Analytics Glossary

Plus/Minus tracks how many even-strength and shorthanded goals are scored for versus against while a skater is on the ice. A player receives a +1 when their team scores and a -1 when the opponent scores while they are on the ice. Power play goals are excluded.

Highly dependent on linemates and team quality. A strong team player can post +20 with ordinary individual performance. Modern analytics prefer metrics like xG or CF% for individual evaluation.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Area Under the (ROC) Curve is a standard measure of a machine learning classifier's ability to distinguish between outcomes — in this case, a home win versus an away win. An AUC of 1.0 is perfect prediction; 0.5 is no better than random chance.

PuckMetrics targets AUC ≥ 0.73 for game outcome predictions. Most published hockey models achieve 0.65–0.72. Higher is better.

Appears on: Predictions

Corsi For Percentage measures the share of all shot attempts (shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots) taken by your team while a player is on the ice at even strength. It is the most widely used proxy for puck possession and territorial control in hockey analytics.

League average is 50%. Above 52% indicates strong territorial control. Below 48% suggests the team is consistently being outshot.

Appears on: Player Profile, Game Detail, Team Profile

Expected Goals Above Replacement is the xG-based variant of GAR. Rather than using actual goals (which carry finishing variance), EGAR uses expected goal values to estimate a player's true contribution. It is generally more stable year-to-year than GAR.

Interpreted like GAR: 0 is replacement level, positive values are above-average contributors.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats

Fenwick For Percentage is similar to Corsi but excludes blocked shots from the count. Some analysts prefer Fenwick because blocked shots involve luck and opponent positioning, making unblocked shot attempts a slightly cleaner signal of shot generation and suppression.

Interpreted the same as CF%: 50% is league average, above 52% is strong. Typically correlates closely with CF%.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats

Faceoff Win Percentage measures how often a player or team wins faceoffs. Winning faceoffs provides immediate puck possession, which is especially valuable in the defensive zone and on special teams.

50% is perfectly average. Above 55% is considered strong. Centers are evaluated partly on faceoff proficiency.

Appears on: Player Profile, Game Detail

Goals Against Average is the average number of goals allowed per 60 minutes of ice time. It is heavily influenced by the team in front of the goalie — a poor defensive team inflates GAA regardless of goaltending quality.

Elite is below 2.50. Average is roughly 2.60–2.90. Above 3.00 is below average, though context (team defense) matters greatly.

Appears on: Player Profile, Goalie Stats

Game Score is a composite single-game performance metric developed by Dom Luszczyszyn at The Athletic. It synthesizes goals, assists, shots, blocks, hits, faceoff wins/losses, and plus/minus into a single number representing a player's impact in a given game.

A score above 1.0 is a strong game. Above 2.0 is excellent. Elite performances (hat tricks, multi-point games with great possession) can exceed 3.0.

Appears on: Game Detail, Player Profile

Goals Above Replacement estimates the total goal-value a player contributes above what a replacement-level player would provide in the same role and ice time. It combines offensive and defensive contributions into a single number, accounting for both production and suppression.

Replacement level is roughly 0 GAR. Top players post 5–12 GAR per season. Negative values indicate below-replacement performance.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats

Games Started counts the number of games in which a goalie was the starting netminder. A true starter typically plays 55–70 games in an 82-game regular season.

High GS with strong SV% and GSAA indicates a workhorse starter. Backup goalies typically see 15–25 GS.

Appears on: Player Profile, Goalie Stats

Goals Saved Above Average measures how many more goals a goalie prevented compared to what a league-average goalie would have allowed, given the same shot volume and quality. A positive GSAA means the goalie outperformed the average; a negative value means they underperformed.

Above 10 GSAA in a season is elite. 0 to 5 is average. Negative values suggest below-average goaltending on a rate basis.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats

High-Danger Corsi For Percentage measures the share of high-danger shot attempts (those from the slot and scoring areas closest to the net) that belong to a player's team when they are on the ice. It focuses on the most valuable scoring chance locations.

League average is 50%. Players above 55% in HDCF% are generating or being deployed on the most dangerous scoring lines.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats

PDO is the sum of a team's (or player's) on-ice shooting percentage and on-ice save percentage at even strength. It was originally named after a hockey forum user. PDO tends to regress toward 100% over time, making extreme values a signal of unsustainable luck rather than true skill.

Values significantly above 100 suggest a team is running hot and may regress. Below 97 may signal bad luck due to correct course. League average is always 100.

Appears on: Team Profile

Penalty Minutes accumulates the total minutes a player has served in the penalty box over a period. Minor penalties are 2 minutes, majors are 5 minutes, and misconducts are 10 minutes.

