Hockey is such a complex game, and there are so many things that happen that don’t factor onto the score sheet, so it is very hard to define who is better at one thing or another unless you line the players up side by side. That is why last year I created the OCPR, to try and go beyond the goals and assists to determine a player’s complete value. This year brings another new statistic to the RealGM community created by yours truly. I will be the first to admit that what you are about to read isn’t a perfect statistic, and it likely has some holes, but I feel confident about it because every non-standard-statistic/formula (for example, Hollinger’s Rankings for basketball) has holes and none are perfect – that is why so many exist! I have always believed, and Detroit Red Wings’ GM Ken Holland would agree, that teams who excel at puck possession will more often than not be very successful. In turn, statistics such as Time On Attack are kept for teams, illustrating the importance of maintaining possession in the opponents’ zone, and thus, keeping the puck out of their own end. Essentially, the more you possess the puck, the less your opponent does, and the less opportunities your opponent has to score. With that in mind, I wanted to try and find out which individual players particularly excelled at the puck possession game. There is seemingly no statistic which tells how much time a player spends with the puck on his stick, and no real way to do this without watching every game with a PVR, a pad of paper, and a stop watch. Instead, I chose to focus on what statistics I had available to me in order to create a formula for Puck Possession Rating (PPR). All statistics were broken down into a per-game value, so that the rating can show who is better or worse in a per-game setting, not cumulative. The statistics that received the heaviest weighting in the formula were giveaways (a heavy negative value) and takeaways (an equally heavy positive value). Also factoring into the equation were shots per game (obviously a positive), missed shots per game (a positive, because it is still creating a scoring opportunity for your team), shooting percentage, points per game, shifts per game (the more shifts you are on the ice, the more opportunities you have to positively and negatively impact a hockey game), and plus/minus per game (a positive or negative value, depending on the player’s rating). Additionally, I took shots per game and points per game a step further by calculating how each player fares in those areas when compared to the average of the lot; after all, you can’t win if you don’t score, and you can’t score if you don’t shoot the puck, and you can’t shoot if you are not in possession of the puck. The net result aimed to show who made the most positive use of the puck over the course of a hockey game. And if you watch a lot of hockey and guessed out loud who was in the top-3, you likely would get them right, or at least close, as Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, and Pavel Datsyuk filled out the top-3 in order for this season. Of the 516 players that I rated, Toronto’s Mike Komisarek finished at the bottom, narrowly edging out Edmonton’s Ladislav Smid for that distinctive honor. Below are the top-250 players as of March 18, 2011

