How Hockey ChangedThe Clock
The Goalie Pull Keeps Creeping Earlier
Analysts have long argued that coaches should pull the goalie sooner. The data says coaches are listening, a little more each year. We timed every trailing team’s pull from 2017-18 to 2025-26, ranked the coaches, and checked whether the early pullers actually tie more games.
By Edgehalla ResearchPublished 7 min read
More takeaways below
- Coach rankings are mostly habit, not results. A coach’s pull time repeats from season to season (r = 0.51); his teams’ tie-up rate barely does, and early pullers do not tie measurably more games.
On this page
When do NHL coaches pull the goalie now?
For a team down one goal that had been trailing since at least the five-minute mark, the median pull in 2025-26 came with 2:01 left. In 2017-18 it was 1:41. Down two, the median moved from 2:35 to 3:28, nearly a minute earlier in eight seasons.
Median time left when the goalie is pulled
Regular season; trailing teams that were behind with 5:00 or more left. Bands = middle half of pulls.
seconds left
Show data
| Season | Down two | Down two (range) | Down one | Down one (range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 155 seconds left | 129 seconds left to 183 seconds left | 101 seconds left | 86 seconds left to 122 seconds left |
| 2018-19 | 163 seconds left | 136 seconds left to 187 seconds left | 109 seconds left | 89 seconds left to 130 seconds left |
| 2019-20 | 164 seconds left | 139 seconds left to 192 seconds left | 111 seconds left | 91 seconds left to 128 seconds left |
| 2020-21 | 170 seconds left | 139 seconds left to 200 seconds left | 109 seconds left | 89 seconds left to 125 seconds left |
| 2021-22 | 189 seconds left | 154 seconds left to 224 seconds left | 112 seconds left | 94 seconds left to 136 seconds left |
| 2022-23 | 179 seconds left | 144 seconds left to 221 seconds left | 115 seconds left | 91 seconds left to 137 seconds left |
| 2023-24 | 183 seconds left | 151 seconds left to 217 seconds left | 115 seconds left | 95 seconds left to 137 seconds left |
| 2024-25 | 193 seconds left | 159 seconds left to 230 seconds left | 124 seconds left | 103 seconds left to 145 seconds left |
| 2025-26 | 208 seconds left | 170 seconds left to 241 seconds left | 121 seconds left | 101 seconds left to 142 seconds left |
The trend is steady rather than sudden. Down two, the share of pulls with three or more minutes left rose from 28% in 2017-18 to 70% in 2025-26. Down one, a three-minute pull is still rare (under 6% of pulls in every season), so the change there is a creep from about 1:40 to about 2:00.
More pulls, more empty-net goals
The NHL has published empty-net goals since 2005-06. They went from 0.14 a game then to 0.40 in 2024-25 and 0.39 in 2025-26. Most of the rise came after 2013-14.
Empty-net goals per game
Both teams, NHL regular season
goals a game
Show data
| Season | Empty-net goals |
|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 0.15 goals a game |
| 2006-07 | 0.17 goals a game |
| 2007-08 | 0.18 goals a game |
| 2008-09 | 0.19 goals a game |
| 2009-10 | 0.17 goals a game |
| 2010-11 | 0.19 goals a game |
| 2011-12 | 0.19 goals a game |
| 2012-13 | 0.19 goals a game |
| 2013-14 | 0.18 goals a game |
| 2014-15 | 0.24 goals a game |
| 2015-16 | 0.30 goals a game |
| 2016-17 | 0.24 goals a game |
| 2017-18 | 0.28 goals a game |
| 2018-19 | 0.32 goals a game |
| 2019-20 | 0.31 goals a game |
| 2020-21 | 0.30 goals a game |
| 2021-22 | 0.36 goals a game |
| 2022-23 | 0.33 goals a game |
| 2023-24 | 0.34 goals a game |
| 2024-25 | 0.40 goals a game |
| 2025-26 | 0.39 goals a game |
Does pulling the goalie early pay?
In goals, clearly. Across every one-goal deficit in the last five minutes, trailing teams scored 6.83 goals per 60 minutes with an extra attacker and 2.51 with the goalie in. They also gave up 18.89 empty-net goals per 60. Down one late, a second goal against costs almost nothing, because the game is usually lost either way. That trade is why the math has always favoured pulling sooner.
