4. Points-per-game is an excellent way to rate the relative offensive contributions of NHL players. But there’s no fair and accurate way to use stats to rate the defensive contributions of NHLers, at least using the stats available to the public right now. We might all wish there was, but there simply isn’t.
5. You’ll get some vague sense from using on-ice numbers for goals against, scoring chances against and shots against about the defensive play of an individual players, but those numbers don’t focus in on individual contributions like points do. You have to make a pass or a shot to get a point on a scoring play. But on a shot, scoring chance or goal against, you could be doing your job, covering your man, doing everything right, and you’ll still get a minus one if you’re out on the ice. Not only that, this happens all the time. False negatives are about as common as earned negatives. False negatives are constant in a game where a player makes no mistake on a shot, scoring chance or goal against yet is tagged with that -1. Feel free to put a lot of weight in that kind of analysis, but it’s going to often mislead you.
