Zach Werenski
Werenski is Columbus's top-pairing defenseman and the first power-play unit's defenseman, and the Oct. 31 preview data shows no sign of that changing.
Role
Aggregator pages built on Daily Faceoff's pre-game reporting have him on the top pair with Damon Severson (Inside the Rink previews for Oct. 27 and Oct. 31, ESPN, 5v5 Hockey as of Oct. 18). The Oct. 31 preview at Dallas has him on the first power-play unit with Knies, Fantilli, Johnson and Coyle. He also appears on a penalty-kill unit, listed with Coyle, Olivier and Severson in that preview, and ESPN's page had him with Provorov. He logged 28:47 in his most recent game before that preview. The Oct. 27 preview had a different first unit (Nichushkin, Johnson, Coyle, Severson, Werenski), and Puckcast's Oct. 27 page showed him on PP2, so the forwards around him shift. His own PP1 spot is consistent in the other pages I read. Denton Mateychuk is the nearest challenger for power-play time, on the second unit in the Oct. 31 preview. The Daily Faceoff page itself was fetched but returned only a June 2025 offseason snapshot, so I could not read its current lines.
He plays top-pair minutes, on the first power-play unit and on the penalty kill. Inside the Rink, citing Box Score Junkie, notes 56.6 shot attempts for per 60 over 318 minutes. The same note says he has zero goals on 1.8 expected goals, so the optimists read that as finishing due to turn around.
The same Oct. 31 note has his Corsi-for at 49.3% and no goals yet this season. Power-play personnel around him have changed from game to game, so his production depends partly on which forwards share the unit. Last season he played only 12 games (10 points, 2 power-play points), so the sample from last year is small.
Where analysts split
broad agreement
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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