I've updated the numbers on this through 2010. I won't post numbers for the past season because plus-minus is too variable as a single-season metric. Instead, I'll post updated career totals for a number of players who were active in the past season.
The stats glossary from the beginning of the thread is repeated at the end of this post.
Here are the top active players in adjusted even-strength plus-minus.
Rk | Player | Seasons | $F/G | $A/G | R-ON | R-OFF | XEV+/- | EV+/- |
AEV+/-
| /Season | PP% | SH%
10 | Teemu Selanne | 14.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.24 | 0.84 | -123 | 232 |
355
| 24 | 74% | 5%
15 | Nicklas Lidstrom | 17.6 | 1.19 | 0.83 | 1.43 | 1.25 | 208 | 513 |
306
| 17 | 72% | 53%
24 | Joe Thornton | 11.2 | 1.00 | 0.75 | 1.34 | 0.95 | -26 | 231 |
257
| 23 | 64% | 11%
32 | Keith Tkachuk | 15.0 | 0.93 | 0.83 | 1.12 | 0.86 | -109 | 126 |
235
| 16 | 65% | 8%
33 | Patrik Elias | 10.7 | 0.89 | 0.57 | 1.56 | 1.12 | 47 | 282 |
234
| 22 | 58% | 15%
35 | Milan Hejduk | 10.2 | 0.98 | 0.69 | 1.42 | 1.05 | 21 | 244 |
222
| 22 | 59% | 13%
37 | Alex Tanguay | 9.0 | 1.03 | 0.70 | 1.47 | 1.05 | 21 | 242 |
221
| 24 | 47% | 4%
38 | Chris Pronger | 13.8 | 1.01 | 0.83 | 1.22 | 0.98 | -14 | 206 |
219
| 16 | 66% | 54%
40 | Mike Modano | 18.1 | 0.85 | 0.69 | 1.23 | 1.03 | 19 | 238 |
219
| 12 | 62% | 26%
42 | Brian Rafalski | 9.4 | 1.08 | 0.76 | 1.42 | 1.07 | 33 | 247 |
214
| 23 | 67% | 23%
45 | Simon Gagne | 8.1 | 0.87 | 0.58 | 1.50 | 0.95 | -15 | 193 |
209
| 26 | 51% | 18%
46 | Daniel Alfredsson | 12.2 | 0.96 | 0.73 | 1.31 | 1.04 | 22 | 227 |
205
| 17 | 70% | 19%
50 | Jarome Iginla | 12.5 | 0.93 | 0.80 | 1.16 | 0.88 | -72 | 128 |
201
| 16 | 64% | 14%
51 | Pavel Datsyuk | 7.4 | 1.01 | 0.62 | 1.63 | 1.12 | 36 | 235 |
199
| 27 | 55% | 13%
52 | Chris Chelios | 20.7 | 0.99 | 0.77 | 1.27 | 1.18 | 161 | 359 |
199
| 10 | 52% | 57%
53 | Jere Lehtinen | 10.7 | 0.79 | 0.52 | 1.50 | 1.08 | 30 | 228 |
198
| 19 | 41% | 34%
54 | Steve Sullivan | 10.3 | 0.87 | 0.69 | 1.27 | 0.91 | -38 | 158 |
196
| 19 | 53% | 19%
57 | Henrik Sedin | 8.9 | 0.83 | 0.56 | 1.47 | 1.00 | 1 | 192 |
191
| 22 | 46% | 7%
61 | Sergei Gonchar | 12.4 | 1.02 | 0.88 | 1.16 | 0.94 | -41 | 139 |
180
| 15 | 77% | 21%
62 | Alex Ovechkin | 4.8 | 1.25 | 0.88 | 1.41 | 0.88 | -36 | 145 |
180
| 37 | 88% | 4%
69 | Dany Heatley | 7.2 | 1.10 | 0.90 | 1.23 | 0.87 | -53 | 120 |
173
| 24 | 73% | 11%
71 | Daniel Sedin | 8.6 | 0.79 | 0.54 | 1.46 | 1.01 | 4 | 175 |
172
| 20 | 45% | 4%
72 | Paul Kariya | 12.5 | 0.94 | 0.84 | 1.13 | 0.90 | -64 | 108 |
171
| 14 | 78% | 16%
73 | Pavol Demitra | 10.5 | 0.95 | 0.73 | 1.31 | 1.05 | 21 | 190 |
169
| 16 | 60% | 8%
