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Points Blown Standings (Updated 4/2)

Posted on by Robert P

Note: This is a reader managed project, this week’s standings courtesy of reader ILoveWhiskey.What is Points blown?

For those of you who don’t know, Points-Blown was created by

Kings

fan and former Jewels From the Crown moderator Quisp as a means of better understanding the standings by controlling for differences in games played. Here’s how Quisp described the system in a post on his website, McSorley’s Stick.Points-blown refers to the number of points a team could have earned, but did not. They are points-squandered. You get two PBs for a loss, and one PB for an OT/SOL. The lower your total, the better. Like golf. Or cholesterol.

Why is this a handy way to look at the standings, and not just a confusing pain in the ass? Well, maybe it’s not. Your mileage may vary, but for me it’s like this: W% is an excellent indicator of a team’s record, but I find it difficult to conceptualize the difference between (for example), a .575 team and a .593 team. “All we need is another 18/1000s of a [something or other] and we’ll be tied! Go team!”

But just looking at points doesn’t work either, because the schedule is wacky and teams have different numbers of games-played. Anaheim and Chicago at one point had played 5 or 6 more games than everyone else. That skews the standings. And I hate giving Anaheim any credit.

Western Conference Points Blown

WESTERN GP W L OT P ROW POINTS BLOWN PROJ.
X – ST. LOUIS 75 51 17 7 109 42 41 119
X – ANAHEIM 75 49 18 8 106 47 44 116
X – SAN JOSE 77 48 20 9 105 38 49 112
X – COLORADO 75 48 21 6 102 44 48 112
X – CHICAGO 76 42 19 15 99 37 53 107
LOS ANGELES 76 44 26 6 94 36 58 101
MINNESOTA 76 39 26 11 89 32 63 96
DALLAS 75 37 27 11 85 34 65 93
PHOENIX 76 36 27 13 85 30 67 92
VANCOUVER 77 34 32 11 79 29 75 84
WINNIPEG 77 34 33 10 78 27 76 83
NASHVILLE 76 33 32 11 77 31 75 83
CALGARY 76 31 38 7 69 25 83 74
EDMONTON 76 26 41 9 61 23 91 66

Eastern Conference Points Blown

EASTERN GP W L OT P ROW POINTS BLOWN PROJ.
Y – BOSTON 75 52 17 6 110 49 40 120
X – PITTSBURGH 76 48 23 5 101 43 51 109
X – TAMPA BAY 76 42 25 9 93 35 59 100
X – MONTRÉAL 77 43 27 7 93 37 61 99
NY RANGERS 77 43 30 4 90 39 64 96
PHILADELPHIA 75 39 27 9 87 36 63 95
DETROIT 75 35 26 14 84 30 66 92
COLUMBUS 75 38 30 7 83 33 67 91
TORONTO 77 37 32 8 82 28 72 87
WASHINGTON 76 34 29 13 81 25 71 87
NEW JERSEY 76 32 28 16 80 32 72 86
OTTAWA 75 32 29 14 78 27 72 85
CAROLINA 76 33 32 11 77 32 75 83
NY ISLANDERS 75 30 35 10 70 23 80 77
FLORIDA 77 27 42 8 62 19 92 66
BUFFALO 75 21 45 9 51 14 99 56

Link to Google doc version

Talking Points