Hey, hockey fans! Have you ever noticed how severely lacking plus/minus is as a stat? I know I have. Sure, it tells you how often a skater was on the ice when even strength goals were scored (and I believe short-handed as well), but really, that’s it? Shouldn’t it factor in things such as penalty kills, failed power plays, penalty minutes, and penalties drawn, not to mention giving additional credit to the guys who actually scored goals and assisted in finding the back of the net? And maybe a little extra love for those who not only killed the penalty, but scored short-handed? (And likewise, scorn for those with the man advantage who could not stop the men they outnumbered.)
See, my answer to the majority of those rhetorical questions was an emphatic yes. Even the ones where it doesn’t make sense (which is all of them, rhetorical as those questions are). And so, I’ve reimagined (read, bastardized) plus/minus to determine which playoff skaters have been the most valuable during the first week of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And likewise, who has been the biggest liability. (Spoiler alert: It’s Andrew Alberts.)
I played around with the same thing during last year’s playoffs, and the big winner was Henrik Zetterberg, whose all-around plus/minus (for lack of a better term — although I may consider calling it “POTI” as an homage to the Caps defenseman that this equation seems to be in mad love with, as well as a lame takeoff of Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA) was +21. Ben Eager was the big loser at a -8. (Poti was a +15, third among all playoff skaters.)
Here’s what this year’s look like through the first week of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
| Skater | TEAM | ALL-PURPOSE +/- |
| Zach Parise | NJD | 4 |
| Mikael Samuelsson | VAN | 4 |
| Brad Richardson | LA | 4 |
| Tom Poti | WAS | 4 |
| John Carlson | WAS | 3 |
| Valtteri Filppula | DET | 3 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | DET | 3 |
| Sidney Crosby | PIT | 3 |
| Shaone Morrisonn | WAS | 3 |
| Martin Hanzal | PHX | 3 |
| Boyd Gordon | WAS | 3 |
| Michal Handzus | LA | 3 |
| Patrik Elias | NJD | 3 |
| Eric Fehr | WAS | 3 |
| Chris Kelly | OTT | 3 |
| Evgeni Malkin | PIT | 3 |
| Ryan O’Reilly | COL | 3 |
| Niklas Backstrom | WAS | 3 |
| Stephane Yelle | COL | 2 |
| Scott Hannan | COL | 2 |
| Fredrik Modin | LA | 2 |
| Anton Volchenkov | OTT | 2 |
| Bryce Salvador | NJD | 2 |
| Josh Gorges | MTL | 2 |
| Maxime Talbot | PIT | 2 |
| Mike Knuble | WAS | 2 |
| Brad Stuart | DET | 2 |
| Keith Yandle | PHX | 2 |
| Ryan Kesler | VAN | 2 |
| Martin Skoula | NJD | 2 |
| Dennis Wideman | BOS | 2 |
| Mike Grier | BUF | 2 |
| Anze Kopitar | LA | 2 |
| Michael Ryder | BOS | 2 |
