Glossary

Here is a list of non-standard terms used on this Website. Please note that some abbreviations are explained through tooltips in the header rows of the tables. The Glossary is common to all More Hockey Stats network.

We are still working on refining these statistics, so the definitions may change, and new metrics may be added.

Berger-Sonneborn Coefficient (Berger)

Berger-Sonneborn Coefficient, originating from chess tournaments, is measured as following:

• For every opponent the team beat, add its points per game.
• For every opponent the team lost to in OT/SO, add half of its points per game.
• For every opponent the team lost to in Regulation, add nothing.
• Divide by the number of games the team played.

This metric would be higher for the teams that beat stronger opponents.

Buchholz Coefficient

Buchholz Coefficient, originating from chess tournaments, is measured as following:

• For every opponent the team played, add its points per game.
• Divide by the number of games the team played.

This metric indicates which team faced stronger opposition so far, with strongest opposition providing the highest metric. However by the end of the regular season, this metric evens out more or less, and indicates mostly the comparable strength of divisions and conferences of the teams.

Clutch Players

We call "Clutch" the players that score goals at the decisive moments - the goals that tie the game, the goals that win the game by breaking a tie, and of course the game-ending goals. We give an extra weight for such goals scored in the late stages of the game.

Coach Face-2-Face Record

The coaches' face to face record is defined by amount of games won by teams led by one coach minus the amount of games won by the teams led by another one.

Deadly Pairs

A deadly pair are two players that are prolific in scoring off each other's primary assists. See below for us distinguishing between two types of this metric.

Deadly Pairs Goal-Assist

This metric counts specific goals by player A when assisted by player B as a primary assist.

Deadly Pairs Points Together

This metric counts both goals by player A off primary assists by player B and vice versa.

Drawing a Penalty

For the purpose of these stats we collect all instances of penalties that have been marked by 'Drawn By Player X'. However, fighting majors, misconducts and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are excluded from this count.

Elo Rating

The Elo Rating, another, and probably the most famous chess metric, is a way to measure performance of a sport entity, and to create an expectation of a future performance. At the moment we measure Elo (named after the inventor of the metric, Dr. Arpad Elo) in two cases:

• For the teams as a whole. These ratings are reset each season to the value of 2000.
• For the goaltenders as sole players. These ratings carry over from season to season.

The key point in Elo ratings is that the higher the rating goes, the higher goes the expectation of the next performance as well. Thus, a fail of a higher ranked entity will result in a bigger loss of rating points, i.e. there is always a gravity pull to the center.
The Elo ratings are streaky. If two teams started the season with the same rating, one lost five in a row, and then won five, and the other one started with five wins and continued with five losses, then the first team's rating will likely be higher than the second one.
A notable exception of the NHL ratings is that the points outcome of a game is not always 2 points (unlike in chess where it's always one point, or even IIHF hockey tournament, where always 3 points are divided between teams). Thus, the NHL team ratings tend to inflate over season, thus their main value is relative to each other, and not absolute. However, relative to each other, the expectations of the result of a match are valid.

Expected Berger Coefficient

We call an expected Berger Coefficient the Berger-Sonneborn Coefficient (q.v.) which a team would accumulate playing more or less on average - i.e. very rarely beating higher opposition and also very rarely losing to lower one.

Face-Offs Win-Loss Record

This is a simple one - how many more times player A won the faceoff against player B than vice versa.

Fantasy Evaluation Projection

This is the projection how the players are going to perform in a particular stat for the remainder of the season, or per game remaining.

Fantasy Evaluation Total Values

The total games in the fantasy evaluation are the number of regular season games played by the player in the last four years.
The total stat metric is the total number of the measured stat (or average, for SVP% and GAA for goaltenders and Shooting Percentage for skaters) over that period.

Fantasy Frequency Rating

The Fantasy Frequency Rating is a weighted metric of a team playing on weekdays with less or more games. A team with the lower rating would play more games on days that have less matches (such as Monday and Wednesday), while a team with a high rating is probably playing most of its games on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Game-Ending Goal

A goal scored in overtime, plain and simple.

Game-Tying Goal

A goal that tied the score for the last time in a game that ended by a difference of one or less goals.

Game-Winning Goal

A goal that broke a tie in the score, and after which the opponent never scored another goal.

Getting a Shot Blocked

The statistics of players blocking shots is well-known and established. But here we are talking about the statistics of players having their own shots blocked.

Late Game-Tying Goal

A Game-Tying Goal (q.v.) that was scored in the last three minutes of the game.

Late Game-Winning Goal

A Game-Winning Goal (q.v.) that was scored in the last three minutes of the game.

Officials Team Point Per Game

The points per game a team acquired when the given official was officiating at its game.

Officials Home/Away Percentage

The percentage of penalties the referee called against Home and Away teams respectively.

Overall Team Point Per game

The points per game a team acquired during the period the given official was officiating.

Playoff Points

The historical accumulation of points determined by how high the team gets in the playoffs. For now, we set the points to be 3 to the degree of how far the team went. Early exit is 3⁰=1, Stanley Cup Win is 3⁴=81.

Ratio Scored/Allowed With/Against Empty Net

The percentage of goals that a team scores with/against empty net vs total goals scored and allowed when this team plays with/against empty net respectively. The empty net goals on delayed penalties are not included.

Ratio for Point Percentages with/without specific official

The ratio is the Officials Team Points Per Game (q.v.) divided by Overall Team Points Per Game (q.v.).

Remaining Schedule Strength

The average Points Per Game of the remaining opponents on a schedule of a team through the end of the regular season.

Roster Talent

A list of draft picks on a team roster. The undrafted players are assigned pick #300. The supplemental draft is attached to the end of the Entry Draft.

Roster Talent Rating

The roster talent rating is defined by a draft position score of every player on the team's roster during the season. The players in the first three years of their career after the draft and the players past the sixteenth year of their career have their rating adjusted to a lower value.

Strikebacks

A strikeback is a win by a team that was trailing during the game.

Strikebacks Score

The strikeback score is defined by the total sum of maximal trailings by a team during a season. IN the similar way, the strikeback loser score is the total sum of maximal blown leads.

Talent Available for a Coach

Talent Available for a Coach is the sum of all the Roster Talent Ratings (q.v.) that were available for a certain coach during his career.

Talent Per Game (TPG)

The Talent Per Game is the Talent Available for a Coach (q.v.) divided by the number of games coached by the same coach.

Teams Iced The Puck Against

Just for clarification, this term indicates the other team than the one that iced the puck.