Plus/minus
also: +/-
Goals for minus goals against while a skater was on the ice, at even strength and shorthanded.
+/- = on-ice even-strength and shorthanded goals for - the same goals againstPower-play goals for are excluded; shorthanded goals for are not. A player on the ice for a shorthanded goal against is charged with it. The asymmetry is historical rather than principled, and it is one reason the number behaves oddly.
It is returned because it is on every hockey card ever printed and people look for it. It is not a measure of how well anyone played. A fourth-liner on a good team outscores a first-liner on a bad one without either of them doing anything to cause it, and a single season's total swings by ten goals on goaltending the skater had no part in.
If the question is whether a player drove play, the possession and expected-goal numbers answer it and plus/minus does not. If the question is what happened while he was out there, plus/minus is a fair summary of exactly that and nothing more.
Reading it as a rating. It is a record of outcomes, with the player's team, linemates, goalie and deployment all folded in and none of them separated out.
Where to get it
Related
Plus/minus from the API
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