Can a pure striker truly ever stop thinking about scoring goals? As another M.L.S. season begins this weekend, it is fair to ask whether soccer fans and numbers nerds are ready for such blasphemous thoughts, or whether any single statistic can take the full measure of a player.

Wright-Phillips had seven assists in 2015, compared with only two in 2014. He tracked back more often on defense. His time of possession was greater. Yet the goals-scoring race was always the foremost graphic on every telecast, and in that regard, he had retreated from his record-tying year.

“Strikers are judged on goals,” said Dax McCarty, who has played behind Wright-Phillips in the Red Bulls’ midfield the past two and a half seasons. “I know that from the media and fans’ perspective, it’s easy to just pigeonhole strikers with their strike rate. How many goals did they score? How many games did they play? Goal rate. It’s an easy stat.

“But Bradley is so much more than just goals,” McCarty added. “The year he tied the record for most goals in a season, he was all about goals. But he did more for us last year. The way he was unselfish with defending. The way he held the ball up against bigger center backs. The way he got assists. The way he made runs from behind. He did basically everything for us.”