Shot-blocking efficiency starts with a sound every defenseman knows: the hard pop of rubber against plastic, followed by a puck skittering toward open ice. Fans see the sacrifice. Coaches watch what happens next.
A block that dies in the slot can create a second, more dangerous chance. One that kicks toward the half-wall can end the entire shift. That difference matters in September, when roster spots are still moving and defense pairs are learning each other’s habits.
For this article, shot-blocking efficiency is a proposed tracking measure, not an official NHL statistic. The base formula is simple: successful blocks ÷ total credited blocks × 100. A successful block means the defending team gains control or clears the zone within five seconds. Shot location and game state then add context. Denying a slot attempt at five-on-five carries more defensive value than eating a harmless 55-foot shot with no screen. That framework changes the question. Who blocks the most shots matters less than who turns blocks into possession, relief, and fewer repeat attacks.
The box score counts the bruise not the result
Traditional blocked shots treat every event the same. Hockey does not. Picture a defenseman facing a right-shot winger above the circle. He drops too early, turns his skates sideways, and lets the shooter drag the puck around him. Nothing reaches his shin pads. His attempted block has actually made the lane worse.
Now change the details. The defender stays square and keeps his stick blade in the passing lane. He closes the final few feet only after the shooter commits. His inside shin meets the puck at an angle. Rubber kicks toward the half-wall, where a winger can collect it. That is an efficient block.
Body position, timing, and the next touch separate the two plays. Shot-blocking efficiency should reward those details instead of treating pain as production.
Strength state matters too. Penalty killers naturally spend more time packed into shooting lanes. A five-on-five defenseman works under different conditions, even when both players finish with four blocks. Coaches need another layer. Did those blocks erase dangerous looks, or did they simply pile up during long defensive-zone coverage shifts? Raw totals can identify workload. They cannot explain whether that workload actually ended the problem.
Alexander Romanov shows why volume can fool you
Alexander Romanov returned from a season-ending right shoulder injury against the Rangers on Sept. 25. He played 20:24 and blocked five shots in his first NHL game since the injury. Those numbers look aggressive. Context makes them more interesting.
One night later against New Jersey, official NHL play-by-play captured a revealing even-strength sequence. Romanov blocked Angello Lombardi’s wrist shot at 5:10 of the second period. Thirteen seconds later, he got in front of Dougie Hamilton. At 5:40, Jonas Siegenthaler tried again. Romanov blocked that one too. Three blocks. Thirty seconds. One extended stretch inside the Islanders’ zone.
That sequence exposes the weakness in raw block volume. Romanov kept three pucks away from the net, but New York did not immediately kill the possession after the first or second block. New Jersey stayed alive and kept attacking. Under the proposed formula, those first blocks would grade lower than one that sends the puck to a teammate or out of the zone. Courage does not change. Defensive value does.
Romanov’s return still says something about trust. He did not spend his first games back hiding outside traffic. Instead, he stepped directly into NHL shooting lanes after major shoulder surgery. The better outcome, though, requires fewer bruises. Rather than blocking three shots in half a minute, Romanov wants to kill the first attempt and force the next Devils possession to begin 200 feet away. That is the difference shot-blocking efficiency tries to capture.
Romanov’s shift also creates the perfect contrast. If repeated blocks can reveal a defense trapped under pressure, then the next question becomes obvious: what happens when a defenseman blocks heavily without allowing the game to tilt against him?
Brandt Clarke and Moritz Seider show what good volume can look like
That is where Brandt Clarke enters the discussion. Clarke blocked 185 shots for Los Angeles in 2025-26, third among all NHL skaters. At five-on-five, his 170 blocks led the league. Yet the Kings controlled nearly 55 percent of shot attempts with Clarke on the ice. The combination matters more than either number alone. Heavy block volume did not mean Los Angeles spent every Clarke shift collapsing around its crease. His team still pushed play in the right direction more often than not.
Moritz Seider offers another version of the same balance. He blocked 180 shots last season and posted a 53.2 percent five-on-five shot-attempt share. Detroit sat at 49.2 percent overall. Those possession numbers cannot prove that every Seider block produced a clean recovery. They do make his total harder to dismiss as a product of endless defensive-zone time.
Romanov’s sequence showed how blocks can accumulate when a team cannot escape. Clarke and Seider show the other side: high-volume blocking can coexist with territorial control. That is where shot-blocking efficiency becomes more revealing than blocks per game.
One defenseman may absorb a heavy workload while helping his team tilt the ice. Another can collect similar totals because his pair cannot escape its own zone. The box score puts both blocks in the same column. The game tells two different stories.
The smartest blocks start before the puck arrives
Good shot blocking rarely begins with a desperate slide. It starts with the gap. A defenseman closes early enough to squeeze the shooter’s options while preserving room to react. His stick takes away the dangerous pass. Shoulders stay square. Once the shooter commits, the defender can close the final space.
The details matter. Angling the shin toward the boards gives the puck somewhere safer to travel. Keeping the stick blade active protects against a last-second pass. Staying balanced gives the defender a chance to recover after contact.
