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The Real Standings

Q OFF. GP W L WSO OTL PTS W% PRJ W%* PRJ* GB PS+/- PB to95pts
1 2 STL 11 6 1 2 2 18 0.818 134 0.727 119 0 7 4 35-29-7
2 1 LAK 13 8 3 2 0 20 0.769 126 0.769 126 -1 5 6 34-28-7
3 4 DET 12 8 3 0 1 17 0.708 116 0.667 109 -1.5 4 7 36-27-7
4 3 VAN 13 8 3 0 2 18 0.692 114 0.615 101 -2 3 8 35-27-7
5 7 CBJ 13 7 5 1 0 16 0.615 101 0.615 101 -3 1 10 36-26-7
6 8 MIN 13 7 4 0 2 16 0.615 101 0.538 88 -3 1 10 36-26-7
7 6 DAL 13 6 5 2 0 16 0.615 101 0.615 101 -3 1 10 36-26-7
8 9 COL 13 6 5 1 1 15 0.577 95 0.538 88 -3.5 0 11 37-25-7
9 10 SJS 12 6 5 0 1 13 0.542 89 0.500 82 -3.5 0 11 38-25-7
10 11 NAS 12 5 4 0 3 13 0.542 89 0.417 68 -3.5 0 11 38-25-7
11 5 CHI 16 6 7 2 1 17 0.531 87 0.500 82 -5.5 -4 15 36-23-7
12 12 ANA 14 6 7 0 1 13 0.464 76 0.429 70 -5.5 -4 15 38-23-7
13 13 CGY 13 5 7 1 0 12 0.462 76 0.462 76 -5 -3 14 38-24-7
14 14 PHX 13 4 5 0 4 12 0.462 76 0.308 50 -5 -3 14 38-24-7
15 15 EDM 11 3 6 0 2 8 0.364 60 0.273 45 -5 -3 14 40-24-7

  • Sorted by winning percentage (W%).
  • Only regulation wins and OT wins are counted as wins (W).
  • Shoot-out wins (WSO) are tallied separately. Why? Because they don’t count in the “total wins” tie-breaker, so we need to keep them out of the W column.
  • “OTL” = loss in OT or shoot-out (i.e. Bettman point).
  • “OFF.” = the official standings, as rendered by ESPN.
  • “Q” = Quisp standings.
  • “PRJ” = projected final point total.
  • “W%*” and “PRJ*” (note the asterisks) show the team’s win percentage an projected point total if you eliminate the “Bettman Point” and treat a loss as a loss.
  • “GB” = games back, i.e. baseball standings.
  • “PB” = points blown. Points-blown refers to the number of potential points a team has failed to earn.Lower number is better, like golf. This may seem like a needlessly confusing and pointless stat to keep track of, in which case, feel free to skip this column entirely. However, I find it’s a useful way to correct for disparities in games-played. Think of points-blown as a kind of “hidden reason for optimism (or pessimism)” quantifier.
  • “PS +/-“ = points blown, relative to the 8th seed. In other words, how far above or below the post-season (“P.S.”) cut-off a team is.
  • In the first two columns (Q rank and ESPN rank), green means 1-4 seed, yellow is 5-8, orange is 9-12,red is 13-15.
  • For the columns starting with “team name” and ending with “PRJ”, Green indicates a projected finish 100 points or above (certain to qualify for playoffs). Yellow is 94-99 projected points (probable for playoffs), orange is 86-93 (projected to fall short), red is below 85 (falling short of falling short).
  • For the No Bettman Point columns (with asterisks), the thresholds have been shifted downward slightly, to reflect the fact that teams across the board earn between 2-14 fewer points.
  • For the last four columns, the colors translate to great, good, bad and screwed.
  • New column: last one, far right — the record each team needs to get to the presumed playoff threshold of 95 points.
  • Talking Points