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It has been well-documented on this site that the plus/minus statistic, as produced by the National Hockey League, is vastly overrated. In watching the Washington Capitals play the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, the announcers, on numerous occasions, would speak to Jeff Schultz being the league leader when it came to plus/minus. While I knew Schultz led the NHL in this category, I could not seem to get over the fact that he was such a high plus-minus player—ranked even higher than Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom—with a limited skill set. So, in a sense, just by thinking too much about Schultz’s plus/minus ranking, I am glorifying a limited statistic which requires great context. However, I thought it would be interesting to look at the top 30 players in the NHL in terms of even strength plus/minus (strictly the players’ plus/minus rating while playing at 5-on-5) and the percentage of points the player contributed to his team’s even strength goal output while he was on the ice.
Even strength plus/minus is unlike NHL plus/minus which incorporates pluses and minuses for short-handed goals for and goals against while players are on the man advantage.
Here are the 2009-10 regular season NHL leaders in terms of even strength plus/minus.
NAME POS TEAM GFON GAON ES +/-
ALEXOVECHKIN LW WSH 87 34 53
JEFFSCHULTZ D WSH 84 32 52
MIKEGREEN D WSH 95 50 45
NICKLASBACKSTROM C WSH 90 46 44
HENRIKSEDIN C VAN 91 52 39
DANIELSEDIN LW VAN 76 37 39
ALEXANDERSEMIN LW WSH 74 39 35
CHRISTIANEHRHOFF D VAN 74 41 33
ZACHPARISE LW N.J. 70 38 32
WOJTEKWOLSKI LW PHX 69 39 30
TOMPOTI D WSH 64 35 29
TRAVISZAJAC C N.J. 62 33 29
MIKEKNUBLE RW WSH 58 29 29
MARKFISTRIC D DAL 42 16 26
ALEXBURROWS RW VAN 69 45 24
BRENDANMORRISON C WSH 52 28 24
PATRICKMARLEAU C S.J. 70 48 22
MARIANGABORIK LW NYR 67 45 22
KEITHYANDLE D PHX 54 32 22
MARC-EDOUARDVLASIC D S.J. 51 29 22
ERICFEHR RW WSH 44 23 21
MANNYMALHOTRA C S.J. 40 19 21
PATRICHORNQVIST LW NSH 50 30 20
PATRICKSHARP RW CHI 61 42 19
SIDNEYCROSBY C PIT 84 66 18
MATTHEWCARLE D PHI 69 51 18
BRIANRAFALSKI D DET 68 50 18
JOETHORNTON C S.J. 66 48 18
BROOKSLAICH C WSH 58 40 18
Remember that stats like Puck Prospectus' relative plus/minus are far better indicators of a player’s plus/minus value. However, for this article I am looking how much a player has contributed—offensively—to his plus rating.
Here are the even strength plus/minus leaders with even strength points included:
NAME POS TEAM GFON GAON ES +/- ES Points
ALEXOVECHKIN LW WSH 87 34 53 73
JEFFSCHULTZ D WSH 84 32 52 23
MIKEGREEN D WSH 95 50 45 40
NICKLASBACKSTROM C WSH 90 46 44 64
HENRIKSEDIN C VAN 91 52 39 83
DANIELSEDIN LW VAN 76 37 39 64
ALEXANDERSEMIN LW WSH 74 39 35 55
CHRISTIANEHRHOFF D VAN 74 41 33 21
ZACHPARISE LW N.J. 70 38 32 55
WOJTEKWOLSKI LW PHX 69 39 30 55
TOMPOTI D WSH 64 35 29 18
TRAVISZAJAC C N.J. 62 33 29 45
MIKEKNUBLE RW WSH 58 29 29 40
MARKFISTRIC D DAL 42 16 26 9
ALEXBURROWS RW VAN 69 45 24 54
BRENDANMORRISON C WSH 52 28 24 34
PATRICKMARLEAU C S.J. 70 48 22 54
MARIANGABORIK LW NYR 67 45 22 58
KEITHYANDLE D PHX 54 32 22 25
MARC-EDOUARDVLASIC D S.J. 51 29 22 14
ERICFEHR RW WSH 44 23 21 33
MANNYMALHOTRA C S.J. 40 19 21 25
PATRICHORNQVIST LW NSH 50 30 20 39
PATRICKSHARP RW CHI 61 42 19 47
SIDNEYCROSBY C PIT 84 66 18 72
MATTHEWCARLE D PHI 69 51 18 21
BRIANRAFALSKI D DET 68 50 18 23
JOETHORNTON C S.J. 66 48 18 57
BROOKSLAICH C WSH 58 40 18 36
What about the percent of even strength offense that can be, at least somewhat, directly attributable to that particular player?
