Sports and Syntax

how the dallas stars’ young forward turns analytics into artistry

_{^{by Bridget Lombardo}}

_{^{© Getty Images}}

Every shot Wyatt Johnston takes feels like a calculated risk.

There’s a precision to the 22-year-old’s game that makes you think he’s already played the shift in his head before it happens. The puck leaves his stick like it’s been rehearsed a hundred times, gliding through traffic toward a spot only he seems to notice. His goals don’t always make the highlight reels, but they almost always make sense – statistically, spatially, and strategically.

In a league built on speed, excitement, and endless highlight reels, the Dallas Stars’ forward’s controlled, deliberate approach feels almost rebellious, which is what makes him one of the NHL’s most interesting young forwards. He doesn’t rely on luck, chaos, or endless shot attempts, but instead thrives on intent.

The Evolution of Modern Hockey:

Modern hockey relies on analytics – and rightfully so. Gone are the days of simply throwing the puck on net. Today, it revolves around shot quality. Essentially, success isn’t measured by how often you shoot, but instead by how well you read the moment before you do.

That’s where expected goals (xG) – a statistic that measures the likelihood a shot becomes a goal based on factors like location, shot type, and traffic in front of the net – come into play. The higher the xG, the more likely you are to score.

With xG, Wyatt Johnston doesn’t just meet the expectations set for him. He surpasses them.

Johnston’s shot maps from the last three seasons (2025-2026, 2024-2025, and 2023-2024) display dense constellations of shots in the slot and around the crease – a war zone disguised as blue paint (MoneyPuck). He rarely settles for low-percentage outside shots. Instead, he fights for inside position, forcing defenders and goaltenders to react instead of anticipate.

This kind of consistency isn’t a coincidence. It’s clarity. Johnston knows exactly what he’s chasing and how to get there.

Why Johnston’s Numbers Tell Stories:

During the 2024-2025 season, he registered 33 goals and 38 assists, building on already impressive rookie and sophomore campaigns. Additionally, the then 21-year-old “led the team in individual expected goals despite ranking only fifth in shooting percentage” (David Castillo, Stars Stack). In other words, he generates dangerous chances more than anyone else on the Stars, constantly putting himself in a position to score. Johnston isn’t a high-volume shooter. Instead, he’s a high-value one.

EliteProspects describes him beautifully, stating that he “arrives in scoring spots, supports puck carriers, and slides passes through defensive layers”. To put it simply, the young forward thinks the game better than most. Watch him for one period and you’ll notice how rarely he makes mistakes with the puck. He times his movements perfectly, managing to read gaps before they even exist. This trait is exactly what separates a good player from a great one.

His statistics back it up. Throughout four NHL seasons (2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026), Johnston has a total Corsi For (CF) percentage of 49.0, meaning that Dallas possesses the puck 49% of the time when he is on the ice. A CF% above 50% indicates that a team is outshooting its opponent while a specific player is on the ice, and Johnston is not far off. This suggests that with him on the ice, the Stars are controlling possession and generating more scoring opportunities (PuckPedia).

On top of this, Johnston has an average xGF percentage of 51.5, meaning that when he’s on the ice, Dallas generates more quality scoring chances than it allows. This shows that he consistently pushes play in the right direction.

This is what makes Johnston such a fascinating player within the modern analytics era. He bridges the gap between numbers and instinct – a player whose decisions make sense to both the eye and the data.

But what’s most striking about Wyatt Johnston isn’t just how much he understands the game. Instead, it’s how effortlessly he feels it. He reads the ice unbelievably well, finding rhythm in patterns, purpose in movement, and artistry in stick handling every time he touches the ice.

As hockey continues to evolve, players like Johnston will define its future. This isn’t due to highlight-worthy plays, but because they understand what truly drives NHL success: intention, intelligence, and trust in the quick, calculated chaos of hockey.

But let’s focus on the present for now. Wyatt Johnston represents where the game is headed – a blend of intuition, preparation, and quiet confidence. His value lies in the details, in the decisions that unfold between the data points. Every shift is a study in controlled creativity, every goal the result of a plan carried out with precision. In a sport that’s constantly moving faster, Johnston proves that slowing the game down – thinking it through, reading the rhythm, trusting the work – might just be hockey’s most underrated skill.