| Mike Mottau | NJD | 2 |
| Ryane Clowe | SJS | 2 |
| Hal Gill | MTL | 2 |
| Craig Adams | PIT | 2 |
| Drew Doughty | LA | 2 |
| Jack Johnson | LA | 2 |
| Ian Laperriere | PHI | 2 |
| Pascal Dupuis | PIT | 2 |
| Jerred Smithson | NSH | 2 |
| Matthew Lombardi | PHX | 2 |
| Daniel Sedin | VAN | 2 |
| Daniel Carcillo | PHI | 2 |
| Chris Phillips | OTT | 2 |
| Wojtek Wolski | PHX | 2 |
| Arron Asham | PHI | 2 |
| Dustin Brown | LA | 2 |
| Zdeno Chara | BOS | 2 |
| Radim Vrbata | PHX | 2 |
| Blair Betts | PHI | 2 |
| Matt Bradley | WAS | 2 |
| Tom Pyatt | MTL | 1 |
| David Legwand | NSH | 1 |
| Colin White | NJD | 1 |
| Peter Regin | OTT | 1 |
| Patrick Kane | CHI | 1 |
| J.P. Dumont | NSH | 1 |
| Scott Nichol | SJS | 1 |
| Raffi Torres | BUF | 1 |
| Mark Recchi | BOS | 1 |
| Kyle Quincey | COL | 1 |
| Daniel Paille | BOS | 1 |
| Petr Prucha | PHX | 1 |
| Chris Stewart | COL | 1 |
| Wayne Simmonds | LA | 1 |
| Derek Morris | PHX | 1 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom | DET | 1 |
| Brent Sopel | CHI | 1 |
| Mike Richards | PHI | 1 |
| Patrice Bergeron | BOS | 1 |
| Steve Begin | BOS | 1 |
| Matt Ellis | BUF | 1 |
| Dan Hamhuis | NSH | 1 |
| Devin Setoguchi | SJS | 1 |
| Niklas Hjalmarsson | CHI | 1 |
| Logan Couture | SJS | 1 |
| Sean O’Donnell | LA | 1 |
| Matt Greene | LA | 1 |
| Brandon Yip | COL | 1 |
| Mason Raymond | VAN | 1 |
| Vladimir Sobotka | BOS | 1 |
| Dave Bolland | CHI | 1 |
| Henrik Tallinder | BUF | 1 |
| Jason Chimera | WAS | 1 |
| Johnny Boychuk | BOS | 1 |
| Andy Greene | NJD | 1 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | DET | 1 |
| Jed Ortmeyer | SJS | 1 |
| Eric Belanger | WAS | 1 |
| Chris Neil | OTT | 1 |
| John Madden | CHI | 1 |
| Travis Zajac | NJD | 1 |
| Chris Kunitz | PIT | 1 |
| Manny Malhotra | SJS | 1 |
| Sami Lepisto | PHX | 1 |
| Zbynek Michalek | PHX | 1 |
| David Steckel | WAS | 1 |
| Matt Duchene | COL | 1 |
| Thomas Vanek | BUF | 1 |
| Brian Gionta | MTL | 1 |
| Justin Abdelkader | DET | 1 |
| Marcel Goc | NSH | 1 |
| Blake Wheeler | BOS | 1 |
| Kyle Cumiskey | COL | 1 |
| Todd Bertuzzi | DET | 1 |
| Alexandre Burrows | VAN | 1 |
| Patrick Eaves | DET | 1 |
| Mike Fisher | OTT | 1 |
| Darren Helm | DET | 1 |
| Jason Spezza | OTT | 1 |
| Matt Hunwick | BOS | 1 |
| Jamie Langenbrunner | NJD | 1 |
| Craig Rivet | BUF | 1 |
| Chris Pronger | PHI | 1 |
| Sergei Gonchar | PIT | 1 |
| Matt Cullen | OTT | 1 |
| Kevin Bieksa | VAN | 1 |
| Jason Pominville | BUF | 1 |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | SJS | 1 |
| Dean McAmmond | NJD | 1 |
| Torrey Mitchell | SJS | 1 |
| Douglas Murray | SJS | 1 |
| Ryan Smyth | LA | 1 |
| Alexander Ovechkin | WAS | 1 |
| Tomas Holmstrom | DET | 1 |
| Dainius Zubrus | NJD | 1 |
