At the start of March is the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference - basically the Super Bowl of sports analytics conferences.
One of the hockey related research papers is "Total Hockey Rating (THoR): A comprehensive statistical rating of National Hockey League forwards and defensemen based upon all on-ice events" - and is a very interesting look at valuing players.
Here is a link to the research paper:
http://www.sloansportsconference.com...e events.pdf
"Here we present a new comprehensive rating that accounts for other players on the ice will a give player as well as the impact of where a shift starts and of every non-shooting events such as turnovers and hits that occur when a player is on the ice. The impact of each play is determined by the probability that it leads to a goal for a player’s team (or their opponent) in the subsequent 20 seconds. The primary outcome of this work is a reliable methodology that can quantify the impact of players in creating and preventing goals for both forwards and defenseman. We present ratings for the top forwards and defensemen based on all events from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 NHL regular seasons."
Top 15 Defenseman (2010-2012) by THoR:
Team Player Position Wins Created
Philadelphia Flyers Kimmo Timonen D 5.73