Nashville Predators: A Crash Course in Modern Hockey Analytics

Corsi & Fenwick

Also referred to as “shot attempts (SAT),” Corsi is one of the more basic analytical tools in hockey. Basically, it is an extension of the common “shots on goal” metric. Corsi was originally created by Tim Barnes, a financial analyst from Chicago. Since its creation in 2007, it has become easily the most ubiquitous “fancy” stat in hockey.

Corsi’s strength is in its simplicity. It does not make any assumptions or require a high degree of calculation. A team’s “Corsi For” is the number of shot attempts they create, while “Corsi Against” refers to those attempts created by the opposing team.

At its root (core, if you will), Corsi is a proxy for a team’s possession. The higher the proportion of shot attempts created vs those allowed (Corsi For %), the more time a team spent in the offensive zone.

Fenwick is nearly identical, but refers only to unblocked shot attempts (USAT). The argument here is that a team should not get offensive credit for selecting a closed shooting lane. I prefer to use Fenwick in my analysis because, in my opinion, it represents the game flow more accurately.

Kyle Turris is a perfect example of why this is a valuable statistic. Turris definitely puts himself on score sheets with goals and assists, but his impact in a game is so much more. Corsi/Fenwick allows you to analyze the Predators performance as a whole with players like Turris on the ice. In doing so, you can really tell how his presence affects the game overall, even without a goal being scored at either end.