Comparing Hockey Stats
Jim Gunther
2007-02-17
Back when I was in school my teachers always said there was a difference between hearing and listening. The same is true in terms of seeing and reading. As a fantasy hockey player you probably look at stats often and try to decide what to do. But in looking at the stats do you really read and see the stats?
If you really did read the stats you could argue that Sidney Crosby should not be compared to Alexander Ovechkin, that being an NHL captain might affect your point totals and that a player does not always average the same range of stats every season.
Below is a chart with six of the top eight current scoring leaders in the NHL. I organized these players into two groups. I know you can see it, but can you read it?
Player | POS | GP | G | A | PTS | PPG | PPA | GW | SOG |
Crosby | C | 52 | 25 | 62 | 87 | 7 | 36 | 4 | 146 |
Thornton | C | 56 | 15 | 59 | 74 | 6 | 34 | 3 | 147 |
Savard | C | 55 | 18 | 52 | 70 | 9 | 27 | 3 | 149 |
Ovechkin | LW | 57 | 34 | 38 | 72 | 14 | 16 | 6 | 286 |
Heatley | RW | 57 | 32 | 38 | 70 | 10 | 16 | 7 | 209 |
Hossa | RW | 60 | 33 | 39 | 72 | 15 | 19 | 4 | 261 |