The Sabres Observer
The Real NHL Standings
by @DaveDavisHockey on 01/16/17 at 11:58 AM ET
Comments (7)
After seeing a tweet from hockey social media favorite Sean McIndoe (@DownGoesBrown) yesterday regarding the comedy that is the NHL standings format, it seemed like a good time to take a peek at how they really should look.
So, let's unveil the mask right here. Overtime losses are treated as losses, shootout wins and losses are classified as ties, and goals for and against are adjusted accordingly.
Ladies and gentlemen, "The Real NHL Standings":
| Eastern Conference | ||||||||
| ATLANTIC | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GD |
| 44 | 26 | 16 | 2 | 54 | 137 | 111 | 26 | |
| Boston | 46 | 21 | 22 | 3 | 45 | 115 | 112 | 3 |
| Toronto | 41 | 19 | 16 | 6 | 44 | 127 | 115 | 12 |
| Ottawa | 41 | 19 | 18 | 4 | 42 | 102 | 106 | -4 |
| Florida | 45 | 17 | 20 | 8 | 42 | 103 | 117 | -14 |
| Tampa Bay | 44 | 18 | 22 | 4 | 40 | 121 | 130 | -9 |
| Buffalo | 42 | 15 | 21 | 6 | 36 | 96 | 114 | -18 |
| Detroit | 43 | 13 | 25 | 5 | 31 | 106 | 127 | -21 |
| METROPOLITAN | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GD |
| Washington | 43 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 61 | 130 | 82 | 48 |
| Columbus | 42 | 27 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 139 | 94 | 45 |
| NY Rangers | 44 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 55 | 150 | 115 | 35 |
| Pittsburgh | 42 | 24 | 15 | 3 | 51 | 143 | 123 | 20 |
| Carolina | 43 | 19 | 18 | 6 | 44 | 119 | 113 | 6 |
| Philadelphia | 46 | 17 | 20 | 9 | 43 | 127 | 144 | -17 |
| New Jersey | 45 | 15 | 25 | 5 | 35 | 98 | 127 | -29 |
| NY Islanders | 41 | 15 | 22 | 4 | 34 | 115 | 125 | -10 |
| Western Conference | ||||||||
| CENTRAL | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GD |
| Minnesota | 42 | 27 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 137 | 90 | 47 |
| Chicago | 46 | 25 | 18 | 3 | 53 | 124 | 115 | 9 |
| St. Louis | 44 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 46 | 123 | 128 | -5 |
| Nashville | 43 | 19 | 20 | 4 | 42 | 118 | 111 | 7 |
| Winnipeg | 46 | 18 | 25 | 3 | 39 | 125 | 139 | -14 |
| Dallas | 44 | 18 | 26 | 0 | 36 | 118 | 134 | -16 |
| Colorado | 41 | 13 | 27 | 1 | 27 | 82 | 136 | -54 |
| PACIFIC | GP | W | L | T | PTS | GF | GA | GD |
| San Jose | 43 | 23 | 18 | 2 | 48 | 110 | 100 | 10 |
| Anaheim | 46 | 22 | 21 | 3 | 47 | 121 | 115 | 6 |
| Edmonton | 45 | 20 | 19 | 6 | 46 | 125 | 118 | 7 |
| Calgary | 46 | 21 | 21 | 4 | 46 | 117 | 123 | -6 |
| Los Angeles | 43 | 21 | 18 | 4 | 46 | 109 | 105 | 4 |
| Vancouver | 45 | 16 | 23 | 6 | 38 | 107 | 128 | -21 |
| Arizona | 42 | 9 | 28 | 5 | 23 | 86 | 133 | -47 |
Filed in: | The Sabres Observer | Permalink
Tags: nhl+standings
Comments
This shines a light on the fact that parity in the league is an artificial construct driven by a point system and not the actual quality of the team.
Posted by Ventr on 01/16/17 at 12:28 PM ET
And it is also precisely the reason why Bettman will never do away with the existing point system, as it allows crap teams to appear “in the hunt” when that is really just an illusion.
Posted by Chip4Pips on 01/16/17 at 12:49 PM ET
This shines a light on the fact that parity in the league is an artificial construct driven by a point system and not the actual quality of the team.
Posted by Ventr on 01/16/17 at 12:28 PM ET
1000 times that
Posted by shazam88 from SoCal on 01/16/17 at 01:04 PM ET
I think that is an over exaggeration of what it really shows. Of course changing how points are assigned will change the standings but what the stats are now doesn’t take into account how teams would have actually played given the possibility of a tie and zero points. It’s a fun experiment but not much more than that.
Posted by SlimChance on 01/16/17 at 01:32 PM ET
While I’m all for getting rid of the loser point and have no issues with accepting ties, I still like to see one more tweak to the standings I’ve been trying to get across for years, POINT PERCENTAGE.
Since there is rarely a time when all teams have played the same number of games and fans typically want to see how well the team is doing based on comparison, it makes more sense to give them a more accurate measure.
Right now you’d see that Toronto and Ottawa are actually AHEAD of Boston, not behind them, because they have higher percentage of possible points than Boston. Los Angeles is actually ahead of both Edmonton and Calgary.
With the introduction of bye weeks, it’s even more important this season.
Posted by evileye on 01/16/17 at 02:33 PM ET
Posted by evileye o
I agree with you, percentage with games behind, just like baseball. also a win is a win, a loss is a loss.
Posted by jhpcarrier97 on 01/16/17 at 08:54 PM ET
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About The Sabres Observer
Dave Davis has covered the Buffalo Sabres for various NHL accredited websites and newspapers since 2003. He was the senior writer and Sabres correspondent for The Fourth Period, covered hockey for Western New York Sports and Leisure Magazine, and has had articles featured on NHL.com, FOX Sports, Yahoo Sports and in New York Sportscene. Sabres news and notes can be found on his Twitter page.
Email: dd@kuklaskorner.com Twitter: [@DaveDavisHockey]
Well, 3rd from last ain’t bad. Is it?
Posted by SlimChance on 01/16/17 at 12:20 PM ET