Frequently asked questions

BluelineMetrics is an NHL analytics site. It rates every player and every contract, and it has tools built on those numbers: the contract database and team cap sheets, player profiles and cards, the Trade Machine, player Compare, GM Mode, awards and draft projections, leaderboards, a live game tracker and a set of daily hockey puzzles.

Game, player and schedule data come from the NHL's public API, with expected goals and every player and team summary built by our own xG model from the NHL play-by-play and shift reports (xG from 2009-10 on, the first season the NHL logged shot locations) and projected lineups from Daily Faceoff. Ratings, contract values, projections and verdicts are BluelineMetrics' own models built on that data.

Ratings, contracts, signings and trades are refreshed by automated jobs through the season, and each page shows when its data was last updated. The live tracker reads the NHL feed while games are on.

Most of it. The contract database, player profiles, the Trade Machine, Community Trades, Compare, leaderboards, profiles and today's daily puzzles are free. A free account adds the live tracker's win probability, expected goals, danger chances, shot map and advanced stats; this season's team ranks, microstats, goal replays and tracking stats; player card search; every player prop's line and hit rates; three BluelineBot questions a day; and saving and publishing GM Mode sims. Premium adds the deeper analytics listed below.

BluelineBot is the chat button in the bottom-right corner of every page. Ask it hockey questions, like whether a player is worth his contract, who wins a trade, what GSAx means or how a team's cap and playoff odds look, and it answers with BluelineMetrics' own ratings, contract values, cap sheets, Trade Machine math and projections, with links to the pages it used. It's a Blueliner (Premium) perk: 60 questions a day, resetting at midnight UTC. Answers are generated by AI, so double-check anything important on the linked pages.

Each rating is a league percentile from 0 to 100: a 90 means the player is ahead of 90% of the league in that area. The overall and component ratings (offense, defense, play driving, finishing, power play, penalty kill, speed) come from on-ice results and underlying shot data. The current-season rating blends the last three seasons, weighted towards the most recent, so one hot or cold stretch doesn't swing it too far.

A goalie's overall is the percentile of their goals saved above expected (GSAx): how many goals they stopped compared with what an average goalie would have allowed on the same shots, based on shot quality.

The model estimates what a player's on-ice value is worth per season, then compares it with their cap hit. Underpaid means the expected value is clearly above the cap hit, Overpaid clearly below it, and Fair means they're close.

The verdict is about value for the money, not about how good the player is. An elite player on one of the league's biggest contracts can be excellent and still cost more than the value the model expects them to produce.

They're trade protection written into a contract. An NMC (no-movement clause) means the player can't be traded, put on waivers or sent to the minors without agreeing to it. An NTC (no-trade clause) means he can't be traded anywhere without his consent. An M-NTC (modified no-trade clause) covers only some teams: usually the player lists teams he won't go to (a 10-team no-trade list, say), or sometimes the teams he would accept. Clauses often start or change partway through a deal, so the contract database shows the season each one kicks in. A dashed badge means the clause hasn't started yet. Players can always waive a clause to allow a trade. Clause data comes from CapWages.

Our beginner's guide explains every advanced stat on the site in plain English, from shot attempts and expected goals to GSAx, PDO and WAR, with screenshots of where each one appears. Read Advanced Stats for Beginners →

Each player is valued from their rating and years of team control, plus a bonus when the model thinks their contract is worth more than it costs. Draft picks have a value by round, adjusted for the original team's projected finish and discounted for years out. The side that receives more total value wins, and a team is marked as likely to accept if it gets back at least 88% of what it gives up. Retained salary stays on the seller's cap.

Yes. The whole trade (teams, players, retained salary and picks) is stored in the link, so it reopens exactly as you built it, and Share also makes an image of the trade. Logged-in users can publish trades to Community Trades, where others can like them and load them into the machine.

GM Mode lets you run a team: set lines, sign free agents, make trades, then simulate the season many times to see projected points and playoff and Cup odds.

Every day at midnight UTC, which is 8 PM Eastern during daylight saving time and 7 PM otherwise. Everyone gets the same puzzle each day.

The full daily picks board, the model's player prop projections with each player's record against tonight's opponent and his game log, every season back to 2008-09 of the player cards, team ranks, microstats, goal replays and tracking stats, 60 BluelineBot questions a day, goal alerts and the win probability video in the live tracker, unlimited GM Mode sims, the daily puzzle archive and Unlimited mode, a free Daily Pack of five player cards every day to build your collection, no ads, and a blue check mark next to your username.

Any logged-in account can earn packs of five player cards, Premium or not. Finish 3 of the daily puzzles in a UTC day for a Puzzle Pack (one a day). Every 7-day puzzle streak earns a Streak Pack. Share your referral link from the Daily Pack page: when a friend makes a new account with it and plays a daily puzzle, you get a Referral Pack (up to 5 a month) and they get a Welcome Pack. Connect your X account and post about BluelineMetrics for a one-time Share Pack (one per account, after you've played a daily puzzle). Earned packs wait in your Inventory until you open them. Blueliners (Premium) also get a Daily Pack every day. Open the Daily Pack page →

$14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Payments are handled by Stripe; BluelineMetrics never sees your card details.

Email contact@bluelinemetrics.com from the address on your account and we'll cancel it. You keep Premium until the end of the period you've paid for.

No. The picks are model output for entertainment and analysis. They are not betting advice, and past results don't guarantee future ones.

Your username, profile picture, favorite team, the date you joined, follower counts and anything you publish (trades, GM Mode sims, likes), plus an optional short bio. Your recent activity shows there too, but you can hide it: turn on "Hide my recent activity from my public profile" on your profile page. Trades and sims you publish stay visible. Your email address is never shown.

Open your profile while logged in. Use Edit username to pick a new one (3 to 24 characters: lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, dots and dashes), and Change picture to upload a photo or choose a team logo or player headshot.

A blue check means the account has Premium. The gold check marks the official BluelineMetrics account.

By default anyone signed in can message you, but if you don't follow them their first message lands in your Requests tab and they can't send another until you accept. In Messages, open Settings to allow messages only from people you follow, or from nobody. Use the menu in any conversation to block someone (it hides the conversation for both of you and stops new messages; unblock them any time in Settings) or to report a message for review.

Email contact@bluelinemetrics.com from the address on your account and we'll delete your account and the content tied to it within 30 days.