Next up in our Advanced Stats series is “Goals Created”, a stat that takes scoring to the next level.
Goals, assists, and points are the standard scoring stats most fans look to in order to decide a player’s offensive prowess. “Goals Created” takes those numbers and plugs them into a formula that shows the playmaking ability of an individual relative to the rest of his team. We’ll start with the formula, then we’ll break down what it means and why it’s calculated the way it is.
[Goals + (Assists x 0.5)] x {Team Goals/[Team Goals + (Team Assists x 0.5)]}The first portion is figuring out the individual player’s total scoring. It basically gives a player one point for a goal and half a point for an assist, rather than the “points” ratio the NHL usually uses giving a player one for each. In “Goals Created,” goals are greater than assists. (1 Goal = 2 Assists)
The second portion is figuring out the team’s total scoring. It’s broken into two calculations. The second one is identical to the way we came up with the player’s total [Team Goals + (Team Assists x 0.5)]. We then divide team goals by that number. Yeah, the same number (team goals) is used multiple times, it’s ok, don’t worry about it, we’ve got this all figured out.
Example time! We’re going to go with Oscar Lindberg this time because we’re still hoping the nickname Ogge takes off. Let’s say we are 10 games into the season. Lindberg has 5 goals and 4 assists, and the team has a total of 20 goals and 34 assists. Got it? Good. Buckle up, here we go.
[Goals + (Assists x 0.5)] x {Team Goals/[Team Goals + (Team Assists x 0.5)]}[5 + (4 x 0.5)] x {20/[20 + (34 x 0.5)]}
[5 + 2] x [20/(20 + 17)] 7 x (20/37)
7 x (20/360)
7 x 0.541
3.787 Goals Created