	Player	Team	Pos	GP	Total
1	Jonathan Toews	CHI	C	69	47.55526
2	Sidney Crosby	PIT	C	41	46.93446
3	Pavel Datsyuk	DET	C	52	46.51445
4	Ryan Kesler	VAN	C	73	45.76197
5	Patrick Sharp	CHI	L	70	43.58188
6	Loui Eriksson	DAL	L	69	39.88572
7	Steven Stamkos	TBL	C	71	39.60042
8	Corey Perry	ANA	R	70	39.33449
9	Daniel Sedin	VAN	L	73	39.27238
10	Ryan Callahan	NYR	R	52	38.19671
11	Alexander Semin	WSH	L	58	37.41730
12	Eric Staal	CAR	C	71	37.30983
13	Anze Kopitar	LAK	C	71	36.78211
14	Rick Nash	CBJ	R	69	36.12291
15	Bobby Ryan	ANA	R	70	35.87317
16	Jeff Carter	PHI	C	68	35.78856
17	Michael Grabner	NYI	R	68	35.72162
18	Jamie Benn	DAL	L	58	35.72073
19	Patrick Kane	CHI	R	62	35.70843
20	Danny Briere	PHI	R	67	35.70658
21	Bryan Little	ATL	C	65	35.33208
22	Claude Giroux	PHI	R	70	35.27736
23	Alexandre Burrows	VAN	L	63	35.14001
24	Dave Bolland	CHI	C	61	35.13496
25	Andrew Ladd	ATL	L	70	35.01533
26	Marian Hossa	CHI	R	54	34.68758
27	David Backes	STL	R	71	34.49653
28	Logan Couture	SJS	C	69	34.18749
29	Joe Thornton	SJS	C	70	33.95812
30	Andy McDonald	STL	C	47	33.86329
31	Matt Moulson	NYI	L	72	33.47310
32	Drew Stafford	BUF	R	50	33.29473
33	Jeff Skinner	CAR	C	72	32.67614
34	TJ Oshie	STL	C	40	32.51966
35	Paul Stastny	COL	C	67	32.46667
36	John Tavares	NYI	C	69	32.31287
37	Mike Richards	PHI	C	69	32.29885
38	Alex Ovechkin	WSH	L	73	32.19930
39	Henrik Sedin	VAN	C	73	32.08952
40	Milan Lucic	BOS	L	67	32.03404
41	Nikolai Kulemin	TOR	L	72	31.99423
42	Marian Gaborik	NYR	R	52	31.70885
43	Derek Roy	BUF	C	35	31.55389
44	Alex Tanguay	CGY	L	70	31.35817
45	Dustin Byfuglien	ATL	D	70	31.15131
46	Mikhail Grabovski	TOR	C	71	30.97289
47	Chris Stewart	STL	R	51	30.95728
48	Patrice Bergeron	BOS	C	69	30.86846
49	Nicklas Backstrom	WSH	C	68	30.83593
50	Brandon Dubinsky	NYR	C	67	30.81248
51	Martin St Louis	TBL	R	71	30.77622
52	RJ Umberger	CBJ	L	70	30.76199
53	Erik Cole	CAR	R	72	30.41876
54	Max Pacioretty	MTL	L	37	30.38975
55	James Neal	PIT	L	69	30.36853
56	David Jones	COL	R	66	30.36663
57	Brian Gionta	MTL	R	72	30.34440
58	Chris Kunitz	PIT	L	56	30.23243
59	Sergei Kostitsyn	NSH	L	66	30.13211
60	Teemu Selanne	ANA	R	61	30.00010
61	Matt Duchene	COL	C	68	29.74382
62	Jordan Staal	PIT	C	32	29.73831
63	Milan Hejduk	COL	R	60	29.62487
64	Johan Franzen	DET	R	69	29.61243
65	Brad Richards	DAL	C	61	29.56385
66	Mikko Koivu	MIN	C	60	29.38834
67	Jarome Iginla	CGY	R	73	29.38372
68	Tomas Plekanec	MTL	C	69	28.93119
69	Danny Cleary	DET	R	57	28.86872
70	Kristian Huselius	CBJ	L	35	28.77756
71	Henrik Zetterberg	DET	L	71	28.54414
72	Stephen Weiss	FLA	C	70	28.42961
73	Bryan Bickell	CHI	L	67	28.36050
74	Thomas Vanek	BUF	L	69	28.34498
75	Shane Doan	PHX	R	63	28.12943
76	Phil Kessel	TOR	R	72	27.89548
77	Vincent Lecavalier	TBL	C	54	27.72105
78	Ryane Clowe	SJS	L	68	27.52696
79	Dustin Penner	LAK	R	70	27.51099
80	Lauri Korpikoski	PHX	L	73	27.39645
81	David Legwand	NSH	C	53	27.35049
