Mike Chen's Hockey Blog
Entries with the tag: Standings
Who’s Still In It?
by Mike Chen on 12/23/08 at 05:36 PM ET
Comments (3)
I’ve often said that the Christmas break (or the days after Festivus, for you true believers) is the turning point in the NHL season. Before that time, teams still have a chance of making a come back. Come December 24-25, all teams are somewhere in the 30-35 games-played mark and large gaps in the standings become too much of a chore to overcome.
With that in mind, who’s still got hope? I used to say that .500 teams at Christmas are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. However, I’ve tweaked that a little bit this season because the log jams are so immense, especially in the Western Conference. Instead of being .500 (having the same amount of points as games played), I’ll change that to say that if your team is within two points of .500, you’re still in it.
Let’s look at the bubble teams with just a few hours to go before tonight’s games:
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Standings,
If Michael Stipe Sang About The Standings
by Mike Chen on 12/09/08 at 12:01 PM ET
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Since we’re a little bit past the quarter point of the season, it’s time to do my semi-regular look at standings if the whole system was changed. The league’s system trumpets parity, and it’s definitely working in terms of keeping things interesting as technically only five teams are below .500. In the east, four teams are within four points of eight place and in the west, 9-15 are within six points of eighth.
Now, how do those records look when you make a loss of any kind just a loss? Before we get to the pure numbers, cue up R.E.M.’s Stand and sing along to the tune:
If OTs were losses, teams would be falling
Listen to reason, reason is calling
Your point system keeps teams around
Shootouts lift bad teams off the ground
Standings in the place where you live
They go north
Think about wins and losses like we had them before
Ok, so we’re not REALLY looking at them like we had them before (no ties in this number crunching) but here’s a quick look at how bad some good teams suddenly become. Chicago, Montreal, I’m looking at you. And Tampa Bay? Those are numbers that rival the worst NBA team.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Standings,
Another Way To Look At The Standings
by Mike Chen on 11/25/08 at 12:00 PM ET
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There’s been some debate, between a few of my posts and a few other things floating around the blogosphere, about the best way to assign points for wins, shootouts, overtime losses, etc. Well, regardless of what we’d like to see, we’re stuck with this current system. With that in mind, let’s break down the standings with a few different looks. First, here are the entire league standings using the traditional point system.
And here’s a different way to look at the standings. Since teams play a different amount of games, a snapshot of the league’s point distribution isn’t the most accurate way to judge how well teams are doing in relation to each other. This next table weighs things in points per game—that is, the total number of points earned in the standings divided by the number of games played (PPG).
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Tags: Standings,
Don’t Hit That Panic Button
by Mike Chen on 11/20/08 at 10:52 AM ET
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I saw this headline from the boss this morning regarding the second-to-last-place Ottawa Senators but I’m not pushing the panic button yet on any team, not even the St. Louis Blues. Put it this way: ten years ago, if I told you your team was two games under .500 and three points out of a playoff spot, would you panic? Probably not, but because of the gradual increase of parity in the league over the past decade, that sort of record will put you in the cellar.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the traffic jam in front of a team with that record is closer than you think. So standings aren’t a reason to panic yet, not for Ottawa, St. Louis, Florida, or any other team finding them in the lower half of the leagues standings. What are genuine reasons to panic?
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Standings,
Ok, Ok, You Can Reward Losing
by Mike Chen on 11/11/08 at 11:00 AM ET
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Just like every morning, I took a quick look at the standings to get a snapshot of where everything was at. Nothing terribly unusual except for some reason this morning, the OTL column just stuck out more than it really should have.
It just bugged me, and there’s no reason for it. Overtime losses have been part of the NHL’s fuzzy math for years now, but I think I’m just getting my annual “Getting a point for losing is stupid!” kick.
See, I don’t really mind the shootout that much. It’s entertaining to watch and the casual fans are into it. What really bugs me is giving the shootout as much emphasis as a game-winning goal in the dying seconds of the third period. What bugs me even more is giving the whole “Honorable Mention” point by being tied at the end of regulation. These are freakin’ professional athletes, not a bunch of t-ballers that get a trophy and a juice box regardless of the outcome.
And yet, upon further examination, while the principle of getting a point for losing in the shootout or OT is indeed bass-ackwards and stupid, the execution of it, I think, makes things much more interesting than they’d be otherwise. For better or worse, anyway.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Standings,
Trends, Not Points
by Mike Chen on 10/25/08 at 02:56 PM ET
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Oh, those coaching rumors. They’ll never stop, not even this early in the season. Start the season with a losing streak and everyone wants heads to roll, even though—as San Jose coach Todd McLellan pointed out about their win streak—streaks happen at all points during the season. The concern is how often the losing streaks happen over an extended period of time.
That being said, as we gear up for a day where every NHL team hits the ice, a look at the standings might be concerning depending on how you chop the numbers up. Once you put things in proper context, though, you realize that only a handful of teams really have to be worried so far.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Standings,