NAME POS TEAM GFON GAON ES +/- ES Points % of ES Offense
ALEXOVECHKIN LW WSH 87 34 53 73 84%
JEFFSCHULTZ D WSH 84 32 52 23 27%
MIKEGREEN D WSH 95 50 45 40 42%
NICKLASBACKSTROM C WSH 90 46 44 64 71%
HENRIKSEDIN C VAN 91 52 39 83 91%
DANIELSEDIN LW VAN 76 37 39 64 84%
ALEXANDERSEMIN LW WSH 74 39 35 55 74%
CHRISTIANEHRHOFF D VAN 74 41 33 21 28%
ZACHPARISE LW N.J. 70 38 32 55 79%
WOJTEKWOLSKI LW PHX 69 39 30 55 80%
TOMPOTI D WSH 64 35 29 18 28%
TRAVISZAJAC C N.J. 62 33 29 45 73%
MIKEKNUBLE RW WSH 58 29 29 40 69%
MARKFISTRIC D DAL 42 16 26 9 21%
ALEXBURROWS RW VAN 69 45 24 54 78%
BRENDANMORRISON C WSH 52 28 24 34 65%
PATRICKMARLEAU C S.J. 70 48 22 54 77%
MARIANGABORIK LW NYR 67 45 22 58 87%
KEITHYANDLE D PHX 54 32 22 25 47%
MARC-EDOUARDVLASIC D S.J. 51 29 22 14 27%
ERICFEHR RW WSH 44 23 21 33 75%
MANNYMALHOTRA C S.J. 40 19 21 25 62%
PATRICHORNQVIST LW NSH 50 30 20 39 78%
PATRICKSHARP RW CHI 61 42 19 47 77%
SIDNEYCROSBY C PIT 84 66 18 72 86%
MATTHEWCARLE D PHI 69 51 18 21 30%
BRIANRAFALSKI D DET 68 50 18 23 34%
JOETHORNTON C S.J. 66 48 18 57 86%
BROOKSLAICH C WSH 58 40 18 36 62%
There are a lot of factors that can be taken into account here, so again, this piece is very restrictive. But, it is no surprise that the NHL’s superstar players all accounted for at least 80% of their team’s even strength offense while on the ice. All of Joe Thornton, Sidney Crosby, Marian Gaborik, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Alexander Ovechkin eclipsed the 83% mark. These players are paid top dollar and you can see why.
The fact that Henrik Sedin was partially responsible for 91% of his team’s offensive production at even strength while on the ice, and that Alexander Ovechkin was partially responsible for 84% of his team’s offense at even strength while on the ice, while Jeff Schultz was only responsible for 27% of his team’s offense at even strength while on the ice should shed some light at how little Schultz had to with his high plus/minus rating as compared to his linemates. In fact, the name that may stand out most on this list is Keith Yandle. The Phoenix defender contributed to 47% of his team’s offense at even strength while he was on the ice. Yes, that is even higher than Mike Green’s percentage (42%) of offense while on the ice at even strength for the Capitals.
Taking plus/minus at face value is hardly useful; however, using the statistic to work backwards sometimes does unearth some interesting findings. If only the announcers would stop citing Jeff Schultz’s plus/minus total when he took the ice…
Richard Pollock is Editor for the hockey website Illegal Curve. | 
Illegal Curve (10/21)
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