The trade a pull makes, down one
Goals per 60 minutes for the trailing team, regular season 2017-18 to 2025-26
Trailing by one, teams scored 6.83 per 60 with the goalie pulled and 2.51 with him in, and conceded 18.89 empty-net goals per 60 while pulled.
- Goalie in
- Goalie pulled
Yet the league-wide tie-up rate did not move. Of 8,728 one-goal spells that began with five minutes or more left, trailing teams tied it between 39.2% and 41.9% of the time in every season. Twenty extra seconds of six-on-five is worth about one extra goal every 40 pulls, and most deficits never see a pull at all (the trailing team ties it first or time runs out on a late goal). The gain is real but small next to season-to-season noise.
Every coach, ranked
We kept the 32 head coaches with at least 40 pulls down one since 2017-18. Paul Maurice pulls earliest, with a median of 2:11 left; D.J. Smith latest, at 1:32. Read the order loosely: each median rests on 40 to 95 pulls and carries a sampling error of roughly ±4 to ±8 seconds, and the league itself moved 20 seconds in these years, so coaches whose tenure is recent look earlier than coaches of the same habit from 2017-18. Measured against each season’s league median, Maurice is still the earliest (about 17 seconds ahead of the norm) and Don Granato and D.J. Smith the latest, while Andrew Brunette, second on raw time, drops to the middle of the top group. Most of the middle of the table is within noise of its neighbours. The scatter asks whether early pullers tie more games.
Early pullers do not clearly tie more games
Head coaches with 40+ pulls down one, regular season 2017-18 to 2025-26
One-goal deficits tied
Median pull, seconds left
Show data
| Median pull, seconds left | One-goal deficits tied | |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Maurice | 131 s | 41% |
| Andrew Brunette | 130 s | 41% |
| Jon Cooper | 129 s | 42% |
| Rod Brind'Amour | 127 s | 45% |
| Lindy Ruff | 127 s | 39% |
| John Tortorella | 126 s | 38% |
| Peter Laviolette | 125 s | 50% |
| Dean Evason | 125 s | 43% |
| Bruce Boudreau | 124 s | 41% |
| Sheldon Keefe | 121 s | 44% |
| David Quinn | 121 s | 35% |
| Joel Quenneville | 119 s | 44% |
| Gerard Gallant | 118 s | 47% |
| Jared Bednar | 117 s | 42% |
| Jim Montgomery | 116 s | 47% |
| Peter DeBoer | 115 s | 45% |
| André Tourigny | 115 s | 38% |
| Todd McLellan | 112 s | 36% |
| Rick Tocchet | 111 s | 38% |
| Craig Berube | 110 s | 41% |
| Jeff Blashill | 110 s | 27% |
| Rick Bowness | 107 s | 43% |
| Barry Trotz | 107 s | 39% |
| Travis Green | 106 s | 37% |
| Bruce Cassidy | 105 s | 51% |
| Dave Hakstol | 103 s | 38% |
| Mike Sullivan | 103 s | 48% |
| John Hynes | 103 s | 38% |
| Martin St. Louis | 102 s | 45% |
| Bob Boughner | 101 s | 36% |
| Don Granato | 94 s | 42% |
| D.J. Smith | 92 s | 35% |
| Coach | Seasons | Deficits | Pulls | Median pull | Deficits tied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Maurice | 9 | 217 | 82 | 2:11 | 41.0% |
| Andrew Brunette | 4 | 134 | 43 | 2:10 | 41.0% |
| Jon Cooper | 9 | 262 | 88 | 2:09 | 42.4% |
| Rod Brind'Amour | 8 | 217 | 68 | 2:07 | 44.7% |
| Lindy Ruff | 6 | 199 | 59 | 2:07 | 38.7% |
| John Tortorella | 7 | 207 | 62 | 2:06 | 38.2% |
| Peter Laviolette | 8 | 219 | 75 | 2:05 | 50.2% |
| Dean Evason | 7 | 150 | 41 | 2:05 | 43.3% |
| Bruce Boudreau | 5 | 125 | 41 | 2:04 | 40.8% |
| Sheldon Keefe | 7 | 186 | 51 | 2:01 | 44.1% |
| David Quinn | 5 | 148 | 48 | 2:01 | 34.5% |
| Joel Quenneville | 6 | 145 | 46 | 1:59 | 44.1% |
| Gerard Gallant | 5 | 136 | 50 | 1:58 | 47.1% |
| Jared Bednar | 9 | 237 | 74 | 1:57 | 42.2% |
