What is Offensive Zone?

The half of the ice where your team is trying to score — the opponent's end of the rink.

What this tells us

When a player is in the offensive zone, he's on the attacking side of the ice, closer to the opponent's net than the center line. Most of the game's scoring chances happen here. Knowing how much time a player spends in the offensive zone (versus defending in the defensive zone) tells you whether he's an offensive player, a defensive player, or somewhere in between.

Limitations

Ice time in the offensive zone doesn't tell you *how dangerous* the possessions are — a team can camp in the offensive zone and take bad shots, or spend little time there but generate high-quality chances. That's why we also track expected goals (xG), which measures shot quality, not just territory.

Example

A top-line forward typically spends 40–50% of his shift time in the offensive zone. A defenseman who plays a shutdown role might spend only 20–30% there, since his job is to defend in his own zone.