Last season, I wrote about the Detroit Red Wings’ performance in the 2016-17 season using the Goals Against Replacement (GAR) model created by Dawson Sprigings (@DTMAboutHeart). Dawson as since been hired by Kroenke Sports to work for the Colorado Avalanche, so he has stopped updating his model, at least publicly.
In the spirit of ensuring accessibility to those less-interested in the fine math details, the main body of the article will explain the basic ideas. Readers more interested in the methods will find a more in-depth appendix section at the end.