the right side.

Roy’s skillset is unique in that he excels on the defensive side of the game, but is still a contributor offensively, both with moving the puck and through a hard, heavy shot. Roy has been one of the league’s best over the last two seasons at keeping the puck out of his net, as detailed above, a skillset that will always be valued by an organization and is certainly valued here in Los Angeles. Coming off what was his first full NHL season and his first go at the playoffs, expect to see Roy continue to develop and contribute moving forward.