Not the most popular Red Wing with fans or management, but Ouellet put up some impressive numbers this season that should earn him a more prominent role in Detroit or elsewhere.

As our 2017-18 Player Review series continues, let’s take a look at how the underused left-handed defenseman truly performed this season in limited minutes.

Using the season summary from Micah, you can really get a sense of what type of player Ouellet was this past season.

Really only serving time on the bottom pairing, Ouellet was succumbed to a rotating carousel of partners on the blueline. Spending a somewhat equal amount of time between Kronwall, Green, DeKeyser, and even Jensen – he was never really able to cement a spot in the lineup. Always just the extra player to put in and play under-15 minutes a night.

His point rate was nothing to really care about, only putting up a rate of 0.3 assists every hour he was on the ice. Mostly since he wasn’t really used in prime scoring opportunities, or put on the ice with proper offensive scoring threats.

His numbers tell us that he should have been used differently this whole season. While he was on the ice the Red Wings had more shot attempts and goals at even-strength, than their opposition. Increasing in a positive way on both axis, showed that Ouellet had more to bring than most Red Wings defenseman.

According to this, Ouellet has a good case to be the modern shutdown defenseman on the Red Wings. He doesn’t have an offensive touch, but he can suppress shots and limit scoring chances from the opposition – all while skating better than the prototypical “shutdown” blueliner.

There really isn’t anything substantial about this.

Ouellet has never played a full season in the NHL, even though I believe he should have this year. If there was any year to just put your 24-year-old defenseman out on the ice for big minutes and see what he could do, it was this year. But alas, he was never given a real opportunity with some proper ice-time.

At least you can look at only having 6 PIMs in 45 games as a positive.

Ouellet is sneaky good at limiting shot attempts. Among all defenseman in the league with at least 500 minutes of even-strength ice-time, Ouellet allowed the seventh-least of raw Corsi Against. Of course the more time a player is on the ice, the more shots attempts they will naturally allow, but to be that low is something nice to see. Among those bottom seven, Ouellet has the third-most ice-time in the group, so that’s a little more beneficial for his case.

He joins Nick Jensen as the only two Red Wings defenseman to have a over-50% 5v5 CF%. Of course these two were the ones being shopped around at the trade deadline this year.

When it comes to goal production, Ouellet does not have it.

He does well at limiting the attempted shots, but not at having the actual puck go in the net. Neither does he do well in limited scoring chances for the other team. His expected goal rate is in the negative, but still a positive production compared to his teammates.

Being commonly paired with not the best defensemen or forwards, makes your numbers suffer a little bit.

I have the overwhelming feeling that he will not be in Detroit when the 2018-19 season starts. He was shopped around and rumoured to have deals for him on the table at the deadline, the trigger was just not pulled in time.

After not getting the most exposure for buyers, a lowly trade to acquire another draft pick seems to be in the books for the Frenchman. Who can complain about more draft stock, but when you’re trading away a young player in the position the team needs most, it looks like you’re succumbing to the cap hell that the Red Wings management put themselves in.

A young, cheap, controllable, and good defenseman for the bottom pair of a Cup contender can only cost a mid-round pick.

I really wish Blashill had given Ouellet more minutes this year; to really get a sense of what type of defenseman he could be. I really like his numbers, but they scream “small sample size” for me.

He is a NHL defenseman without a doubt, but I don’t think the Red Wings will have a spot for him in the lineup next year. Especially with young players like Joe Hicketts, Filip Hronek, and Dennis Cholowski, ready to take his spot in the defensive depth chart.

A victim to the horrible contracts this team gave out to old and slow defenseman.