By the time I got to hockey, the system was pretty well worked out. Structurally similar to soccer, but with a much more extensive statistical record, it was a fairly simple matter to adapt the same formulas.

For the most part, hockey players don’t rate quite as high as other sports, with only Wayne Gretzky and old-timer Newsy Lalonde getting over the 30-point mark (I have some hope for Sydney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin). I attribute this to the huge rosters hockey teams use, coupled with the practice of constantly shuttling players in and out of the game at intervals of less than a minute. The end result is that even star players are on the ice for no more than a third of the game. It’s harder to dominate in those circumstances.

Offense 1 was simply goals scored divided by the league average. Offense 2, based on assists, was a bit trickier. Assists in hockey, as in basketball, have been defined differently through years. Unlike basketball, more than one player can assist the same goal, which means assist totals leaguewide are significantly higher than goals scored. Lastly, also like basketball, certain official scorers are more generous when deciding whether a particular star player has earned an assist. To account for all of this, the value of an assist is linked to the team’s assist-to-goals ratio.

On the other side was the usual question of divvying up credit for team defense. We don’t have individual ice time before the 1998-99 season, but we do have penalty minutes, which are a useful, if imperfect proxy for how involved a player is on defense. The obvious problem is fighting, which leads certain players (Maurice Richard, say) to have a outsize share of the team penalty minutes.

To make up for this, Defense 1 is a control, based on a theoretical maximum ice time by position — 20 minutes a game for forwards, 30 for defensemen. Defense 2 is divides team goals prevented according to a player’s percentage of team penalty minutes. These are averaged as usual, except that Defense 1 also acts a maximum, to keep the pugnacious types under control.

For goalies, it’s entirely different. Defense 1 is goals prevented, and Defense 2 is a bonus based on how much better or worse a goalie was than the other goalies on his team.

Centers	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Wayne Gretzky	1788	190.32	17.03	13.80	30.83		30.36	3.71
Newsy Lalonde	316	46.87	23.73	6.85	30.58		36.36	11.10
Howie Morenz	589	75.80	20.59	8.71	29.30		32.97	8.21
Mario Lemieux	1022	116.53	18.24	10.79	29.04		32.76	3.73
Joe Malone	259	33.80	20.88	5.81	26.69		34.56	7.20
Jean Beliveau	1287	123.87	15.40	11.13	26.53		24.03	6.77
Phil Esposito	1412	130.29	14.76	11.41	26.18		23.95	5.57
Joe Sakic	1550	132.38	13.67	11.51	25.17		23.30	4.03
Stan Mikita	1549	129.58	13.38	11.38	24.77		20.27	6.50
Peter Forsberg	859	83.39	15.53	9.13	24.66		24.74	6.33
Steve Yzerman	1710	134.77	12.61	11.61	24.22		20.63	4.59
Mark Messier	2044	151.13	11.83	12.29	24.12		18.99	4.67
Eric Lindros	813	77.11	15.18	8.78	23.96		23.92	6.43
Joe Thornton	1901	137.47	11.57	11.72	23.30		17.50	5.64
Marcel Dionne	1397	111.10	12.72	10.54	23.26		22.23	3.21
Mike Modano	1675	123.36	11.78	11.11	22.89		18.46	5.11
Sergei Fedorov	1431	109.38	12.23	10.46	22.69		19.18	5.27
Bobby Clarke	1280	99.15	12.39	9.96	22.35		17.69	7.10
Jeremy Roenick	1517	110.85	11.69	10.53	22.22		17.62	5.77
Bryan Trottier	1500	109.66	11.70	10.47	22.17		17.27	6.13
Henri Richard	1436	106.05	11.82	10.30	22.11		16.77	6.86
Gilbert Perreault	1281	96.59	12.06	9.83	21.89		19.29	4.84
Ron Francis	1902	126.12	10.61	11.23	21.84		17.41	3.81
Denis Savard	1365	98.99	11.60	9.95	21.55		17.98	5.23
Dale Hawerchuk	1285	92.23	11.48	9.60	21.09		19.34	3.62
Syl Apps	492	42.71	13.89	6.54	20.42		23.87	3.91
Milt Schmidt	862	63.72	11.83	7.98	19.81		17.97	5.68

A few players have higher offensive averages than Gretzky, but only with substantially shorter careers, usually in the 1920s and ’30s. Nobody with more than 1,500 games is even close.

