Beyond Basic Stats
Goals, assists and plus/minus are easy to read and easy to compare, but they only describe part of a game. Two clubs with the same record can have played very different hockey to get there, and two players with the same point total can have done very different things on the ice. Advanced metrics fill in more of the picture from the stats EA already records.
Deserve to Win (DTW)
DTW is a retrospective win probability. After a game, it looks at the stats that are not the score: shot volume, possession, passing, faceoffs, takeaways and giveaways, defensive plays and discipline. From those it estimates how likely a team that played that way was to win. Goals, assists, saves, the score and the result are left out on purpose, so DTW describes how a team played rather than restating whether it won.
That makes it useful for reading a stretch of games. A club that keeps losing while posting strong DTW numbers is doing a lot right that is not turning into goals. A club that keeps winning with weak DTW numbers is getting results its underlying play has not earned, often through finishing or goaltending. Neither one predicts the next game on its own, but both are worth knowing. The methodology page covers how DTW is built and how accurate it is.
Player Score
Player Score (also shown as Gamescore, and used to pick the Three Stars) is a weighted sum of a player's counting stats from one game, plus their time with the puck. For skaters it adds goals, assists, shots, blocks, takeaways, interceptions, net faceoff wins, penalties drawn, plus/minus, possession time and a small amount for hits, then subtracts for giveaways and penalty minutes. For goalies it adds saves, breakaway and penalty shot saves, a save percentage bonus and a shutout bonus, and subtracts for goals against.
It only counts what EA records. It does not measure shot quality, positioning or decision-making, and it does not adjust for position, so forwards tend to score higher than defensemen. Every score expands into its breakdown, so you can see where the points came from. How Player Score is calculated lists every weight.
Reading Stats by Position
Positions collect different stats. Centers take the faceoffs, defensemen tend to log more blocks, and forwards usually carry more of the shooting. Compare a player against others at the same position before drawing conclusions. Goalies are read mostly through save percentage and goals against, alongside how many shots they faced: a goalie behind a club that gives up a lot of shots will look different from one behind a club that does not.
Putting It to Use
When DTW and the record disagree, open the match history to see why. If a club is out-shooting and out-possessing opponents but losing, the problem is probably finishing or goaltending rather than the whole approach. If a player's point total is modest but their Player Score breakdown shows steady possession, takeaways and blocks, they are contributing in ways the scoresheet hides. Treat these numbers as a second opinion on what you saw, not a replacement for it.