Bad technique creates the opposite result. Drop too soon and a skilled forward can pull the puck around the block. Turn sideways and the rebound becomes harder to predict. Slide through the lane without touching the puck and the defender may screen his own goalie. Sometimes the smartest block never happens. When the goaltender owns a clean sightline and the shooter sits outside dangerous ice, staying upright can protect structure better than diving toward the release.
That distinction matters because shot-blocking efficiency should never become a toughness contest. More contact does not automatically mean better defense. Coaches already teach those reads on video. The metric simply attaches an outcome to them. Did the block remove a dangerous attempt? Did the defender stay available for the next play? More importantly, who touched the puck next? If the opponent keeps getting that answer, a large block total may be hiding a larger problem.
Then the risk stops being abstract
Late September supplied the harshest reminder. Brock Faber took a Sam Steel shot around the ear during Minnesota’s preseason loss to Dallas on Sept. 25. He briefly went down, returned for another shift, and finished the second period. Doctors later diagnosed a fractured skull, and Faber underwent surgery.
Suddenly, an exhibition shooting lane carried consequences far beyond an exhibition score. Faber’s injury did not need an official blocked-shot credit to make the point. NHL defensemen operate inside the flight path of hard pucks with almost no reaction time.
Buffalo encountered another warning two days earlier. Mattias Samuelsson blocked a shot against Columbus, took two more shifts, and then headed to the locker room.
The preseason makes those choices especially complicated. A bubble defenseman may believe every blocked shot helps win a roster spot. Veterans face many of the same shooting lanes even when their jobs are secure. Neither player gains anything from unnecessary punishment.
That is why efficient defending begins before rubber hits equipment. A stick that kills the passing lane can save a block. Better gap control may force a low-percentage release. Earlier pressure can prevent the shot entirely. The point is not to remove blocking from NHL defense. That will never happen. The goal is to distinguish necessary sacrifice from avoidable punishment.
What coaches should actually track in September
Start with recovery rate. For every credited block, track whether the defending team controls the puck or clears the zone within five seconds. That percentage becomes the base efficiency number. Consider a player who records 10 blocks. If six produce possession or a successful clear within five seconds, his base recovery rate lands at 60 percent. That number still needs context.
Shot danger should come next. Stopping an inner-slot attempt matters more than absorbing an unscreened point shot. Strength state also matters because penalty kill assignments naturally create more shooting-lane exposure.
Repeat pressure provides the third piece. If an opponent generates another attempt almost immediately after a block, mark the original sequence unresolved. Romanov’s stretch against New Jersey shows why. The contact succeeded, but the possession survived.
Now the statistic begins describing hockey rather than bruises. Zone exits, retrieval success, shot-attempt share, penalty-kill usage, and NHL EDGE data can sit beside the recovery rate. No single number should pretend to explain a defenseman.
Together, though, those measures can separate players who control pressure from players who merely withstand it. That distinction matters during the NHL preseason. Young defensemen compete for coaching trust, not just counting statistics. A clean defensive possession can reveal more than another puck-shaped mark on a shin pad.
A better block stat begins with the next touch
The NHL already records enough surrounding information to make blocked shots more meaningful. Timestamps, strength state, shooters, defenders, shot locations, and possession events can all help describe what happened around the contact. The next step is not another leaderboard. It is a better interpretation of the one that already exists.
Romanov’s preseason shows how several blocks can pile up inside one unresolved defensive-zone shift. Clarke and Seider show that heavy volume can also exist alongside strong territorial play. Faber’s injury reminds everyone why unnecessary exposure carries a cost no spreadsheet can fully measure.
Those examples point toward the same standard. A useful block should remove danger, preserve defensive structure, and give the defending team a chance to move the game in the other direction. Sometimes that means absorbing a shot. Other times, the best defensive play happens before the shooter ever releases the puck.
That broader view turns shot-blocking efficiency from a toughness statistic into a possession statistic. By opening night, most preseason box scores will disappear from memory. The habits will not. A defenseman reads the release. He stays square. His stick closes the pass. The puck catches his shin pad and kicks toward the wall. A teammate reaches it first and pushes play through the neutral zone. Now the block has done its job. The best question was never how many times the puck hit him. It was who touched the puck next.
READ MORE: Evaluating Goalie Rebound Control: Who Limits Second-Chance Opportunities Best?
FAQs
What is shot-blocking efficiency in hockey?
Shot-blocking efficiency measures whether a blocked shot actually ends danger. This article proposes tracking whether the defending team gains possession or clears the zone soon afterward.
Are more blocked shots always better for an NHL defenseman?
No. A high total can also mean a defenseman spends too much time under pressure. Possession and what happens after each block provide important context.
How would you calculate shot-blocking efficiency?
Divide successful blocks by total credited blocks and multiply by 100. The article defines success as gaining possession or clearing the zone within five seconds.
Why does shot location matter when evaluating blocks?
Stopping an inner-slot attempt carries more value than blocking an unscreened shot from distance. Shot danger helps separate important blocks from routine ones.
Why can shot blocking be dangerous for NHL defensemen?
Defensemen work directly in shooting lanes where hard pucks can strike exposed areas. Brock Faber’s preseason injury showed how severe that risk can become.
