[bigpete]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

You are arbitrarily using the word average. Just because there are an equal number of teams above and below you doesn't necessarily mean that you're average. That's the median. The mean, or weighted average, is found by taking the sum of all observations and dividing it by the number of observations.

.500 is a mathematical output. It means you received exactly 50% of the possible outcomes, in this case points. You take the number of points you received and divide it by the number of points you could have possibly received. Right now the Flames have 8 points out of 16 for a .500 record. Their win rate is .375, but their record is still .500. It's the same in baseball when a guy is hitting .300 and his home run rate is .050. These aren't opinions, they are basic mathematical facts.

.500 does not imply anything besides they received 50% of the possible points. You are inferring (not implying as you stated) something that isn't true. It doesn't mean they are an average team, playoff team or anything else. I don't think that any team is trying to end the season with a .500 record. The last team that was able to make the playoffs with a record at or below .500 was the 1998-99 Oilers, and there were only 27 teams in the NHL that year.

Being .500 at the end of the year is not a benchmark to measure success by, in my opinion. The Flames are one of three teams since the lockout to have at least 90 points in ever year since the lockout. On the surface that sounds great, but we all know they haven't made the playoffs since the 2008-09 season. They still managed to have at least a .549 record. A .600 record, as you pointed out, would get you into the playoffs every year. That does not change, in any way, shape or form, the fact that when you received half of the points you possibly could have won, you have a .500 record, no matter what you infer.

Thanks for the post, I completely agree with what you are saying.

I believe most people look at a .500 record (in terms of points) as being average. Anything above .500 is pretty good, and anything below .500 is poor. A team's fan would say "Hey, we are 4-3-2, we are a game above .500, we are doing pretty well this year!" When in reality they may have won 2 regulation games, lost 3 regulation games, won 2 shootout games, and lost 2 shootout games, which is actually quite a poor performance compared to most teams.

Sorry about continuing this discussion, but I was getting called out on my math, so I need to defend myself. I’m not saying that the Flames are not .500 points-wise. They obviously are. My point is that being at .500 points-wise is absolutely meaningless in a system where there are extra points given out for OT or shootout losses. A team could finish the season at .500 and be dead last in the league by a wide margin.

Think about it. Next season, first game of the year, the Flames beat the Oilers in a shootout. Every single game for every single team after for the entire rest of the year goes to overtime and/or a shootout. The Flames lose every single time. Their final record is 1 - 0 – 81, for a total of 83 points. Every other team in the league wins about half of their OT/shootouts and loses about half of their OT/shootouts. Every other team finishes with a record of approximately 42 – 0 – 40, for a total of about 124 points. The Flames finish dead last in 30th place with 83 points, miles behind the 29th place finisher who finishes with around 124 points. But hey, we played over .500, so pretty successful season though right? We played over .500 points wise and points are what matter right? Oh wait we finished dead last in points by a huge margin.

As you can see, .500 points-wise is absolutely meaningless. .500 wins-wise is a goal to aspire to and is a better benchmark to measure success.
Anyway, I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, but just wanted to stick up for myself. Haha. I’m liking how the Flames have looked all year. They deserve a better record than they have, but at least the results are starting to come now.

Go Flames Go!