82	Curtis Glencross	CGY	L	70	27.34284
83	Marty Reasoner	FLA	C	71	27.27955
84	Saku Koivu	ANA	C	63	27.15239
85	Shea Weber	NSH	D	71	27.10171
86	Ville Leino	PHI	L	69	27.00416
87	Patrick Marleau	SJS	L	72	26.99206
88	Brenden Morrow	DAL	L	71	26.98693
89	Rich Peverley	BOS	C	70	26.90647
90	Jussi Jokinen	CAR	L	60	26.90301
91	Evander Kane	ATL	L	62	26.90064
92	Jordan Eberle	EDM	R	58	26.89198
93	Ryan Getzlaf	ANA	C	55	26.89066
94	Alexander Steen	STL	C	67	26.88020
95	Valtteri Filppula	DET	C	60	26.64360
96	Kyle Brodziak	MIN	C	69	26.54885
97	Mike Ribeiro	DAL	C	71	26.46817
98	Nathan Horton	BOS	R	68	26.35476
99	Taylor Hall	EDM	L	65	26.26754
100	Ales Hemsky	EDM	R	47	26.23391
101	Martin Erat	NSH	R	55	26.05319
102	Martin Havlat	MIN	R	71	25.96359
103	Tuomo Ruutu	CAR	R	72	25.89569
104	Artem Anisimov	NYR	C	72	25.87256
105	Kris Versteeg	PHI	R	68	25.86067
106	Mike Knuble	WSH	R	70	25.84270
107	Frans Nielsen	NYI	C	65	25.64390
108	Cal O'Reilly	NSH	C	38	25.58106
109	Taylor Pyatt	PHX	L	68	25.44482
110	Joe Pavelski	SJS	C	64	25.41058
111	Nicklas Lidstrom	DET	D	71	25.32415
112	Tomas Fleischmann	COL	L	45	25.24906
113	Jason Pominville	BUF	R	61	25.16795
114	Rene Bourque	CGY	L	71	25.13421
115	Patrik Berglund	STL	C	71	25.08458
116	Milan Michalek	OTT	L	58	24.95688
117	David Moss	CGY	R	58	24.95366
118	Jason Spezza	OTT	C	51	24.79328
119	Daniel Alfredsson	OTT	R	54	24.62619
120	Antoine Vermette	CBJ	C	70	24.60576
121	Troy Brouwer	CHI	L	71	24.50153
122	Travis Zajac	NJD	C	71	24.47303
123	Brian Boyle	NYR	C	72	24.43298
124	Niclas Bergfors	FLA	R	61	24.41435
125	Martin Hanzal	PHX	C	59	24.41097
126	Blake Comeau	NYI	R	67	24.31755
127	Erik Christensen	NYR	C	53	24.26237
128	Evgeni Malkin	PIT	C	43	24.23794
129	Matt D'Agostini	STL	R	71	24.06996
130	Brandon Sutter	CAR	C	72	24.06734
131	David Krejci	BOS	C	63	24.00761
132	Scott Hartnell	PHI	L	70	24.00551
133	Jeff Halpern	MTL	C	68	23.97254
134	Mike Santorelli	FLA	C	71	23.86582
135	Jarret Stoll	LAK	C	71	23.82903
136	Chris Higgins	VAN	L	53	23.82725
137	Eric Belanger	PHX	C	73	23.79432
138	Jakub Voracek	CBJ	R	68	23.70991
139	Shawn Horcoff	EDM	C	47	23.69191
140	Andrew Brunette	MIN	L	71	23.67937
141	Alexander Edler	VAN	D	49	23.58611
142	Nik Antropov	ATL	C	65	23.57225
143	Dany Heatley	SJS	R	71	23.56954
144	Darryl Boyce	TOR	L	37	23.54548
145	Brad Boyes	BUF	R	71	23.53293
146	David Booth	FLA	L	71	23.50642
147	Michael Cammalleri	MTL	L	57	23.50144
148	Derek Stepan	NYR	C	72	23.49226
149	Brian Rolston	NJD	L	54	23.44350
150	Brent Burns	MIN	D	69	23.41685
151	Brad Marchand	BOS	C	66	23.22073
152	Lubomir Visnovsky	ANA	D	69	23.17497
153	Scottie Upshall	CBJ	R	70	23.08040
154	TJ Galiardi	COL	L	35	22.99445
155	Patrik Elias	NJD	L	70	22.93815
156	Tyler Ennis	BUF	L	70	22.93675
157	Tobias Enstrom	ATL	D	65	22.85678
158	Manny Malhotra	VAN	C	72	22.84459
159	Patric Hornqvist	NSH	R	68	22.56530
160	Clarke MacArthur	TOR	L	72	22.51605
161	Alex Pietrangelo	STL	D	68	22.44220
162	Olli Jokinen	CGY	C	70	22.42356
163	Cal Clutterbuck	MIN	R	66	22.36205
164	Ray Whitney	PHX	L	66	22.35955
165	James van Riemsdyk	PHI	L	63	22.27551
166	Colby Armstrong	TOR	R	50	22.24177