| Jim Montgomery | 6 | 151 | 47 | 1:56 | 47.0% |
| Peter DeBoer | 9 | 227 | 73 | 1:55 | 44.9% |
Continues below
| Coach | Seasons | Deficits | Pulls | Median pull | Deficits tied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| André Tourigny | 5 | 197 | 64 | 1:55 | 37.6% |
| Todd McLellan | 9 | 222 | 83 | 1:52 | 36.0% |
| Rick Tocchet | 8 | 231 | 90 | 1:51 | 38.1% |
| Craig Berube | 8 | 212 | 64 | 1:50 | 41.0% |
| Jeff Blashill | 6 | 199 | 71 | 1:50 | 27.1% |
| Rick Bowness | 6 | 136 | 43 | 1:47 | 42.6% |
| Barry Trotz | 5 | 127 | 46 | 1:47 | 39.4% |
| Travis Green | 8 | 199 | 69 | 1:46 | 36.7% |
| Bruce Cassidy | 9 | 249 | 72 | 1:45 | 51.4% |
| Dave Hakstol | 5 | 135 | 50 | 1:43 | 37.8% |
| Mike Sullivan | 9 | 278 | 95 | 1:43 | 47.8% |
| John Hynes | 9 | 250 | 76 | 1:43 | 38.4% |
| Martin St. Louis | 5 | 164 | 45 | 1:42 | 45.1% |
| Bob Boughner | 5 | 153 | 45 | 1:41 | 35.9% |
| Don Granato | 4 | 108 | 40 | 1:34 | 41.7% |
| D.J. Smith | 6 | 130 | 51 | 1:32 | 34.6% |
What is signal and what is noise
To check, we split each coach’s deficits into alternate seasons (2017-18, 2019-20 and so on against the rest). Pull time repeats: a coach who pulls early in one half pulls early in the other (r = 0.51, 95% range 0.16 to 0.74, 27 coaches). Measuring each pull against that season’s league median, so the league-wide drift cannot do the work, makes the habit link stronger, not weaker (r = 0.62). Tie-up rate barely repeats (r = 0.26, range -0.14 to 0.58).
Show the work
- Tests written down
- Not in advance (exploratory)
- Results computed
Every third-period trailing spell in the regular season, 2017-18 to 2025-26, from our goalie-out log built on NHL shift data (8,728 one-goal spells that began with 5:00+ left). Coach tests use the 32 head coaches with 40+ pulls, with alternate seasons as the holdout.
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Pulls are getting earlier | Down one 101 s to 121 s; down two 154.5 s to 208 s | Holds |
| A coach’s pull time repeats | r = 0.51 (0.16 to 0.74) | Holds |
| Early-pulling coaches tie more deficits | r = 0.19 (-0.17 to 0.50) | Noise |
| A coach’s tie-up rate repeats | r = 0.26 (-0.14 to 0.58) | Weak, not significant |
Frequently asked questions
When do NHL teams pull the goalie?
In 2025-26 the median pull for a team down one came with about two minutes left (2:01); down two, about 3:28. Both are earlier than in 2017-18, when they were 1:41 and 2:35.
Does pulling the goalie early work?
It adds goals: down one late, teams score about 6.8 goals per 60 minutes with an extra attacker against 2.5 with the goalie in. But the effect on tying games is small, and across nine seasons the league-wide tie-up rate has not visibly moved.
Which NHL coach pulls the goalie earliest?
Among head coaches with at least 40 pulls down one since 2017-18, Paul Maurice has the earliest median pull, at about 2:11 left. D.J. Smith has the latest, at 1:32. Neighbouring coaches in the ranking are within a few seconds of each other, inside sampling error, but against each season’s league norm Maurice is still the earliest and Smith and Don Granato the latest.
How many empty-net goals are there per game?
About 0.4 for both teams combined: 0.40 in 2024-25 and 0.39 in 2025-26, up from 0.14 in 2005-06.
Sources and method
- NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
- NHL stats API: team empty-net goals (team realtime totals), 2005-06 on
- Hockey-Graphs: the state of goalie pulling in the NHL (2020)
Research and analysis, not betting advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns; bet only what you can afford to lose.