Lemieux is a fascinating what-if, because of all his health problems. For the most part, it’s almost impossible to keep up that kind offensive average. Too bad he didn’t get the chance.

For the modern players, 160-game values decline rather dramatically. There’s only handful of real, top-tier stars. I think this is due to the talent pool in hockey being almost entirely limited to Canada and a few Eastern European nations.

Left Wing	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Bobby Hull	1653	156.77	15.17	12.52	27.70		24.62	5.73
Cy Denneny	397	50.86	20.43	7.12	27.54		30.12	10.73
Aurèle Joliat	700	74.54	17.04	8.63	25.67		26.55	7.52
Brendan Shanahan	1708	130.64	12.24	11.43	23.67		18.00	6.48
Frank Mahovlich	1555	122.17	12.57	11.05	23.62		19.38	5.76
Ted Lindsay	1201	98.36	13.10	9.92	23.02		19.47	6.73
Luc Robitaille	1590	114.18	11.49	10.69	22.18		18.98	4.00
Keith Tkachuk	1290	98.25	12.19	9.91	22.10		19.26	5.12
Ilya Kovalchuk	848	69.49	13.11	8.34	21.45		22.76	3.46
Dickie Moore	854	69.14	12.95	8.32	21.27		18.80	7.11
Johnny Bucyk	1664	109.77	10.55	10.48	21.03		17.76	3.35
Dave Andreychuk	1801	113.31	10.07	10.64	20.71		15.24	4.90
Bill Barber	1032	73.82	11.45	8.59	20.04		17.70	5.79
Steve Shutt	1029	73.62	11.45	8.58	20.03		16.36	6.54
Michel Goulet	1259	84.41	10.73	9.19	19.91		17.31	4.33
Busher Jackson	704	53.71	12.21	7.33	19.54		19.81	4.60
Toe Blake	635	49.43	12.45	7.03	19.49		20.40	4.51
Sweeney Schriner	543	41.20	12.14	6.42	18.56		19.97	4.32
Brian Bellows	1331	79.26	9.53	8.90	18.43		15.25	3.80
Doug Bentley	589	42.22	11.47	6.50	17.97		19.97	2.97
Woody Dumart	862	51.32	9.53	7.16	16.69		15.22	3.84
Bob Gainey	1342	57.43	6.85	7.58	14.43		7.39	6.31

The decline is even more dramatic when we come to the left wingers. After Bobby Hull, we have a couple of guys that played in the ’20s and then free-fall. What we see over and over is that even great goal-scorers decline in the second half of their careers. Centers at least have assists, which are much more stable, as a cushion. Wingers have it tougher.

I included Bob Gainey as an example of a defense-first forward. Although his final defensive average is 6.31, it was in the 8-9 range early in his career; but he lost playing time as he got older and ended up behind some two-way guys in the end. This is typical of defensive specialists in every sport; they’re the first to get benched as their skills slip. A good scorer stays in the lineup almost to the end, even if he’s a liability on defense. The coach will make that trade over and over, but a defensive guy who’s slowing down gets no slack.

Ilya Kovalchuk came out of “retirement” for the 2018-19 season, so he’s on hold. Speaking of -chuks, there’s an explosion of Ukrainians on the left wing; Tkachuk, Andreychuk, Bucyk. One of the little quirks that keeps popping up.