High PIM can indicate an aggressive physical style or poor discipline. Context matters: some PIM comes from taking penalties to stop goals versus taking undisciplined penalties.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Penalty Kill Percentage is the fraction of times a team successfully kills a penalty without allowing a goal. Strong penalty killing is a significant factor in team success, particularly in playoff hockey.

League average is typically 78–82%. Above 84% is elite. Below 75% is a significant liability.

Appears on: Team Profile

Power Play Percentage is the fraction of power play opportunities a team converts into goals. It measures offensive efficiency when the team has a numerical advantage.

League average is typically around 19–22%. Above 25% is elite; below 15% is poor. PP% is volatile game-to-game but informative over a full season.

Appears on: Team Profile

Power Play Assists counts assists earned on goals scored during the power play. Playmakers — especially on the power play point — often lead the league in PPA.

Quarterbacks on the power play (often defensemen or creative playmakers) tend to accumulate high PPA.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Power Play Goals counts goals scored while the player's team has a numerical advantage due to an opponent penalty. Power play specialists accumulate most of their offensive production in this situation.

Elite power play forwards may post 15–25 PPG in a strong season. Context: a player with high PPG but low even-strength goals may struggle without the man advantage.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Point Percentage is a team's points as a fraction of the maximum possible points, which equals two per game played. It normalizes the standings for teams that have played different numbers of games and is the most accurate current-pace measure.

.600+ is a strong playoff-calibre pace. .500 is the pace for exactly 82 points over a full 82-game season. Below .450 is typically out of playoff contention.

Appears on: Standings

Regulation + Overtime Wins counts wins achieved in regulation time or overtime, but excludes shootout wins. It is the second tiebreaker in the NHL standings, used when two teams are tied on both points and RW. Shootout wins count toward the standings point total but not ROW.

Higher ROW indicates a team wins more often in actual hockey play rather than the skills-competition tiebreaker of a shootout.

Appears on: Standings

Regulation Wins counts only wins achieved within 60 minutes of play, before overtime or a shootout. The NHL uses RW as the first tiebreaker between teams tied on points, rewarding teams that win decisively rather than surviving overtime or shootouts.

All else equal, more RW is better. RW is increasingly important late in the season when teams are close in the standings.

Appears on: Standings

Shooting Percentage is the fraction of shots on goal that result in a goal. High S% seasons often involve luck or finishing skill that does not repeat, making it a volatile metric over small sample sizes.

Typical range is 8–14% for forwards. Consistently above 15% may indicate unsustainable finishing luck. Below 5% may signal poor finishing or a cold streak.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Shot Attempt Percentage is an alternate name for Corsi For Percentage (CF%), used in some official NHL statistics presentations. It represents the share of all shot attempts taken by a team while a player is on the ice. The underlying calculation is identical to CF%.

Equivalent to CF%. League average is 50%.

Appears on: Player Profile

A shutout is awarded when a goalie plays the entire game and allows zero goals. It is a milestone stat that reflects both goaltender performance and team defensive play.

Elite goalies may post 5–8 shutouts in a season. Most starting goalies average 2–4 per season. More shutouts with fewer shots faced indicates a stronger defensive team in front.

Appears on: Player Profile, Goalie Stats

Save Percentage is the fraction of shots on goal that a goalie stops. It is the most common measure of goaltender efficiency. SV% does not account for shot quality, so two goalies with the same SV% may face very different shot difficulty.

Elite goalies post .920+. The league average in modern NHL is typically .910–.914. Below .900 is below average.

Appears on: Player Profile, Goalie Stats

Time on Ice is the total number of minutes a player spends on the ice in a game or season, including all situations (even strength, power play, and penalty kill). It reflects coaching trust and usage role.

Top-pairing defensemen often log 23+ minutes per game. Top-line forwards typically see 18–22 minutes. Fourth-line forwards may play 8–12 minutes.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Time on Ice per Game is the average minutes a player is on the ice per game played. It is a standardized version of TOI that allows comparison across players with different numbers of games played.

Interpreted the same as TOI but per-game basis. Consistent across partial seasons and players returning from injury.

Appears on: Player Profile, Skater Stats

Expected Goals is a shot quality metric that estimates the probability each shot has of becoming a goal, based on factors like shot location, shot type, and game situation. An xG of 1.0 means the shot attempts from that sequence were collectively expected to produce one goal. It measures the quality of scoring chances, not just the quantity.

Higher is better for offence. Compare xG to actual goals to assess finishing luck — if a team's actual goals far exceed their xG, they may be running hot.

Appears on: Game Detail, Team Profile

Expected Goals per 60 minutes normalizes xG output to a full 60-minute rate, allowing fair comparison between players with different ice times. It captures scoring chance generation at even strength and is one of the most predictive individual skater metrics.

Elite forwards typically post 0.90+ xG/60. Average is around 0.55–0.70. Below 0.40 suggests limited offensive impact.

Appears on: Player Profile, Advanced Stats