| Claude Giroux | PHI | 1 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | DET | 1 |
| Darroll Powe | PHI | 0 |
| Jamie McGinn | SJS | 0 |
| Brian Rolston | NJD | 0 |
| Francis Bouillon | NSH | 0 |
| Kimmo Timonen | PHI | 0 |
| Ed Jovanovski | PHX | 0 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky | PIT | 0 |
| Chris Campoli | OTT | 0 |
| Ryan Suter | NSH | 0 |
| Lukas Krajicek | PHI | 0 |
| Colin Fraser | CHI | 0 |
| Daniel Winnik | PHX | 0 |
| Kevin Klein | NSH | 0 |
| Lauri Korpikoski | PHX | 0 |
| Rob Niedermayer | NJD | 0 |
| Dominic Moore | MTL | 0 |
| Henrik Sedin | VAN | 0 |
| Kris Letang | PIT | 0 |
| Erik Karlsson | OTT | 0 |
| Tomas Plekanec | MTL | 0 |
| Brendan Morrison | WAS | 0 |
| Alexander Frolov | LA | 0 |
| Mark Eaton | PIT | 0 |
| Joe Corvo | WAS | 0 |
| Jarkko Ruutu | OTT | 0 |
| Steve Bernier | VAN | 0 |
| Jarret Stoll | LA | 0 |
| Jay McKee | PIT | 0 |
| Steve Montador | BUF | 0 |
| Alexander Edler | VAN | 0 |
| Rich Clune | LA | 0 |
| Michael Grabner | VAN | 0 |
| Daniel Alfredsson | OTT | 0 |
| Bill Guerin | PIT | 0 |
| Jonathan Toews | CHI | 0 |
| Andrew Ference | BOS | 0 |
| Ryan Wilson | COL | 0 |
| Jordan Leopold | PIT | 0 |
| Derek Roy | BUF | 0 |
| Miroslav Satan | BOS | 0 |
| James van Riemsdyk | PHI | 0 |
| Michael Cammalleri | MTL | 0 |
| T.J. Galiardi | COL | 0 |
| Milan Michalek | OTT | 0 |
| Ryan Shannon | OTT | 0 |
| Mike Rupp | PIT | 0 |
| Robert Lang | PHX | 0 |
| Rod Pelley | NJD | 0 |
| Pierre-Luc Letorneau-Leblond | NJD | 0 |
| Matt Hendricks | COL | 0 |
| Darcy Tucker | COL | 0 |
| Kevin Porter | COL | 0 |
| Cody McLeod | COL | 0 |
| Niclas Wallin | SJS | 0 |
| Dwight Helminen | SJS | 0 |
| Nick Spaling | NSH | 0 |
| Drew Stafford | BUF | 0 |
| Raitis Ivanans | LA | 0 |
| Matt Pettinger | VAN | 0 |
| Tanner Glass | VAN | 0 |
| Rick Rypien | VAN | 0 |
| Johan Franzen | DET | 0 |
| Jordan Staal | PIT | 0 |
| Paul Stastny | COL | 0 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | NJD | 0 |
| David Krejci | BOS | 0 |
| Tyler Myers | BUF | 0 |
| Joel Ward | NSH | 0 |
| Matt Carle | PHI | 0 |
| Steve Sullivan | NSH | 0 |
| Matt Carkner | OTT | 0 |
| Peter Harrold | LA | 0 |
| Aaron Rome | VAN | 0 |
| Dan Cleary | DET | 0 |
| Alex Goligoski | PIT | 0 |
| Martin Erat | NSH | 0 |
| Andrei Kostitsyn | MTL | 0 |
| Sami Salo | VAN | 0 |
| Vernon Fiddler | PHX | 0 |
| Jeff Halpern | LA | 0 |
| Brian Rafalski | DET | 0 |
| Matt Cooke | PIT | 0 |
| Zack Smith | OTT | 0 |
| Jesse Winchester | OTT | 0 |
| Ruslan Fedotenko | PIT | 0 |
| Petteri Nokelainen | PHX | 0 |
| Mark Fraser | NJD | 0 |
| Kent Huskins | SJS | 0 |
| Jordan Hendry | CHI | 0 |
| Glen Metropolit | MTL | 0 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | MTL | 0 |
| Adam Mair | BUF | 0 |
| Randy Jones | LA | 0 |