Right Wing	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Gordie Howe	2421	221.27	14.62	14.88	29.50		23.02	6.23
Bill Cook	641	74.30	18.55	8.62	27.17		30.17	6.92
Jaromir Jagr	1941	167.50	13.81	12.94	26.75		22.70	4.91
Maurice Richard	1111	108.28	15.59	10.41	26.00		23.75	7.44
Brett Hull	1471	121.67	13.23	11.03	24.26		22.35	4.12
Mike Bossy	881	81.53	14.81	9.03	23.84		24.53	5.08
Teemu Selänne	1581	124.77	12.63	11.17	23.80		21.18	4.07
Guy Lafleur	1254	105.50	13.46	10.27	23.73		21.07	5.85
Bernie Geoffrion	1015	88.65	13.97	9.42	23.39		21.64	6.31
Jarome Iginla	1635	121.95	11.93	11.04	22.98		19.05	4.82
Marián Hossa	1514	114.71	12.12	10.71	22.83		18.96	5.29
Pavel Bure	766	68.16	14.24	8.26	22.49		24.76	3.71
Babe Dye	286	30.35	16.98	5.51	22.49		27.63	6.33
Charlie Conacher	508	47.48	14.95	6.89	21.84		25.24	4.67
Jari Kurri	1451	103.17	11.38	10.16	21.53		18.96	3.80
Alex Mogilny	1114	85.37	12.26	9.24	21.50		20.71	3.81
Mike Gartner	1635	109.39	10.70	10.46	21.16		16.41	5.00
Yvan Cournoyer	1115	82.96	11.90	9.11	21.01		18.51	5.30
Dino Ciccarelli	1373	95.67	11.15	9.78	20.93		17.37	4.93
Andy Bathgate	1134	80.42	11.35	8.97	20.31		18.91	3.78
Cam Neely	819	61.13	11.94	7.82	19.76		18.03	5.85
Lanny McDonald	1228	77.57	10.11	8.81	18.91		15.73	4.48

Things are a bit better at right wing; you go legitimately five-deep here. I don’t want to sound like I’m down on hockey. My point is that it is sustained by a relatively small number of big stars and the second-tier guys have a hard time keeping up.

I toyed with the idea of not including Gordie Howe’s return from retirement in the WHL, but he actually comes out a bit ahead in the end.

I think Jagr is finally retired.

Defensemen	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Bobby Orr	731	82.41	18.04	9.08	27.12		25.37	10.70
Ray Bourque	1826	132.05	11.57	11.49	23.06		15.95	7.19
Paul Coffey	1603	119.84	11.96	10.95	22.91		16.97	6.95
Denis Potvin	1245	99.73	12.82	9.99	22.80		15.42	10.21
Al MacInnis	1593	113.41	11.39	10.65	22.04		15.52	7.26
Eddie Shore	659	57.68	14.00	7.59	21.60		18.14	9.87
King Clancy	653	55.86	13.69	7.47	21.16		17.04	10.34
Nicklas Lidström	1827	117.69	10.31	10.85	21.16		13.63	6.98
Brad Park	1274	90.28	11.34	9.50	20.84		13.10	9.57
Chris Chelios	1917	118.09	9.86	10.87	20.72		9.59	10.12
Scott Stevens	1868	111.24	9.53	10.55	20.08		8.94	10.12
Dit Clapper	915	66.63	11.65	8.16	19.81		15.91	7.39
Chris Pronger	1340	87.15	10.41	9.34	19.74		11.78	9.04
Brian Leetch	1300	84.65	10.42	9.20	19.62		15.70	5.14
Larry Murphy	1830	105.87	9.26	10.29	19.55		12.07	6.44
Larry Robinson	1611	97.37	9.67	9.87	19.54		10.52	8.82
Red Kelly	1480	91.63	9.91	9.57	19.48		14.16	5.66
Phil Housley	1580	95.08	9.63	9.75	19.38		13.90	5.36
Scott Niedermayer	1465	85.62	9.35	9.25	18.60		10.86	7.84
Doug Harvey	1250	75.53	9.67	8.69	18.36		9.91	9.42
Pierre Pilote	976	58.88	9.65	7.67	17.33		10.54	8.77
Tim Horton	1572	79.94	8.14	8.94	17.08		7.21	9.07

Talk about what-ifs … Bobby Orr was really on his way to something amazing.

