To all but the most niche of groups (shout out to the Jersey Nerds), Zach Aston-Reese isn’t even a blip on the radar. He’s been on six teams in eight seasons, including stints of 17 games with Anaheim, three with Detroit, and zero with Vegas (the Jackets claimed him off waivers before he could dress for the Golden Knights this season).
However, this season in Columbus, he’s seemed to have found his role, playing on a surprisingly dominant third line with Mattieu Olivier and Justin Danforth for most of the season. He provided decent enough depth scoring (six goals and 17 games), physicality (179 hits on the season), and was a monster on the forecheck. Most importantly, he was consistently available and in the lineup, setting a new career high with 79 of 82 games played. As such, ZAR was rewarded with a shiny, brand-new one year extension in January.
And he was a graphic design major, so we like him for that.
2024-25 Stats
Games Played: 79
Goals: 6
Assists: 11
Points: 17
Plus/Minus: -15
PIM: 27
5v5 Corsi %: 43.9%
5v5 Fenwick %: 43.8%
5v5 O-Zone Start %: 36.3%
Contract
As mentioned above, ZAR signed a one-year extension for next season in January. He’ll cost the team $775K.
High and Low Points
His goal on October 17th vs Buffalo was his first in 562 days, and served as the game-winner. That was part of a stretch scoring four goals and three assists in the first 15 games of the season. He also had the primary assist on Justin Danforth’s Stadium Series-winning goal.
Math heads out there will note that that last paragraph means he scored just twice in his last 64 games of the season. That includes a 22-game stretch, from December 21st to February 6th, without registering a single point, a -10 in that stretch without a single game in the positives. Not great, Bob.
Report Card
While the defensive metrics and scoring droughts leave room for improvement, he was literally free and started a whopping 63.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone. I was leaning C, but since he’s a fellow graphic design major C+.