74 | Jason Arnott | 13.7 | 0.90 | 0.74 | 1.20 | 1.00 | 2 | 171 |
169
| 12 | 60% | 5%
79 | Marian Gaborik | 7.0 | 0.91 | 0.72 | 1.27 | 0.85 | -51 | 111 |
162
| 23 | 60% | 10%
80 | Mike Knuble | 10.8 | 0.75 | 0.60 | 1.26 | 0.94 | -25 | 137 |
162
| 15 | 37% | 9%
82 | Vyacheslav Kozlov | 14.8 | 0.81 | 0.66 | 1.22 | 1.03 | 18 | 179 |
161
| 11 | 45% | 8%
94 | Brenden Morrow | 8.1 | 0.84 | 0.60 | 1.40 | 1.04 | 13 | 161 |
148
| 18 | 42% | 20%
96 | Marian Hossa | 10.1 | 0.90 | 0.67 | 1.34 | 1.11 | 45 | 193 |
148
| 15 | 58% | 15%
100 | Daymond Langkow | 12.4 | 0.76 | 0.65 | 1.18 | 0.94 | -28 | 118 |
146
| 12 | 46% | 21%
105 | Wade Redden | 12.1 | 1.04 | 0.81 | 1.28 | 1.14 | 80 | 222 |
143
| 12 | 50% | 39%
113 | Sidney Crosby | 4.5 | 1.16 | 0.88 | 1.31 | 0.87 | -35 | 101 |
137
| 30 | 81% | 8%
- Lidstrom continues his incredible late-career run. While his teammates were much weaker this season, Lidstrom was well on the plus side of the ledger again.
- Ovechkin and Crosby have entered the leaderboard. Both are among the best ever on a per-season basis.
- As always, it's difficult to separate the contributions of linemates/defence partners. Some of the players on this list, while fine players, had a lot of help. Hejduk, Tanguay, and Rafalski are clear examples, others are more debatable.
Here are the 10 active players with the lowest career adjusted even-strength plus-minus.
Player | Seasons | $F/G | $A/G | R-ON | R-OFF | XEV+/- | EV+/- |
AEV+/-
| /Season | PP% | SH%
Ian Laperriere | 13.5 | 0.47 | 0.55 | 0.86 | 1.08 | 28 | -85 |
-113
| -8 | 3% | 32%
Karlis Skrastins | 9.2 | 0.79 | 0.92 | 0.86 | 1.04 | 16 | -98 |
-113
| -12 | 3% | 51%
Ryan Johnson | 8.1 | 0.28 | 0.49 | 0.58 | 0.90 | -18 | -139 |
-122
| -15 | 1% | 43%
Aaron Ward | 10.2 | 0.67 | 0.79 | 0.85 | 1.08 | 29 | -97 |
-126
| -12 | 4% | 36%
Donald Brashear | 12.7 | 0.37 | 0.49 | 0.77 | 1.07 | 20 | -115 |
-135
| -11 | 5% | 1%
Wayne Primeau | 9.4 | 0.39 | 0.57 | 0.69 | 1.00 | 1 | -136 |
-137
| -14 | 7% | 21%
Jamal Mayers | 9.0 | 0.40 | 0.58 | 0.70 | 1.07 | 15 | -129 |
-143
| -16 | 1% | 26%
Brendan Witt | 10.9 | 0.68 | 0.87 | 0.78 | 1.00 | 2 | -167 |
-168
| -16 | 1% | 47%
Eric Brewer | 8.3 | 0.78 | 1.00 | 0.78 | 1.06 | 24 | -148 |
-173
| -21 | 34% | 42%
Rob Niedermayer | 13.6 | 0.54 | 0.66 | 0.81 | 1.10 | 41 | -140 |
-181
| -13 | 30% | 29%
It would be completely inaccurate to say that these are the "worst players" or any such phrase. They have all had long NHL careers. But they have all been outscored by a fair margin while on the ice, for whatever reason.
Finally, here are the numbers for all NHL players who were active in this past season and have played 1000 or more games.
