The Offensive Value of Assists Compared to Goals

May 14, 2025

In this post, I look into the question of how valuable primary and secondary assists really are compared to goals in terms of NHL offensive production. Using a method inspired by a 2014 post from Tyrel Stoakes, I test various assist weight combinations to find which best predicts a future goal contribution metric devised for this process. The results offer a clearer picture of how assists should be weighted in player evaluations, with some interesting implications, especially for secondary assists.