Which NHL player leads the league in points this season without a single one of those goals or assists coming on the power play?
You could give the average fan 100 guesses, perhaps 200, and they probably wouldn't come up with the correct solution to that trivia question.
The answer? Buffalo Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson with 32.
Scott Cullen of McKeen's Hockey delivered that statistical gem on Friday while discussing Samuelsson's unexpected value in fantasy hockey leagues.
"The Sabres fired GM Kevyn Adams in December, replacing him with Jarmo Kekalainen, and there is no reason to believe that a GM change suddenly caused the Sabres to play better, but there's no denying the results and it applies to Samuelsson," Cullen wrote.
To say the 25-year-old blueliner's crazy jump in offensive production was unexpected would be an understatement.
Samuelsson recorded just 43 points (seven goals and 36 assists) in 212 games across his first five NHL seasons with the Sabres. He's on pace for 50 points this year alone, which would be an incredible achievement for someone who never sees the ice with the man advantage.
It's probably the most surprising element of the campaign for Buffalo, which has recorded a 20-3-1 record over its past 24 games to climb the standings and put itself in position to finally end the longest playoff drought in league history at 14 years.
While Mattias Samuelsson emerges as a two-way force, the Buffalo Sabres' power play flounders
It's a good thing the Sabres offense is clicking on all cylinders at 5-on-5 — they rank fourth in the NHL in goals scored per 60 minutes in those situations (2.84), per Natural Stat Trick — because the team's power play isn't carrying its fair share of the offensive burden.
Buffalo ranks 18th with the man advantage this season (19.5%), and the problems go beyond that baseline underwhelming number.
Even recently, as the Sabres' PP has netted some goals, it's usually been the result of a broken play or a lucky bounce. Rarely does the unit get established in the offensive zone and generate a series of passes to create high-danger scoring chances.
The Blue and Gold seemingly have a limited number of ideas on the power play. They run the same old, tired drop-pass entry attempts in the neutral zone and, on occasions where they do gain the blue line, the lack of movement to create space and passing lanes is frustrating.
It's raised questions about whether assistant coach Seth Appert, who runs the unit, should land on the hot seat. Just like the roster as a whole, however, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen likely isn't going to make any significant moves while the team is winning consistently.
That said, the power play must improve if the Sabres want to emerge as a serious Stanley Cup contender, which is what Alex Tuch laid out as the club's singular goal moving forward.
Perhaps the PP improvement will come from a trade for an offensive-minded forward, which should be among the main things on Kekalainen's wish list ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline on March 6.
For now, the Sabres will continue to lean heavily on their play at even strength to light the lamp at one of the league's best rates in order to maintain their winning ways.
Samuelsson has been an amazingly important part of that equation, and he's shown no signs of slowing down with 13 points over his last 13 games.
If that keeps up, along with continued terrific play from fellow defensemen Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Bowen Byram, Buffalo will be a tough out come playoff time.
But if the Sabres' power play finds another gear, that's when the team could reach its maximum potential, and maybe even make some serious noise in the postseason.