With us firmly in the off-season for the majority of ice hockey leagues it’s now the time when most teams are negotiating contracts for the next season, picking up new players and trying to cling on to their favourites. Over the summer you’re likely to see a few fresh faces and you could be wondering what they’ll bring to your squad. How will you know if they’re a good addition? How can you tell how valuable they’ll be to the team? Fear not, once again statistics are here to save the day.

Most leagues have a table of player performance in addition to team performance which can be a great place to start if you’re looking to get an overview of how a player contributes to your team. There tends to be different tables for skaters and goalies, given how different their roles are, and there are different statistics for each which we’ll look at in turn below.

Skaters

Common statistics you’ll see

• Position - this refers to what position the player is assigned to. Sometimes player statistics are just split into FW (forward) and D (defense), but sometimes they’re more detailed and split FW into C (center), LW (left wing) and RW (right wing).
• GP (stands for Games Played) - this refers to the number of games a player has taken part in. As mentioned in the league table article, each league has a set number of games a team is expected to play, but some players may miss games due to injury.
• G (stands for Goals) - each goal is worth one point towards a player’s overall point total.
• A (stands for Assists) - each assist is also worth one point towards a player’s overall point total! It might seem silly that goals and assists are worth the same number of points, but assists are just as valuable in the overall offensive work of the team.
• PTS (stands for Points, sometimes just listed as P) - this is the combination of any points from G and A. It gives an idea of how strong a player is offensively in general and how much they contribute towards team scoring.
• PIM (stands for Penalties In Minutes) - this is the total time a player has spent in the penalty box. It gives an idea of whether a player is squeaky clean, or happy to play a bit dirty (no judgement from me, I’m a fan of a bold enforcer).
• PPG/PPA (stands for Power Play Goals or Power Play Assists) - the number of goals or assists while the team has a manpower advantage (the opposing team has a player or players in the penalty box).
• SHG/SHA (stands for Short Handed Goals or Short Handed Assists) - the number of goals or assists while the opposing team has a manpower advantage (the player’s team has a player or players in the penalty box).
• +/- (plus-minus) - this increases by one every time the player is on the ice when their team scores an even handed or short handed goal, and decreases by one every time the player is on the ice and the opposition scores an even handed or short handed goal. Power play goals do not impact the plus-minus score. The plus-minus score was designed to make it easier to look at a player’s overall impact, however it’s pretty widely criticised! I’ll explain why in the section on interpretation below.
• S (stands for Shots) - this is the count of all shot attempts that are in the general direction of the net.
• SOG (stands for Shots On Goal) - this is the count of all shot attempts that could realistically result in a goal if the goalie wasn’t present.
• FOW (stands for Face Off Wins) - the number of face offs a player has won.
• FOL (stands for Face Off Losses) - the number of face offs a player has lost.
• TOI (stands for Time On Ice, can also be MIN for minutes played) - this gives a bit of an idea about how much the team rely on this player, but also their stamina. If their TOI is high in comparison to others on the team, the player can probably handle a lot of skating and is likely contributing a lot to the team. If their TOI is lower in comparison to others on the team, it’s possible that the player is younger or newer, and being given the opportunity to show what they can bring to the team.

Interpreting the statistics

So that’s a summary of all the statistics you’re likely to see for your team’s skaters. In terms of an overall assessment of how well a player is performing, it’s worth focussing on a few stats in particular.

In a similar way to league tables, when looking at player stats it’s sensible to look at points (PTS) and games played (GP) together. A player may have lower overall points score for a season but this could be as a result of playing few games due to an injury. Some player stats tables (like the NHL) have a PTS/GP or P/GP measure which averages the number of points the player has accumulated over the number of games they’ve played to make it easier to compare players who have been on the ice for different numbers of games.

While only goals and assists actually count towards a player’s points (PTS) total, the statistics on shots are also valuable. Shots (S) gives you an idea of how frequently a player is likely to take a chance while shots on goal (SOG) is a better measure of how accurate the player is. If a player has a high shots number but a low shots on goal number, chances are the puck is missing the net more often than not. If both shots and shots on goal are high then the player is more likely to be getting the puck on target and could be getting unlucky with some goalie saves.

The plus-minus score is theoretically the most rounded measure as it indicates how much the player is on the ice when a team scores (woo) or how much the player is on the ice when the opposing team scores (boo). The problem with this though is that it treats the work of the team as if it were the responsibility of an individual. If the team overall isn’t great (and particularly if the goalie isn’t doing well) a good player could still potentially be on the ice when a lot of goals are conceded, leading them to have more of a minus score. Similarly, a weaker player may happen to be drafted to a strong team who scores a lot while they’re on the ice, this may mean they have a more positive score even if they didn’t score or assist themselves.

You may also note that the majority of the statistics above relate more strongly to what you’d expect a team’s forwards to be doing, rather than the defense! This can be because it’s harder to quantify the contribution that defensemen make; they’re more likely to be clearing the way for the assists and shots on goal than taking them themselves. A few tables (like the PWHL) include a HITS measure which counts the number of legal checks a player has carried out on an opponent with the puck. This might show how physical a player is but doesn’t necessarily show how good a defenseman is at stopping goals. There are some other stats in more detailed tables which are better measures, but they don’t tend to be included in the summary player statistics tables.

Goaltenders

Common statistics you’ll see

• GP (stands for Games Played) - this refers to the number of games a goalie has taken part in. As for skaters, goalies might miss games for injuries.
• W (stands for Wins) - the number of wins for a goalie might not exactly match the total team wins. A game is counted for a win for a goalie if their team takes the lead while they’re in the net and then doesn’t give up the lead. If a team switches their goalie mid-game, the win goes to the goalie who was on the ice when the team scored the goal which led to the win.
• L (stands for Losses) - this is calculated on the same basis as wins above.
• SO (stands for Shut Outs) - the number of games a goalie has played where they’ve managed to avoid letting in any goals.
• SA (stands for Shots Against) - the total number of shots on goal that the goalie either saves or allows into the net.
• GA (stands for Goals Against) - the number of times the goalie lets the puck into the net.
• GAA (stands for Goals Against Average) - the average number of goals that a goalie allows per game, this is calculated by multiplying the total number of goals that a goalie has allowed by 60 (standard game length), and then dividing by the total time a goalie has played.
• SVS% (stands for Save Percentage) - this is the overall proportion of shots against (SA) that a goalie successfully stopped from going in the net.
• PIM (stands for Penalties In Minutes) - this is the total time a player has spent in the penalty box. It’s much rarer for a goalie to have a penalty, but not impossible! Some of the best fighting penalties are goalie on goalie violence…
• TOI (stands for Time On Ice, can also be MIN for minutes played) - the total time spent on the ice. Most teams tend to have a primary goalie and a backup goalie, with the primary getting the majority of the time on the ice.

Interpreting the statistics

In terms of goalie statistics, there’s two that tend to get the most interest. SVS% is a great indicator of how successful a goalie is in keeping the puck out of the net under pressure. The better the goalie is, the closer to 100% their SVS% is. The GAA gives an idea of on average how many goals a goalie lets in per game. It’s worth bearing in mind though that a good goalie on a defensively poor team might have a higher GAA and let in more goals on average per game compared to other goalies, even if the goalie has a high SVS%. You’ll probably get a better understanding of whether the GAA is a good reflection of the goalie’s skill by looking at the shots against (SA) to see how hard they’re having to work to keep the puck out.

Stats all folks!

So hopefully the above is a reasonable starting point for what some of the key player statistics are, but there’s a whole wealth of detail outside the summary tables each league produces! I hope this makes the world of player statistics just a little bit less daunting.