I was perusing the National Hockey League standings on Friday evening and discovered something strange. Out of 30 teams, only 7 have losing records about three-quarters of the way through the regular season.
This would seem to suggest that there is relative parity among the best teams, with the losing teams being especially bad (i.e., having won-loss records that are significantly worse than the “mirror images” of the best teams’ records).
However, this is not the case. Five teams have won more than twice as many games as they have lost, with these teams averaging a robust 38.6 wins and 16.4 losses; of the seven losing teams, only one (the 16-36-9 Philadelphia Flyers) has lost at least twice as many games as it has won.
This pattern, precarious by statistical definition, is not likely to hold until season’s end. Still, I wonder when the last time a major sports league featured at least a three-to-one won-loss imbalance of this sort.
I remember when the league had only 21 teams, 16 of which qualified for the playoffs. Even having a regular season under those conditions was practically a joke — no more than a reason to watch Gretzky take another shot at 200 points. If the season ended today, the Calgary Flames, at 31-21-9, wouldn’t even make the postseason.
Anyway.
That mathematical oddity that is the NHL
- Doc Bushwell is a biochemist and a medical writer who serves as a slavering minion of the dark lords of Big and Little Pharma; Jim is an engineering professor with a fondness for running shoes and drumsticks; and Kevin Beck is a self-exiled member of the clan who refuses to stay gone.
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#1 by scott pilutik on February 24, 2007 - 9:59 am
It’s actually a lot easier to explain than that. Because all games that end in ties at the end of regulation produce at least one point for each team, wins obtained in overtime or shootout produce an unnatural ‘extra’ point for the overtime winner. The team that loses in overtime still gets credit for a tie. Thus, where so many games fail to produce a loser but each game guaranteed a winner, the oddity you noticed will automatically occur.
#2 by JanieBelle on February 24, 2007 - 5:22 pm
Actually, I think it just means that everybody and his mother has had multiple shots at beating the crap out of my Flyers. Playing my Flyboys this year is like getting a bye and two easy points.
I hear there’s a line of 9 year olds outside the Wachovia Center…
…but I might be biased and depressed.
:(
#3 by themann1086 on February 25, 2007 - 3:37 pm
Woooo, go Flyers!!! When does baseball season start again? Maybe the Phillies can actually make the playoffs instead of falling 1 or 2 games short…
#4 by Kevin Beck on February 26, 2007 - 1:08 am
Well poop on me. I can’t claim ignorance of the rule change (i.e., overtime now results in a win for one side and a sudden-death tie for the other), but I haven’t paid much attention to it. It really is as simple as “wins minus losses does not equal zero.”
#5 by mxracer652 on February 26, 2007 - 1:52 pm
Kevin – where you’re going wrong is b/c OT losses aren’t included in the loss column. You need to add the OT losses in. You’ll see the weirdness go away after that. The records are listed wins-losses-OT losses. 31-21-9 isn’t so impressive when you realize it actually is 31W-30L.