I tend to think points are more important because theres more that goes into a scoring chance than just the shooter but I constantly hear analysts only bring up players goal totals (Gord Miller is notoriously bad for this) and it kind of makes me think the media undervalues playmakers. Where do you all stand on this?
Goals are more important. Obviously. To the point that assists (points) are not important at all. Since its possible to score goals w/o any assists, but it's not possible the other way around.
NHL uses the outdated system that counts: a goal = primary assist = secondary assist = 1 point. Playmakers have a huge advantage because of it and therefore heavily overrated.
So, if we want a fair comparison between a sniper and playmaker we need to use another system. Something like 4 points = 4 secondary assists = 2 primary assists = 1 goal as example.
Using this^ system lets compare a sniper Ovechkin and playmaker Kucherov this season.
Ovechkin = 51 goals *4 + 26 primary *2 + 12 secondary *1 = 268 points
Kucherov = 40*4 + 53*2 + 33*1 = 299 points
So according to this^ system Kucherov is 10% better than Oveckin this season.
While according to NHL point system Kucherov is 30% better than Ovechkin this season.
I am Lightning fan and I am 100% sure that Kucherov is not 30% better than Ovechkin, while 10% looks more or less correct comparison between the best sniper and the best playmaker of the season.
