What is Secondary Assists?

The second assist credited when a teammate scores; counts toward a player's total assists.

What this tells us

When your player makes a pass that leads to another pass that leads to a goal, he gets a secondary assist. It's less direct than the primary assist (the pass that set up the actual shot), but it's still credited as helping create the goal. Some teams and analysts track secondary assists separately from primary assists because the pass closer to the goal usually matters more.

Limitations

Secondary assists are less predictive of offensive impact than primary assists because they're further removed from the shot. A player can rack up secondary assists on plays where his contribution was minimal — a pass three touches before the goal. Unlike expected goals, secondary assists don't account for shot quality or likelihood of scoring, so they can overstate a player's role in creating chances.

Example

A typical NHL forward might record 15–25 secondary assists per season, while primary assists often run 30–50. A playmaking defenseman on the power play might see secondary assists spike because so many PP goals involve multiple passes before the shot.