On the Evaluation of the ‘‘Most Important’’ Position in Professional Sports

Abstract

This article investigates whether general managers in the National Hockey League (NHL) evaluate the playing talent of goalies efficiently. The authors examine both the voting record for the Vezina Award (Best Goalie) and salary data from free agent goalies to ascertain how the goalie position is evaluated by general managers in the NHL. The authors find that general managers evaluate past performance of goalies efficiently. However, the authors also find observed differences in goalie performance are quite small. Furthermore, NHL goalies are quite inconsistent across time. These aspects of goalie performance are not taken into account by decision makers in the NHL, leading us to conclude that inefficiencies in this labor market exist.

Keywords

NHL Goalies rationality decision making

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