Calculate a hockey player's plus/minus (+/-) rating using on-ice goal data. Enter Total Goals For (TGF), Power Play Goals For (PGF), Total Goals Against (TGA), and Short-Handed Goals Against (SGA) to get the player's plus/minus score — a key stat for evaluating even-strength on-ice performance.
Plus/Minus (+/-)
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Even-Strength Goals For
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Even-Strength Goals Against
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Performance Rating
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Plus/minus is a statistic that measures how often a player is on the ice when their team scores versus when their team allows a goal. A player earns a +1 for each even-strength or short-handed goal scored while they're on the ice, and a -1 for each even-strength or short-handed goal allowed. Power play goals are excluded from this calculation.
The formula is: PM = (TGF − PGF) − (TGA − SGA). Here, TGF is Total Goals For, PGF is Power Play Goals For, TGA is Total Goals Against, and SGA is Short-Handed Goals Against. This strips out power play situations to focus on even-strength performance.
Power play goals are excluded because only some players are on the ice during a power play. Including them would unfairly benefit power play specialists and penalize players who rarely see power play time. The statistic aims to reflect a player's value during equal-strength play.
Short-handed goals against are subtracted from Total Goals Against because they occur when the opposing team is on the power play. Since the player's team is short-handed, those goals against are treated differently and do not count against the skater's plus/minus.
A positive plus/minus is generally favorable, indicating the player is on the ice for more goals than they allow at even strength. Elite defenders and two-way forwards often post ratings above +20 in a full season. A rating near 0 is neutral, while a highly negative score suggests poor on-ice defensive performance.
Plus/minus is heavily influenced by team quality, zone deployment, and linemates — factors outside a single player's control. A player on a dominant team may post a high plus/minus simply due to their teammates. Advanced metrics like Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM) attempt to control for these variables.
Yes. A negative plus/minus means the player was on the ice for more even-strength goals against than for during the measured period. This can reflect poor defensive play, bad luck, or playing in difficult situations such as against top opposing lines.
No, plus/minus is a skater statistic only. Goalies are not assigned a plus or minus for goals scored or allowed while they are in the net. It is used exclusively to evaluate forwards and defensemen.