Player | Seasons | $F/G | $A/G | R-ON | R-OFF | XEV+/- | EV+/- |
AEV+/-
| /Season | PP% | SH%
Mathieu Schneider | 16.1 | 0.96 | 0.85 | 1.13 | 1.02 | 17 | 142 |
125
| 8 | 70% | 31%
Scott Niedermayer | 15.8 | 1.04 | 0.83 | 1.24 | 1.21 | 150 | 263 |
113
| 7 | 64% | 40%
Bryan Mccabe | 13.0 | 0.99 | 0.93 | 1.07 | 0.95 | -32 | 68 |
101
| 8 | 56% | 43%
Bill Guerin | 15.8 | 0.77 | 0.66 | 1.17 | 1.08 | 47 | 144 |
96
| 6 | 51% | 3%
Miroslav Satan | 12.8 | 0.79 | 0.71 | 1.11 | 0.99 | -3 | 82 |
85
| 7 | 53% | 16%
Alexei Kovalev | 15.3 | 0.84 | 0.81 | 1.04 | 0.94 | -42 | 36 |
77
| 5 | 59% | 11%
Mark Recchi | 19.6 | 0.90 | 0.85 | 1.06 | 1.01 | 7 | 79 |
72
| 4 | 65% | 17%
Ray Whitney | 13.4 | 0.77 | 0.79 | 0.97 | 0.86 | -84 | -27 |
57
| 4 | 63% | 6%
Brian Rolston | 14.0 | 0.69 | 0.59 | 1.16 | 1.12 | 54 | 110 |
57
| 4 | 49% | 32%
Darryl Sydor | 16.1 | 0.82 | 0.78 | 1.05 | 1.01 | 5 | 54 |
49
| 3 | 40% | 25%
Shane Doan | 12.8 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 1.01 | 0.92 | -40 | 5 |
46
| 4 | 44% | 11%
Owen Nolan | 15.0 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 1.00 | 0.97 | -20 | 3 |
24
| 2 | 47% | 23%
Adam Foote | 13.8 | 0.92 | 0.83 | 1.11 | 1.14 | 82 | 103 |
20
| 1 | 18% | 53%
Rob Blake | 15.7 | 0.94 | 0.91 | 1.03 | 1.03 | 21 | 34 |
13
| 1 | 67% | 50%
Roman Hamrlik | 15.4 | 0.93 | 0.96 | 0.97 | 0.94 | -51 | -37 |
13
| 1 | 57% | 35%
Radek Dvorak | 12.8 | 0.70 | 0.71 | 0.98 | 0.98 | -9 | -17 |
-8
| -1 | 20% | 25%
Brad May | 13.0 | 0.48 | 0.49 | 0.98 | 1.01 | 2 | -9 |
-12
| -1 | 9% | 1%
Todd Marchant | 14.0 | 0.58 | 0.64 | 0.91 | 0.95 | -22 | -68 |
-45
| -3 | 14% | 46%
Kris Draper | 13.8 | 0.51 | 0.49 | 1.05 | 1.32 | 101 | 26 |
-75
| -5 | 2% | 34%
Kirk Maltby | 13.5 | 0.42 | 0.45 | 0.94 | 1.16 | 47 | -28 |
-75
| -6 | 3% | 29%
Rod Brind'Amour | 18.5 | 0.80 | 0.82 | 0.98 | 1.06 | 50 | -26 |
-76
| -4 | 50% | 45%
In Rod Brind'Amour's defence, he was basically even by this measure before the last two seasons. He's also had a major role on special teams throughout his career.
Glossary of Terms:
Seasons: Seasons Played. 1.00 is a full season. I prefer it to games played because it gives a 48 game season, a 74 game season, an 80 game season or an 82 game season the same weight.
$ESGF: Even-strength goals for, normalized to a 200 ESG scoring environment and with estimated SH goals removed, per game.
$ESGA: Even-strength goals against, normalized to a 200 ESG scoring environment and with estimated SH goals removed.
R-ON: Even strength GF/GA ratio when the player is on the ice.
R-OFF: Even-strength GF/GA ratio when the player is off the ice.
XEV+/-: Expected even-strength plus-minus, which is an estimate of the plus-minus that an average player would post with the same teammates. The calculation is described above.
EV+/-: Even –strength plus-minus, which is simply plus-minus with estimated shorthanded goals removed and normalized to a 200 ESG environment.
AEV+/-: Adjusted even-strength plus-minus, which is even-strength plus-minus minus expected even-strength plus-minus. This is the final number.
The following stats evaluate special teams play and are not related to adjusted plus-minus. I’m including them in the table for a quick reference to the player’s role outside of even-strength play.
PP% : The % of the team’s power play goals for that the player was on the ice for.
SH%: The % of the team’s power play goals against that the player was on the ice for.