We’re going to assume that you know what an R-Rating is and what it means. If not, be sure to check out our Wondering What An R-Rating Means In Hockey? article for more information.
Table of Contents
The Overall Standing
We already established that an R-Rating is an overall rating. It’s a combination of regular season and playoff performance that determines how good a team is. Regular season performance alone won’t cut it. You also need to look at the records of the teams in both the regular season and playoff series. The team with the best overall standing will be ranked #1.
Streak
The Streak is the name given to a run of consecutive wins or losses. A team with a Streak is considered to be in the playoff race, even though they may not be winning games. A team’s victory streak is added to their overall record to determine how good a team is. A team is more likely to end a losing streak than they are to begin one. Even teams at the bottom of the pack can have a streak. Stonewalling, or not giving up a single goal for an entire game, is common in the NHL. It’s known as a shutout.
Points
If you’re scoring at even strength, you’ll accumulate points to determine how good a team is. For example, if a team is playing a power play and converts on two out of three chances, they’ll score four total points. The total number of points accumulated is then added to their overall standing to determine how good of a team they are. An efficient power play can put a lot of points on the board. If your team is struggling on the PP, they might be considering a change. The Powerplay is often one of the first things to be adjusted when a team makes the switch to a new coach. The Powerplay itself can also be a source of points as well. The ability to score while the defensemen are having their backs turned can also be a valuable asset.
Goals Versus Threshold
The goals versus Threshold is a stat used to determine the effectiveness of a team’s goaltending. It’s been around since the 1970s and is still used today. The way it works is this: If a team scores more goals than would be predicted by their shooting percentage, then their goaltender is said to be suppressing the score of the other team. Conversely, if a team’s shooting percentage is higher than expected, then they’re allowing more goals than usual. A 1.0 GVT value is considered average. Anything above 1.0 is above average and anything below is below average. This stat can be tricky to interpret as it requires context. For example, if a team is losing by a large margin, then the goalie’s performance might not seem very good.
Player Efficiency Rating (PER)
Just like our top-rated team, the Nashville Predators, we’ve got an NHL stat that measures how well each player on the ice for their team performs. It’s been around for more than 70 years and was originally intended to be used as a measure of individual player performance. A high player efficiency rating indicates that the player in question was effective while on the ice. A low rating might indicate that a player was not effective at all. The way the NHL measures player efficiency is through the use of advanced stats and analytics.
Team Efficiency Rating (TER)
Individual player efficiency rating doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s important to look at how all the players on the ice for a team perform together as well. This is exactly what the team efficiency rating does. It’s another measurement of a team’s overall performance, similar to a batting average or slugging percentage for hitters in baseball or points per game for basketball players. The way the NHL measures team efficiency is by taking into account all the situations a team encounters throughout the game and how they perform under those circumstances. The best example of this would be a team facing a multiple-goal deficit in the third period of a game. In that case, they’re not going to have much success unless they can get some goal support from their defensemen.
Goal Differential
If you’re looking for a quick way to compare the performance of two teams, then you can use goal differential. This stat is used to compare a team’s goals scored to the number of goals allowed. The closer this value is to zero, the better for a team. A plus-minus rating is also used to determine how much a player is contributing to the success of their team. If they’re contributing positive value, then they’re helping the team win games. If they’re hurting the team, then they’re hurting the team by being on the ice. Since goal differential is such a popular way to compare teams, we’ll use it as a benchmark to determine what type of progress each team has made throughout the season. The following graphic from our partners at hockey-reference.com should help:
The above graphic compares the 2016-17 season’s standings to the 2015-16 season’s standings, using goal differentials to evaluate overall team performance. The green line represents the 2016-17 season and the red line represents the previous season. You can click here to see the whole league standings for reference.
The Winning Streak
If you’re looking for a quick way to compare a team’s performance over multiple seasons, then you can use their winning streak to do so. A winning streak is measured as the number of consecutive games that the team has won. The best example of this would be Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. He’s been named the NHL’s Most Valuable Player for three consecutive seasons and has also accumulated 121 wins during that time. If you want to compare Ovechkin’s performance to another player’s, then you can use his winning streak as a benchmark. The following graphic from our partners at hockey-reference.com should help:
The above graphic compares the 2016-17 season’s standings to the 2015-16 season’s standings, using the Capitals’ winning streak to evaluate overall team performance. The green line represents the 2016-17 season and the red line represents the previous season. You can click here to see the whole league standings for reference.
Final Takeaway
Hopefully, you now have a good understanding of what an R-Rating is. It’s a way of comparing a team’s performance to other teams in the league. It takes into account all the factors we discussed above, including regular season and playoff performance. Since they’re so dependent on multiple factors, it’s almost impossible to predict how a team will fare in the upcoming season, particularly at this early stage of the season. We won’t know the true extent of each team’s improvement or worsening until the season is over.