Wayne Gretzky is 87 overall!  But what does that mean?

The default overall calculation that the game uses for Forwards and Defensemen is as follows.  Take the attributes values (0-6) and multiply them by the following factors:

Agility x 2
Speed x 3
Offensive Awareness x 3
Defensive Awareness x 2
Shot Power x 1
Checking x 2
Stickhandling x 3
Shot Accuracy x 2
Endurance x 1
Passing x 1

Add all of those numbers together to get the “overall” number.

There are two caveats:

• If the total is less than 50, add 25 to the total and divide the new number by 2. If
• the total is above 99, the overall will display 99.

So for Wayne Gretzky, his calculation would be as follows.

Agility: 6 x 2 = 12
Speed: 4 x 3 = 12
Offensive Awareness: 5 x 3 = 15
Defensive Awareness 4 x 2 = 8
Shot Power: 2 x 1 = 2
Checking: 2 x 2 = 4
Stickhandling: 6 x 3 = 18
Shot Accuracy: 2 x 2 = 4
Endurance: 6 x 1 = 6
Passing: 6 x 1 = 6

12+12+15+8+2+4+18+6+6 = 87!

For Goalies

Agility x 4.5 (round down)
Defensive Awareness x 4.5 (round down)
Puck Control x 4.5 (round down)
Stick Right x 1
Stick Left x 1
Glove Right x 1
Glove Left x 1

The same two caveats apply.

Note that the game has given the most importance to speed, offensive awareness and stickhandling for both forwards and defensemen by weighing those attributes by 3, but this is not likely what you value most in a player. In the attributes section, you’ll see that shot power is also equally important, while attributes like checking, awareness, and endurance are not.

Thanks to smozoma! (original forum post link)