Measuring the Defensive Ability of Fowards

[umwoz]

I've found this relatively difficult to actually pin down. Sure... zone start percentages will show you the relative trust a coach has in his players ability to defend, but stats like Fenwick, Corsi and On-Ice Shot Differential don't do much for players that don't produce a ton of offense on their own.

Conversely, for players that do produce offense as well, it's hard to tell if the differential stats are more representative of their offensive work or their defensive acumen.

Any help? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

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[charlie1]

I've found this relatively difficult to actually pin down. Sure... zone start percentages will show you the relative trust a coach has in his players ability to defend, but stats like Fenwick, Corsi and On-Ice Shot Differential don't do much for players that don't produce a ton of offense on their own.

Conversely, for players that do produce offense as well, it's hard to tell if the differential stats are more representative of their offensive work or their defensive acumen.

Any help? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

One thing you can do is look at shot rates against. Things like ShotsAgainst/60, or GA/60. You can also look at hextally charts which show where shots are coming from when player X is on the ice.

For goals rates I wouldn't pay much attention to anything with less than a 100 game sample size.

HTH