EHM The Blue Line

Which statistics, if any, should I focus on when looking at defensemen (Besides points). Normally I look at Avg Game Rating and +/-

Looking at average game and +/- is always good but you should also keep in mind that if the defensemen is playing for a bad team or a bad line his stats will be affected. So you should also consider this when making your mind about a defensemen.

I always look at giveaways. I don't care what role they play, if they give the puck away I don't want them on my team.

If you want to take the most pragmatic approach possible just go into scouting->player search->configure. Turn on text and input the name of your team. Pick Yes for Include own. Then in the view dropdown pick "more stats". This will give you split +/-. At this point probably open an excel sheet, input the Ice time, PP Ice time and BP icetime (you find them all in your normal stats view). Then also add the - stat from the player search you did for all your players. Finally put in the formula Ice time - PP Ice time - BP Ice time and Divide that by the - stat. That way you get the minutes between each ES goal scored against your team with that player on the ice. It won't let you know why goals were score when he was on the ice. But it does let you know they happen. That's ultimately the only thing that counts defensively.

Keep in mind that players aren't above douche shifting when caught up the ice in EHM so sometimes you will have your 2nd pairing Dmen with a very large gap in time between goals conceded favoring your RD in this example. Then at the same time your 1st pairing also has a large gap but favoring the LD, this means it's safe to assume the RD of your 2nd pairing keeps getting stuck up the ice like a moron and getting on the bench before getting a -. So the poor 1st line RD ends up paying (in stats) for the 2nd line RD being a moron. It's pretty common, so never look at stats in a vacuum.

In practice this has worked for me building teams that end up with the least shots on goal against by quite large margins.

That's some advanced stats right there.

But nothing is black and white as you mentioned. Big difference what kind of lines the player plays with and against. Which makes it great IRL as in the game. You never really know.