NHL Team Production

Abstract

In the past few years, the National Hockey League (NHL) has struggled financially. Teams within the NHL and the league itself have been struggling to make money, and last year the NHL season did not take place because of a labor dispute and resulting lockout between the players and owners. Therefore, this makes the NHL a very appropriate target for study. As previous research on various professional sports and the NHL have shown that winning teams are going to draw more fans, determining what makes NHL teams win games is a worthy endeavor. This study does just this. By using Ordinary Least Squares regression and a data set compiled on numerous individual and team statistics for the 1999-2000 through the 2003-2004 seasons, this study determines the various factors that contribute to Team Point production and Goals Allowed in the NHL. Of special note is the finding that Major Penalties, most commonly assessed for fighting, do in fact help NHL teams win games. Hopefully by seeing what aspects of the game lead to NHL team success, the league can determine how to draw more fans in order to make more revenue.

Keywords: National Hockey League, production, wins

JEL Classification: L83, L82, L11