Quote:
Originally Posted by home_sweet_dome
The simplest way to look at the standings while taking games in hand into account is to look at games over .500.
For example, the current Pacific Division standings with this method is:
San Jose +5
Anaheim +4
Edmonton +3
Calgary +2
LA Kings +2
Vancouver -1
Arizona -5
If you look at just Cgy and Edm, they have the same points but the Oilers have a game in hand and thus rightly so are 1 up on us. If they lose in regulation tonight the teams will be tied, if the Oilers lose in extra time they will be 1 point up, and if they win they will be 2 points up, which will line up exactly with the what the standings will say at the end of the night as both teams will then have played the same # of games.
Essentially a game in hand is worth a point which is pretty close to reality. Of course for good teams a game in hand is actually worth a bit more than a point and for terrible teams it is worth a bit less but this is an easy way to get a much better snapshot of reality than just looking at points.
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I think this is the only way to look at it IMO