Clubs can be successful despite having a lower corsi than their opponents by having elite talent (outliers). Having elite goal scorers that shoot less frequently but more precisely allows a team to overcome their opponents superior offensive zone puck control. Elite goaltending can also help a team overcome their opponents offensive zone dominance. These elite players like Sidney Crosby or Carey Price are at a different level than the rest of the league. Their performance is exceptional and far from league average. These players have the ability to win games with individual performances.

Corsi can be further broken down into several categories we will examine in the future including Relative Corsi, Corsi Ahead, Corsi Even, Corsi Close, and Corsi Behind. This allows a coach to judge an individual player’s utility in a specific game scenario and allow for a team to perform at maximum potential. We generally look at corsi in a 5v5 scenario however special team corsi can also be calculated. It should be noted that generally a team’s powerplay will have a high corsi and their penalty kill will have a low corsi do to the differences in shot attempts in the specific game senarios.

Calculating and Expressing Corsi

The math behind corsi is not all that complicated and relatively easy to understand.

CORSI = SHOT ATTEMPTS = (SHOTS)+(MISSED SHOTS)+(BLOCKED SHOTS EXCLUDING EMPTY NET)

After using the above equation to determine a team or individual player’s corsi it can be expressed both as a number or as a percentage. The math to express Corsi For (CF%) and Corsi Against (CA%) as a percentage is:

CF% = CORSI FOR / (CORSI FOR + CORSI AGAINST)

CA% = CORSI AGAINST / (CORSI FOR + CORSI AGAINST)

When analyzing corsi it is important to determine where an individual or team lies relative to the population of the league. The range of corsi in the National Hockey League tends to be between CF% = 40% — 60%. An individual or team with a corsi of 45% or below are considered below average. Individuals or teams with a corsi of 55% or above are considered elite.

To better understand the numbers that come from these equations we’ll look at the Montreal Canadiens 2016–2017 season as Example I.

Example I

The Canadiens had 3841 shooting attempts for and 3560 shooting attempts against over the season. This means that Montreal’s corsi can be expressed as Corsi = +381 (The difference in shot attempts), or as CF% = 52.54%. CA% is simply the inverse of this percentage (CA% = 47.46%). We can interpret this data to say that out of all shooting attempts in a given game 52.54% are made by the Canadiens and thus we infer that they have a better chance of winning the game than losing because more shot attempts, in theory, means more goals.