| Scott Parse | LA | 0 |
| Jannik Hansen | VAN | 0 |
| Colin Wilson | NSH | 0 |
| Brent Seabrook | CHI | 0 |
| Troy Brouwer | CHI | 0 |
| Kris Versteeg | CHI | 0 |
| Brooks Orpik | PIT | 0 |
| Tyler Kennedy | PIT | 0 |
| Patrick Sharp | CHI | 0 |
| Milan Hejduk | COL | 0 |
| Marco Sturm | BOS | 0 |
| Shane O’Brien | VAN | 0 |
| Adrian Aucoin | PHX | 0 |
| Taylor Pyatt | PHX | 0 |
| Brooks Laich | WAS | 0 |
| Joe Pavelski | SJS | 0 |
| Pavol Demitra | VAN | 0 |
| John-Michael Liles | COL | 0 |
| Dan Boyle | SJS | 0 |
| Rob Blake | SJS | 0 |
| Cody Franson | NSH | 0 |
| Andrei Markov | MTL | 0 |
| Lee Stempniak | PHX | 0 |
| Kyle Wellwood | VAN | 0 |
| Matthew Corrente | NJD | 0 |
| Ryan Stoa | COL | 0 |
| Jordin Tootoo | NSH | 0 |
| Patric Hornqvist | NSH | 0 |
| Ben Eager | CHI | 0 |
| Maxim Lapierre | MTL | 0 |
| Braydon Coburn | PHI | 0 |
| Jeff Schultz | WAS | 0 |
| Kris Draper | DET | 0 |
| Adam McQuaid | BOS | 0 |
| Rob Scuderi | LA | 0 |
| Nick Foligno | OTT | -1 |
| Drew Miller | DET | -1 |
| Shane Doan | PHX | -1 |
| Scott Gomez | MTL | -1 |
| Niklas Kronwall | DET | -1 |
| Christian Ehrhoff | VAN | -1 |
| Tim Kennedy | BUF | -1 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | WAS | -1 |
| Jason Williams | DET | -1 |
| Jason Demers | SJS | -1 |
| Andrew Ladd | CHI | -1 |
| Tomas Kopecky | CHI | -1 |
| Travis Moen | MTL | -1 |
| Justin Williams | LA | -1 |
| Milan Lucic | BOS | -1 |
| Mathieu Darche | MTL | -1 |
| Adam Foote | COL | -1 |
| Ryan Parent | PHI | -1 |
| Andreas Lilja | DET | -1 |
| Shawn Thornton | BOS | -1 |
| Patrick Kaleta | BUF | -1 |
| Shea Weber | NSH | -1 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | CHI | -1 |
| Alexander Semin | WAS | -1 |
| Marian Hossa | CHI | -1 |
| Scott Hartnell | PHI | -1 |
| Paul Martin | NJD | -1 |
| Oskars Bartulis | PHI | -1 |
| Jaroslav Spacek | MTL | -1 |
| Jason Arnott | NSH | -1 |
| Duncan Keith | CHI | -1 |
| Benoit Pouliot | MTL | -1 |
| Dany Heatley | SJS | -1 |
| Daniel Briere | PHI | -1 |
| Paul Gaustad | BUF | -1 |
| Simon Gagne | PHI | -1 |
| Andy Sutton | OTT | -1 |
| Toni Lydman | BUF | -1 |
| Tyler Ennis | BUF | -2 |
| Jeff Carter | PHI | -2 |
| Patrick Marleau | SJS | -2 |
| Mike Green | WAS | -2 |
| Tim Connolly | BUF | -2 |
| David Clarkson | NJD | -2 |
| Andrej Sekera | BUF | -2 |
| Roman Hamrlik | MTL | -2 |
| Marc-Andre Bergeron | MTL | -2 |
| Joe Thornton | SJS | -2 |
| Andrew Alberts | VAN | -4 |
Tags: all-purpose plus/minus, Andrew Alberts, Ben Eager, Henrik Zetterberg, NHL, plus/minus, reinventing the wheel, Stanley Cup playoffs, stats, Tom Poti
May 29, 2010 at 8:15 pm |
[...] Better Get These Up Quickly: Updated All-Purpose Plus/Minus Leading Up To Stanley Cup Finals By The Asterisk Description here. [...]