Do Teams Wait Too Long to Pull the Goalie?

[kurt]

I'm not entirely sure what you think a +/- would be telling you, as teams who pull their goaltender are already losing the game.

I think the only simple and meaningful analysis would be to compare a team's 6-on-5 goals for per minute to their 5-on-5 goals for per minute. If they're more effective 6-on-5, they should be taking the chance.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

Plus minus would tell me if more goals are scored for the team who pulls their goalie or more goals are scored by the team who defends against the team with the pulled goalie

I

 

[pitseleh]

A few years old now but:

http://www.behindthenet.ca/blog/2007/12/what-happens-when-you-pull-your-goalie.html

 

[Diamondillium]

I don't know exactly, but if you're trying to evaluate the effectiveness of pulling your goalie...Someone did a study on this and teams should actually be pulling their goalie much earlier.

IIRC, it looked that way statistically, however that did not take into account the fact that they pull the goalie with the optimal amount of time their best scoring line can be out there, and any longer had a drastically reduced goal chance and a drastically increased goal against chance due to there needing to be a line change, and the 2nd line being less efficient at getting a goal.

 

[kurt]

Plus minus would tell me if more goals are scored for the team who pulls their goalie or more goals are scored by the team who defends against the team with the pulled goalie

I

Right - so it would tell you nothing.

 

[kurt]

IIRC, it looked that way statistically, however that did not take into account the fact that they pull the goalie with the optimal amount of time their best scoring line can be out there, and any longer had a drastically reduced goal chance and a drastically increased goal against chance due to there needing to be a line change, and the 2nd line being less efficient at getting a goal.

Right. To get really detailed you'd need to compare the scoring proficiency individual line combinations, along with various other factors (home/road, versus certain opponents, etc etc etc).