167	David Desharnais	MTL	C	33	22.19989
168	Tomas Kopecky	CHI	R	70	22.06504
169	Ryan Malone	TBL	L	50	22.06055
170	Ryan Smyth	LAK	L	71	21.92290
171	Teddy Purcell	TBL	R	70	21.84420
172	Lee Stempniak	PHX	R	73	21.75426
173	Justin Williams	LAK	R	71	21.74071
174	John Madden	MIN	C	69	21.68784
175	Ryan O'Reilly	COL	C	62	21.68491
176	Josh Bailey	NYI	C	60	21.65492
177	Dustin Brown	LAK	R	71	21.59968
178	Mason Raymond	VAN	L	61	21.48629
179	Marcus Johansson	WSH	C	60	21.46231
180	Brooks Laich	WSH	C	73	21.42710
181	PA Parenteau	NYI	R	71	21.40174
182	Radim Vrbata	PHX	R	70	21.34626
183	Blake Wheeler	ATL	R	70	21.25130
184	Matt Cullen	MIN	C	67	21.24998
185	Mikael Samuelsson	VAN	R	72	21.24341
186	Sergei Samsonov	FLA	L	67	21.10766
187	Kevin Shattenkirk	STL	D	61	21.06702
188	Grant Clitsome	CBJ	D	27	20.99578
189	Fernando Pisani	CHI	R	49	20.94763
190	Matt Cooke	PIT	L	66	20.78643
191	Pierre-Marc Bouchard	MIN	C	48	20.74839
192	Derick Brassard	CBJ	C	62	20.73382
193	Derek MacKenzie	CBJ	C	51	20.65627
194	Patrick Eaves	DET	R	53	20.60299
195	Anthony Stewart	ATL	R	71	20.55960
196	Sam Gagner	EDM	C	68	20.53496
197	Cory Stillman	CAR	L	55	20.25361
198	Brendan Morrison	CGY	C	66	20.22507
199	Devin Setoguchi	SJS	R	63	20.18680
200	Steve Sullivan	NSH	L	43	20.17418
201	Ruslan Fedotenko	NYR	L	56	20.16115
202	Vinny Prospal	NYR	C	19	20.07251
203	Andrei Kostitsyn	MTL	L	71	20.01638
204	Chris Kelly	BOS	C	69	19.94297
205	Michael Ryder	BOS	R	69	19.92427
206	Ryan Jones	EDM	L	70	19.87153
207	Jochen Hecht	BUF	C	65	19.86365
208	Nick Palmieri	NJD	R	32	19.85155
209	Ilya Kovalchuk	NJD	L	70	19.83107
210	Dainius Zubrus	NJD	C	70	19.82316
211	Eric Fehr	WSH	R	45	19.80393
212	Raffi Torres	VAN	L	73	19.61791
213	Steve Downie	TBL	R	48	19.58926
214	Tomas Holmstrom	DET	L	62	19.58778
215	Chad LaRose	CAR	R	72	19.56886
216	Zdeno Chara	BOS	D	70	19.45056
217	Michael Frolik	CHI	L	69	19.43468
218	Marc Staal	NYR	D	69	19.38340
219	Jason Arnott	WSH	C	69	19.35843
220	Mats Zuccarello	NYR	L	37	19.26022
221	Sean Bergenheim	TBL	L	69	19.22996
222	Simon Gagne	TBL	L	53	19.14360
223	Darren Helm	DET	C	71	19.13218
224	Andrew MacDonald	NYI	D	57	19.05735
225	Joel Ward	NSH	R	69	19.00006
226	Christian Ehrhoff	VAN	D	70	18.98556
227	Colin Wilson	NSH	C	71	18.92684
228	Antti Miettinen	MIN	R	62	18.91195
229	Rob Schremp	ATL	C	53	18.88865
230	Keith Yandle	PHX	D	73	18.80158
231	Tyler Kennedy	PIT	C	69	18.64061
232	Kevin Porter	COL	C	62	18.52065
233	Mark Letestu	PIT	C	58	18.48455
234	Jannik Hansen	VAN	R	73	18.41030
235	Michal Handzus	LAK	C	71	18.32526
236	Joe Corvo	CAR	D	72	18.27393
237	Michal Rozsival	PHX	D	56	18.21568
238	Scott Gomez	MTL	C	70	18.12333
239	Dan Hamhuis	VAN	D	60	18.11740
240	Benoit Pouliot	MTL	L	69	18.05924
241	Pascal Dupuis	PIT	R	70	18.02289
242	Nikolay Zherdev	PHI	R	51	17.98830
243	Jason Blake	ANA	L	64	17.92554
244	Todd Bertuzzi	DET	R	71	17.90701
245	Kyle Okposo	NYI	R	28	17.81621
246	Brandon McMillan	ANA	C	48	17.60623
247	Steve Reinprecht	FLA	C	29	17.56869
248	Mathieu Darche	MTL	L	51	17.53609
249	Marcel Goc	NSH	C	51	17.50245
250	Dion Phaneuf	TOR	D	56	17.43220

Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan