Load fastRhockey NHL player box scores — load_nhl_player

Helper that loads multiple seasons of pre-scraped NHL player box scores (combined skaters + goalies) from the sportsdataverse-data releases either into memory or writes it into a database.

Usage

load_nhl_player_box(
  seasons = most_recent_nhl_season(),
  ...,
  dbConnection = NULL,
  tablename = NULL
)

Arguments

seasons: A vector of 4-digit years (the end year of the NHL season; e.g., 2026 for the 2025-26 season). Min: 2011.
...: Additional arguments passed to an underlying function.
dbConnection: A DBIConnection object, as returned by DBI::dbConnect()
tablename: The name of the player box data table within the database

Value

A data frame (fastRhockey_data) with the following columns (combined skaters + goalies; goalie-only fields are NA for skaters):

col_name	types	description
home_away	character	Home or away indicator.
team_id	integer	Unique team identifier.
team_abbrev	character	Team abbreviation/code.
player_id	integer	Unique player identifier.
player_name	character	Player name.
sweater_number	integer	Jersey number.
position	character	Player position.
goals	integer	Goals scored.
assists	integer	Assists.
points	integer	Total points (goals + assists).
plus_minus	integer	Plus/minus rating.
pim	integer	Penalty minutes.
hits	integer	Hits.
power_play_goals	integer	Power play goals.
shots_on_goal	integer	Shots on goal.
faceoff_winning_pctg	numeric	Faceoff win percentage.
toi	character	Time on ice.
blocked_shots	integer	Blocked shots.
shifts	integer	Number of shifts.
giveaways	integer	Giveaways.
takeaways	integer	Takeaways.
even_strength_shots_against	character	Even-strength shots against (goalies).
power_play_shots_against	character	Power play shots against (goalies).
shorthanded_shots_against	character	Shorthanded shots against (goalies).
save_shots_against	character	Saves / shots against (goalies).
save_pctg	numeric	Save percentage (goalies).
even_strength_goals_against	integer	Even-strength goals against (goalies).
power_play_goals_against	integer	Power play goals against (goalies).
shorthanded_goals_against	integer	Shorthanded goals against (goalies).
goals_against	integer	Goals against (goalies).
starter	logical	Whether the goalie started the game.
decision	character	Goalie decision (W/L/O).
shots_against	integer	Shots faced (goalies).
saves	integer	Saves made (goalies).

Examples

# \donttest{
  try(load_nhl_player_box(2022))
#> ── NHL Player Boxscores from fastRhockey data repository ── fastRhockey 1.0.0 ──
#> ℹ Data updated: 2026-04-08 06:02:07 UTC
#> # A tibble: 56,020 × 34
#>    home_away team_id team_abbrev player_id player_name  sweater_number position
#>    <chr>       <int> <chr>           <int> <chr>                 <int> <chr>   
#>  1 away            5 PIT           8478542 E. Rodrigues              9 C       
#>  2 away            5 PIT           8482055 D. O'Connor              10 L       
#>  3 away            5 PIT           8470619 B. Boyle                 11 C       
#>  4 away            5 PIT           8475722 J. Zucker                16 L       
#>  5 away            5 PIT           8475810 B. Rust                  17 R       
#>  6 away            5 PIT           8478043 S. Lafferty              18 C       
#>  7 away            5 PIT           8476934 B. McGinn                23 L       
#>  8 away            5 PIT           8477953 K. Kapanen               42 R       
#>  9 away            5 PIT           8478046 D. Heinen                43 L       
#> 10 away            5 PIT           8478866 D. Simon                 49 C       
#> # ℹ 56,010 more rows
#> # ℹ 27 more variables: goals <int>, assists <int>, points <int>,
#> #   plus_minus <int>, pim <int>, hits <int>, power_play_goals <int>,
#> #   shots_on_goal <int>, faceoff_winning_pctg <dbl>, toi <chr>,
#> #   blocked_shots <int>, shifts <int>, giveaways <int>, takeaways <int>,
#> #   even_strength_shots_against <chr>, power_play_shots_against <chr>,
#> #   shorthanded_shots_against <chr>, save_shots_against <chr>, …
# }