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The NHL Standings: Revisited
Posted by tgirsch

With only five or six games left (depending on your team) in the regular season, it’s time again to re-visit my previous screed on the NHL standings.

As of last night’s games, here are the East standings:

Rk Team GP Pts
1 * Buffalo 75 103
3 * New Jersey 76 98
2 * Atlanta 76 88
4 Ottawa 77 98
5 Pittsburgh 77 98
6 NY Rangers 77 87
7 Tampa Bay 77 86
8 Montreal 77 86
9 Carolina 77 84
10 Toronto 76 84
11 NY Islanders 76 84
12 Florida 76 78
13 Boston 76 76
14 Washington 77 65
15 Philadelphia 75 51

Right now, the gap from 6th to 11th is just three points. But when you look at the underlying differences between those six teams, the differences are much more stark, skewed only by the evil OTL point (which, to be fair, is greatly benefiting my Maple Leafs). Look at these teams in terms of winning percentage (and, by extension, wins):

Rk Team GP Wins Pct
1 * Buffalo 75 48 .640
2 * New Jersey 76 45 .592
3 * Tampa Bay 77 41 .532
4 Ottawa 77 45 .584
5 Pittsburgh 77 44 .571
6 Montreal 77 40 .519
7 Atlanta 76 39 .513
8 NY Rangers 77 39 .506
9 Carolina 77 38 .494
10 Toronto 76 37 .487
11 NY Islanders 76 36 .474
12 Boston 76 35 .461
13 Florida 76 32 .421
14 Washington 77 26 .338
15 Philadelphia 75 20 .267

Notice the shuffling that has taken place, and notice how win total impacts this. Tampa Bay jumps from seventh-place-tie to third (division leader), on the strength of two more wins than rival Atlanta (which falls to seventh). And that alone is enough to point out the evil of the OTL point: Atlanta has two more points than Tampa Bay, despite having two fewer wins, and a winning percentage that’s almost 20% lower. Conversely, the Rangers fall from sixth to eighth, with Montreal moving up to sixth — again, Montreal has more wins and a higher winning percentage. Yet in the NHL’s goofball scoring scheme, the Rangers are a point up.

The 6-11 spots in this scheme are not separated by a mere three points (one and a half games) any more: they’re separated by four wins (or the equivalent of eight points). Again, I have no idea to keeping the OTL stat around, but instead of awarding a point, use it as a tie breaker when two teams end the season with the same number of wins.

March 28th, 2007 Sports, NHL | 6 comments

6 Comments

  1. Dan writes:

    The Stanley Cup winner will be someone from the Northwest Division. Vancouver is a machine, and the Wild are good.

    Comment 3/28/2007

  2. tgirsch writes:

    I wouldn’t count out the Predators yet, nor the Sabres.

    Comment 3/28/2007

  3. Dan writes:

    Yeah yeah, whatever… I have an obvious bias.

    Comment 3/29/2007

  4. tgirsch writes:

    Dude, I’d love to see the Canucks win it. After the Maple Leafs, they’re my #2 team.

    Comment 3/29/2007

  5. wkmaier writes:

    The West is pretty well locked up. For real drama, the East is the Place!

    Comment 3/30/2007

  6. wkmaier writes:

    For REAL drama, go no further than NJ. I have no idea why the Devils fired Claude Julien with 3 games left in the regular season. It’s wack.

    Comment 4/2/2007

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