The Hockey Brain

Goals / wins above replacement

GAR / WAR

Catch-all value metrics that estimate how many goals or wins a player adds versus a freely available replacement.

GAR (goals above replacement) and WAR (wins above replacement) combine a player’s contributions across components — even-strength offense and defense, special teams, penalties — into a single value number relative to a replacement-level player.

They are useful for cross-position comparison and contract analysis, but depend heavily on the underlying model, so read the methodology before trusting the exact figure.

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