Signature stats
Goal anatomy: what tracking data tells us about how goals are scored
Play-by-play tells us a goal happened, where the shot came from and who got the assists. The goal tracking clip tells us how: how fast the shot was, how many passes led to it, and whether the attackers came in with numbers. This page explains how we turn a clip into those numbers and how far to trust each one.
Updated · Method version goal-anatomy v1
How it's calculated
Each clip is a list of frames, 10 per second. Each frame gives the x/y position of the puck and every player on the ice. We convert the tracking grid (inches) to the same feet coordinates as the play-by-play, then run a few simple detectors.
| Measure | How it is detected |
|---|---|
| Goal and release frames | The frame the puck enters the net mouth; release is the scorer's last touch before it. |
| Shot speed | Distance from release point to goal ÷ time between the two frames. |
| Passes and assists | Possession chain: the nearest skater within 6 ft of the puck, with hysteresis so a brief gap doesn't split a possession. |
| Deflection | A fast incoming puck that turns slightly after a brief touch. |
| Rebound | A fast puck reaches the goalie within 3 s before the shot. |
| Entry type | Carry, dump or pass, from whether the puck carrier moves with the puck across the blue line. |
| Odd-man rush | Attackers against goal-side defenders at the moment of entry. |
speed (mph) = distance from release to goal (ft) ÷ time (s) × 3,600 / 5,280
Play DNA of an example goal
Example data: invented for illustration
Invented rush goal: a stretch pass, a 3-on-2 entry, a cross-ice pass and an 87 mph shot, 8 seconds from first touch to goal.
Play DNA for Example scorer (3-on-2 rush): 3-on-2 entry, 2 passes, 87 mph shot, 2.7 s from entry to goal. Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE.
How the 77 test goals were scored
Research sample: 200 games from 2025-26 (2025020500–699)
Of 77 tracked test goals, 14 came off odd-man rushes and 14 off turnovers or the forecheck; one came straight off a faceoff.
Worked example
Timing a shot at 10 frames per second
Includes example dataThe release point is 32 ft from the goal and the puck crosses the goal line 0.25 s later (between the 2nd and 3rd frames after release).
- 32 ft ÷ 0.25 s = 128 ft per second.
- 128 × 3,600 / 5,280 = 87.3 mph.
- Because frames are 0.1 s apart, one frame either way changes the time by up to 40% on a shot this short. That is why a single shot can be off by about ±25%, while averages over many goals are accurate.
87.3 mph. For comparison, three of our test goals read 92.2, 85.1 and 87.0 mph against NHL EDGE's official 92.32, 84.63 and 91.83 mph.
Validation on 77 goals
We tested every detector on 77 goals from 10 games between 2023-24 and 2026-27, against the play-by-play, NHL EDGE's official shot speeds and visual checks of each clip.
| Measure | Result | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Goal and release frame | Found on 75 of 77. Release point within 5 ft of the play-by-play location on 90% (median 1.9 ft). | High |
| Shot speed | Matches EDGE's official figures (e.g. 92.2 vs 92.32 mph); about ±25% on a single shot at 10 Hz | High |
| Primary assist | 87% correct | Medium–high |
| Secondary assist | 67% correct | Medium |
| Unassisted goals | 2 of 5 correct | Low |
| Deflection | Recall 5/6, precision 5/6 | Medium–high |
| Rebound | 91% agreement with play-by-play | High |
| Entry type | About 80% right on visual check (no official source) | Medium |
| Odd-man rush | About 10 of 12 right on visual check | Medium |
| Royal-road pass, screens, defender gap, goalie movement | Plausible, not validated | Not shown yet |
| Power-play formation | Not validated; clips are too short (6–9 s of set-up) | Not shown |
| Play type | Goals |
|---|---|
| Odd-man rush | 14 |
| Turnover / forecheck | 14 |
| Cycle / settled | 12 |
| Rebound | 10 |
| Rush | 9 |
| Deflection | 7 |
| Dump and chase | 5 |
| Point shot | 5 |
| Off a faceoff | 1 |
What we don't show, and why
The tracking clips belong to the NHL, and its commercial tracking rights are licensed exclusively. We use them to derive numbers and draw our own summaries, and we credit the source on every one: "Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE".
- Shown: shot speed, pass count, entry type, odd-man count, play type, entry-to-goal time, and the Play DNA strip we draw ourselves from those numbers. Each goal links to the NHL.com video.
- Not shown: raw frames, animated replays of player positions, or long-exposure renders of the puck path. These stay internal.
Tracking also lets us check our play-by-play inferences. For goals we know from tracking whether the play was a rush, a rebound, or a settled cycle, so we can measure how often our transition and rebound flags agree, and publish that agreement rate here.
Reliability
These are measurement accuracies against a reference, not split-half reliabilities: they tell you how often a single goal is labelled correctly.
| Measure | Split-half r | Sample | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rebound flag vs play-by-play91% agreement. | — | 77 goals | Stable |
| Primary assist87% correct. | — | 77 goals | Stable |
| Entry typeAbout 80%. | — | Visual check, 77 goals | Moderate |
| Unassisted detection2 of 5; not relied on. | — | 5 goals | Noise |
Split-half r: we split each sample in two (for example odd and even games) and correlate the two halves across players or teams. Near 0 means the stat is mostly noise; near 1 means it is a stable trait.
Limitations
- Only goals are tracked publicly, and only since 2023-24. Anything learned from goals describes scoring plays, not all shots.
- The puck is missing at the start of 8 of 77 clips (up to 3 s), so we interpolate. The tracked point is a player's body, so tips and carries read 5–7 ft off.
- Clips start about 9 s before the shot, so time in the zone is capped. Line changes break the possession chain. One wrap-around goal read 0 mph.
- Detectors were tested on 77 goals from 10 games. We will expand the test set and update these numbers as the full archive is processed.
FAQ
Where does NHL goal tracking data come from?
The NHL publishes a short puck and player tracking clip for every goal since the 2023-24 season, as part of NHL EDGE. We derive numbers from those clips and credit them as "Tracking-derived via NHL EDGE".
Is there tracking data for every shot?
Not publicly. Full-game tracking is licensed exclusively and not available to public sites. Only goals have public clips.
How accurate is your shot speed?
It matches NHL EDGE's official readings closely (for example 92.2 vs 92.32 mph and 85.1 vs 84.63 mph), but a single shot can be off by about ±25% because the clip has only 10 frames per second.
Why can't I watch the tracking replay?
We only publish derived numbers and our own summary glyphs. For the video of each goal, we link to NHL.com.