I often hear that the Golden Age was dominated by defensemen. But by my math, Eddie Shore and King Clancy didn’t have a patch on contemporary forwards. Unless crippling opponents is an admirable skill …

Goalies	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Dominik Hašek	854	97.19	18.21	9.86	28.07		0.43	35.99
Martin Brodeur	1471	146.37	15.92	12.10	28.02		0.70	31.15
Patrick Roy	1276	130.63	16.38	11.43	27.81		0.65	32.11
Ken Dryden	509	58.88	18.51	7.67	26.18		0.68	36.33
Jacques Plante	980	94.99	15.51	9.75	25.25		0.16	30.85
Ed Belfour	1124	104.35	14.85	10.22	25.07		0.49	29.22
Tony Esposito	985	92.58	15.04	9.62	24.66		0.35	29.72
Bernie Parent	743	71.98	15.50	8.48	23.98		0.27	30.73
Roberto Luongo	1114	95.70	13.75	9.78	23.53		0.34	27.15
Clint Benedict	475	45.01	15.16	6.71	21.87		0.00	30.32
Bill Durnan	428	41.13	15.38	6.41	21.79		0.05	30.71
Glenn Hall	1021	81.36	12.75	9.02	21.77		0.15	25.35
Terry Sawchuk	1077	80.42	11.95	8.97	20.91		0.12	23.78
George Hainsworth	609	51.16	13.44	7.15	20.59		0.00	26.88
Turk Broda	730	58.72	12.87	7.66	20.53		0.00	25.74
Billy Smith	812	61.66	12.15	7.85	20.00		0.26	24.04
Lorne Chabot	449	37.00	13.18	6.08	19.27		0.00	26.37
Georges Vézina	358	30.27	13.53	5.50	19.03		0.00	27.06
Mike Richter	742	53.83	11.61	7.34	18.94		0.23	22.99
Frank Brimsek	582	44.41	12.21	6.66	18.87		0.00	24.42
Chuck Gardiner	337	27.50	13.06	5.24	18.30		0.00	26.11
Grant Fuhr	1018	59.58	9.36	7.72	17.08		0.79	17.94

Terry Sawchuck is probably the biggest surprise. He was great for his first five years, but then declined after that, mixing in the occasional season at his old level with a lot of mediocrity.

Domink Hasek was no surprise. Watching his acrobatics in goal, I thought we were seeing the best ever.

The tiny offensive numbers come from sporadic length-of-the-ice assists.

Soviet Players	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Vladislav Tretiak	482	64.00	21.24	8.00	29.24		0.00	42.49
Vladimir Petrov	595	69.27	18.63	8.32	26.95		29.58	7.67
Boris Mikhailov	580	60.44	16.67	7.77	24.45		26.64	6.71
Sergei Makarov	977	90.28	14.78	9.50	24.29		23.41	6.16
Valeri Kharlamov	435	46.86	17.24	6.85	24.08		26.77	7.70
Alexander Yakushev	567	49.58	13.99	7.04	21.03		22.27	5.71
Igor Larionov	1528	101.10	10.59	10.05	20.64		15.63	5.54
Slava Fetisov	1140	73.81	10.36	8.59	18.95		10.82	9.89

Communist sports leagues are a bit sketchy, due to state interference, but I thought it was worth it to include these guys. I didn’t count international games because the quality of competition is all over the place. I tossed around the idea to include post-professional games, but then the NHL boycotted the 2018 Olympics and I decided it wasn’t worth it.

If anyone has detailed numbers for Anatoli Firsov, I’d love to see them.

To do list:

Rod Gilbert
Adam Oates
Billy Smith
Alex Delvecchio
Mats Sundin
Joe Nieuwendyk
John Vanbiesbrouck