Campbellnomics - Feb. 16

Sidney Crosby may be third in NHL scoring, but he leads Campbellnomics by a fair margin. (Getty Images)

Ken Campbell
2010-02-16 11:14:00

They don’t ask how, they ask how many. Here at THN we don’t ask how many, we ask how many of them mattered.

That’s the essence of Campbellnomics a statistic exclusive to thn.com that provides a tangible measure for meaningful goals and situational scoring.

Here’s how it works.

Points are scored in the Campbellnomics system only on goals that matter relative to the result and the time of the game. We’re not interested in the player who scores the fifth and sixth goals in a 6-2 victory, but we are interested in players who score in the following circumstances: the first goal of the game; a goal that puts a player’s team ahead in the game; a goal that pulls a player’s team into a tie; any goal that leads to a comeback; a game-winning goal; an overtime goal; and, a shootout goal.

There are, however, a couple of other wrinkles in Campbellnomics that you won’t find in the NHL’s statistics. First, we believe a goal is worth more than an assist and that’s why goals are worth one point in Campbellnomics and assists are worth a half a point. We also have a different idea of what constitutes a game-winning goal. The NHL defines a game-winner as the goal that provided the margin of victory, but we define a game-winner as the goal that put the team ahead in the game to stay.

Therefore, if a player scores the all-important first goal of the game, he automatically receives two points, one for the first goal of the game and one for putting his team ahead. If he scores the overtime winner or the deciding goal in a shootout, he receives three points – one for putting his team ahead, one for the game-winner and one for the overtime/shootout goal.

The ultimate Campbellnomics goal would be an overtime goal or shootout deciding goal in a 1-0 victory. That would give the scorer four points – one for the first goal of the game, one for putting his team ahead, one for the game-winner and one for the overtime/shootout goal.

Obviously, there are some stark differences between Campbellnomics and the NHL scoring race. For example, Henrik Sedin and Joe Thornton are in the top five in NHL scoring, but is nowhere to be found in the top 20 in Campbellnomics, while Mike Fisher is 65th in NHL scoring, but is tied for 16th in Campbellnomics.

Campbellnomics is updated Tuesdays only on thehockeynews.com. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.