Centers (and all forwards in general) are often considered the most valuable players on a hockey team, but who defines what it means to be “valuable?” In hockey, “valuable” is often thought of solely in terms of offensive presence (goals, assists, etc.), but through statistical analysis, we can see that “value” means more than the amount of goals that a player scores, and in fact, it reaches all positions.
Before getting started, I wanted to address the relationship between games played and season point totals. Our intuition would most likely lead us to believe that as players play more games, they score more points. However, there is actually only a weak linear correlation between these two variables (~ 0.2), showing that many other factors can impact the number of points that a player scores, such as the opposing goalie’s save percentage, odd-man rushes, powerplay opportunities, and more. This relationship is illustrated below.
Moving forward, we will also consider a relationship commonly analyzed in hockey: position and season point totals. Through the plot, we can see that a defenseman’s median season point total is slightly lower than not only centers but also right wings and left wings, which often leads to NHL fans dismissing their talent.
The same opinion is mirrored through shooting percentage. Forwards (offensive players) tend to have a higher shooting percentage than defensive players, causing fans to underestimate the value that they bring to the game since goals are what directly lead to wins. However, what defensemen do outside of goalscoring is crucial for these wins to happen.
Plus/minus (+/-) is a statistic that gives insight about how defensively responsible a player is. A player’s plus/minus increases by one if they are on the ice when their team scores a goal, and it decreases by one if they are on the ice when a goal is scored against their team. The median plus/minus for all positions is roughly the same, showing that defensemen can easily match the skill levels of forwards.
Defensemen’s skills shine through statistics like blocked shots and hits, actions that are not obvious by looking at the score of the game.
Defensemen also tend to have significantly more ice time per game than forwards. Forwards usually skate with more urgency, switching directions quickly and consequently expending more energy, which causes them to need more rest time. Defensemen often utilize different muscle groups than forwards since they spend a majority of their ice time skating backwards, which allows them to conserve energy and stay on the ice for longer periods of time.
All in all, each position has specialized roles that they need to fulfill. Centers, right wings, left wings, and defensemen contribute to the team through various media, offering their own forms of value and demonstrating that they’re all an asset to their teams. Forwards could have a critical win in the faceoff circle while defensive players could block a shot heading towards a wide open net, potentially saving the game in both scenarios. Each position takes care of their own responsibilities, and they deserve an equal amount of respect!
How Do the Best Center, Right Wing, Left Wing, and Defenseman Compare?
At the conclusion of the 2020-21 NHL season, NBCSports released its top 100 player rankings. Below, we can compare the statistics of the highest-ranking player in each position to see how they bring value to their teams. The players we will evaluate follow:
- Center: Connor McDavid
- Right Wing: David Pastrnak
- Left Wing: Artemi Panarin
- Defenseman: Victor Hedman
Disclaimer: NBCSports ranked Nikita Kucherov as the best right wing in the NHL after the 2020-21 season based off of his 2019-20 statistics since he suffered from an injury for the entirety of the 2020-21 season. Because he was not an active player during the 2020-21 season, we are going to dive into the statistics of NBCSport’s second-ranked right wing: David Pastrnak.
First, we’ll look at the “offensive” statistics. We can see that the best forwards in the league typically excel in goal scoring, assists, and shooting percentage.
| The Ideal Player Based on Position (Offensive Statistics) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | Goals | Assists | Points | Shooting Percentage |
| Connor McDavid | Center | 33 | 72 | 105 | 16.5 |
| Artemi Panarin | Left Wing | 17 | 41 | 58 | 16 |
| David Pastrnak | Right Wing | 20 | 28 | 48 | 11.4 |
| Victor Hedman | Defenseman | 9 | 36 | 45 | 6.6 |
| More information on player rankings available at NBCSports.com | |||||
Moving onto the “defensive” statistics, we can see that the highest-ranking defenseman in the league, Victor Hedman, shines through blocking shots and hitting his opponents. Center Connor McDavid adds even more value to his team by also excelling in hits.
| The Ideal Player Based on Position (Defensive Statistics) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | Hits | Blocked Shots |
| Connor McDavid | Center | 61 | 24 |
| Victor Hedman | Defenseman | 51 | 73 |
| Artemi Panarin | Left Wing | 13 | 7 |
| David Pastrnak | Right Wing | 35 | 13 |
| More information on player rankings available at NBCSports.com | |||