plus/minus

plus/mi·nus

 (plŭs′mī′nəs)

n.

A sports statistic that is used especially in hockey to evaluate a player's performance by measuring team goal differential when the player is actively participating in a game. A player's plus/minus increases by 1 for every goal scored by the player's team when the player is participating and the teams are playing at even strength or the opposing team is on a power play. It decreases by 1 for every goal scored by the opposing team when the player is participating and the teams are playing at even strength or the player's team is on a power play. A negative plus/minus thus means that more goals were scored against the player's team than by it when the player was participating.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.