In both sports, really.

I think over time good two-way players are going to come out with good numbers, but in a given season it means nothing. Kind of like win/loss records for pitchers, lots of aberrations in given seasons but it does tell a story over time.

It's a stronger stat in hockey than basketball for sure. There are so many garbage points and little runs in basketball that it really doesn't say all that much.

I do think in basketball it's telling when a good scorer on a decent (or better) team has a bad +/-. It says some combination of his defense, shot selection, ball control and team play are not up to par.

In hockey I think you see that a lot but then you find out the guy doesn't play the PK (where you can ONLY get +s) and that he has had some tough breaks or a bad partner/line or whatever. Sometimes it's telling, but often it's not. Again, if it happens over time, OK, then that guy has those kind of problems. Jack Johnson springs to mind, was on good, defensively sound teams and put up good offensive numbers of his own. But his +/- lagged. He had a lot of bad turnovers, he missed the net a lot, he didn't play a simple game and his defense down low was just adequate. So he kind of illustrates how players in both sports can wind up with worse +/-s than one might expect.