Frequently Asked Questions

HockeyAlpha is an advanced hockey analytics terminal engineered to look beyond traditional box scores. We parse millions of raw play-by-play events, spatial coordinates, and shift logs from NHL games to quantify tactical game flow, spatial geometry, and structural player impact.

Yes, 100% free. Our mission is to democratize advanced sports analytics and make high-level tactical micro-stats accessible to every fan, writer, and fantasy player without paywalls or subscriptions.

Game data - scores, shot maps, expected goals, and win probability - updates overnight after every slate of NHL games (live games update within minutes while in progress). Alpha Ratings, advanced profiles, and on-ice metrics recompute at least weekly, moving to nightly for the regular season. Salary-cap figures and contract grades refresh weekly.

Enterprise optical-tracking telemetry is paywalled behind commercial contracts, but the public NHL feed provides X/Y coordinates for discrete events (shots, hits, giveaways, takeaways, blocks) alongside exact shift timestamps. HockeyAlpha's Structural Event Engine analyzes sequences of those events over short time windows (typically ≤3 seconds). By computing Euclidean displacement (ΔX, ΔY), time-delta event chains, and slot geometry across sequential events, we reconstruct tactical plays like cross-slot sequences (RRΔ), pressure exits (ZEUP), and second-chance recoveries (PRI). Where a metric can't be derived honestly from public data - like carried-vs-dumped zone entries - we label the proxy or leave it out entirely.

Expected Goals assigns a probability (0.00 to 1.00) to every shot attempt based on how likely it is to become a goal. Our geometric baseline evaluates shot distance, shot angle, and shot type (slap, wrist, backhand, tip), with a multiplier for rebound context. For example, a point shot might carry an xG of 0.02 (a 2% chance), while a net-front rebound tip might carry an xG of 0.28 (28%).

Every metric bar on a player card shows a percentile rank within the player's position group (forwards vs defensemen, with minimum games-played thresholds). A rank of 50 is exactly league median - the tick mark on every bar. 90+ means top 10% of the league (shown in magenta), 70+ is strong (bright cyan). Percentiles normalize very different kinds of stats onto one fair scale, so a faceoff percentage and a cross-slot rate can sit side by side and mean the same thing: how this player compares to their peers.

Cap hits and contract status are aggregated weekly from publicly available contract-tracking resources (credited in the UI wherever contract data appears).

For every rated player we compute an Alpha-market value - what the open market pays for their rating level, as a share of the salary-cap ceiling, with a premium for superstar tiers. The gap between that and their actual cap hit is their surplus value, graded A+ through F. It highlights bargain contracts (entry-level stars, underpaid two-way anchors) versus cap liabilities.

Yes! Every player page includes an Export Card button that generates a high-resolution dark-mode PNG optimized for sharing on X, Reddit, and Instagram. A matchup-card export for the Arena is on the roadmap.

We love feedback! Email support@hockeyalpha.com or reach out through the community links in the footer.