Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Rest Is Best

10/30/2014 at 11:41am EDT

from Travis Yost of TSN,

The National Hockey League’s scheduling process strikes me as a laborious task. The people responsible for creating the thirty team schedules have to take into account things like venue availability, travel burden, associated costs of travel, and competitive balance, all while trying to squeeze 2,460 games into a seven-month window.

One of the things I’ve always found most interesting is how the league attempts to mitigate the number of back-to-back situations (not so eloquently referred to as “schedule losses” in NHL and NBA circles), a considerable slice of the league’s larger fight with competitive balance. To the league’s credit, Dirk Hoag’s work suggests that the league does try to schedule a comparable number of back-to-back situations for every franchise.

Now, the eyeball test has long been damning of team performance on the second-half of back-to-backs, and I think that’s largely why the league has really made a concerted effort to balance the number of schedule losses around the league. The data substantiates what the eyeball test has told us for so long – teams on no rest struggle considerably relative to league norms, considerably so when those back-to-backs come on the road.

Seven years of available data substantiates what the eyeball test has told us for so long – teams on no rest struggle considerably relative to league norms.

continued

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

Email Paul anytime at [email protected]

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments

Comment by Paul in Kukla's Korner Hockey from the entry NHL Short Notes - 25 minutes ago
Comment by Paul in Kukla's Korner Hockey from the entry NHL Short Notes - 26 minutes ago
Comment by Steeb in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 1 hour ago
Comment by calquake in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 1 hour ago
Comment by StargateSG1 in Abel to Yzerman from the entry Quick Recap- Wings/Hurricanes - 1 hour ago