Defining Physicality and Visualizing Skaters’ Ability to Play Through Contact

Abstract

With physicality being an often-overlooked skill throughout hockey analytics, we look to define what it means for teams and players to be successfully physical in the modern NHL using publicly attainable data. This is done by identifying six high-contact situations encompassing game states or locations that imply physical contests and require an ability to maneuver through direct pressure. Combining these allows us to quantify a skater’s ability to play through contact and visualize it with a tool called the “Battle Grid” that is made freely available with this piece. With this, we look to expand the possible analysis in the public sphere by making the dashboard accessible to hockey fans within it. Finally, we explore how this evaluation regarding layers of physicality and the resulting Battle Grid can enrich our case studies with two examples.