Flames schedule so far

[Enoch Root]

Probably doesn’t warrant its own thread, but there’s no where else to put it. A month into the season, with the Flames playing somewhere between mediocre and disappointing, but also feeling that the Flames have had a bit of a tough schedule, I decided to take a look at it to see if they in fact have had it tough, or if that is just fan-talk. (this data includes the beginning of the season, through Sunday night).

Most games: Flames rank: 1 (17), average: 14, only DAL has played 16

Most road games: Flames rank: 1 (11), 2nd: several teams with 9, average 7.1

Most road games against teams in the playoffs last year: Flames rank 1 (9), 2nd: ANA, MIN (7), Least: VAN (3),

Most travel days: Flames rank: 1 (15), 2nd: FLA 13 (including going to TB and back), average: 10.1

Most nights in hotels: Flames rank 1 (16), 2nd: FLA (13), at least 3 teams (TOR, NYR, NJD) have had none (0)

Most KMs travelled: Flames rank 2 (21,491). PHI #1 (24,994). PHI and CHI went to Prague and back, and the Flames have still travelled more than CHI (who are #3), average: 11,962, least: NJD (3,026)

Most PP opportunities: Flames rank: T7 (52), #1: VAN (60)

Most PP opportunities per game: Flames rank: 23 (3.05), most: VAN (4.28)

Most PP time: Flames rank: 5 (89:20), #1: VAN (100:18), least: NYI (34:32)!

Most PKs against: Flames rank 1 (61), average: 47.4

Most PIM per game: Flames rank: 9 (10:10), #1 SJS (13:07)

Most PK time: Flames rank: 1 (103:33), least: WIN (51:21)

It’s certainly easy to look at these numbers and be willing to cut the team a bit of slack. But only IF they start putting up some wins when the schedule balances out.

Thoughts? Other stats?

[Weitz]

How do teams have zero nights in hotels? They don't travel on game days AFAIK.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Weitz

How do teams have zero nights in hotels? They don't travel on game days AFAIK.

Devils have 4 nights in hotels (Buffalo, Philadelphia, Boston, Carolina) and by the end of this current road trip it'll be 11. (WPG, CGYx2, EDM, VANX3).

[Cali Panthers Fan]

nm

Answered if I just read the OP more carefully

Some of those numbers for the Panthers should underscore a shaky start to the year as well. Hard to get in a groove if you're constantly on the road. Panthers have just managed to eek out some more loser points than the Flames.

[Mattman]

It's a really interesting thing to look at a teams schedule and say "Oh they are having a really rough go of it, that's why they have been super inconsistent".

I would love to see how last year's numbers compare and if there was a team in Calgary's position similar to this year. I'm not sure how they decided the scheduling for the NHL, but when you look at the numbers Calgary is the clear outlier in it all.

Calgary has played 19 games so far this year. No other team in the league has even played 18.

Eight other teams have played 2 less games so far and ten teams have played in 15 or less games (which includes NJD, NYR 14 GP and TBL 13 GP).

[Slanter]

On the radio broadcast last night, they were talking about how little time that Flames have had to practice because of the tough schedule. I think that's an important point, and could be a contributor to inconsistency.

I think we should all be happy that the Flames survived that with a decent record, and I think we can legitimately expect better results now that the schedule is levelling out.

And after all, a tough schedule to start must mean some easier stretches later in the season

[kevman]

The season is 6 months long.

After Saturday the Flames will have played a quarter of their games this season within the first month and a bit.

[SuperMatt18]

It's been a ridiculous schedule.

They have had 3 back to backs and only a single two day break in the last month. And the two day break is even a bit generous considering it was the Sunday/Monday after the Heritage Classic, and included travel from Regina to Carolina.

Tough to try to fix key issues when the team has little time to practice or recover from fatigue.

[Flash Walken]

The Flames had the easiest schedule in the league post all-star break last year, didn't they?

[getbak]

After Saturday's game, the Flames will play one game in the next 6 days and they won't have any travel during that time (except to go to Phoenix next Friday).

That should be a chance to get some good work in.

[Red_Baron]

By the end of this month, the flames will have played more than 41% of their away games for the whole season.

The gap between the number of away games and home games will be maintained until the last game of the season and peaks at 7 on March 1st, 37 away games to 30 home games.


The bright side is that it may force the flames to play their best hockey at the end of the season so they won't be able to coast into the playoff like last year.

[Philly06Cup]

Flyers started in Prague, had one home game, then a trip through Western Canada.

Chicago, meanwhile, went to Prague, and followed that with a 5 day break then a 7 game homestand.


Re the Flames, home teams get more favorable calls. The PP/PK time should even out a little given how much they've been away. Travel will always be an issue because of geography -- we should all be used to that by now.

[Jiggy]

Going through different time zones can be an issue. Everyone's body adjusts differently. I'm glad the Flames have been able to have their head above water with this opening schedule.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

By the end of this month, the flames will have played more than 41% of their away games for the whole season.

The gap between the number of away games and home games will be maintained until the last game of the season and peaks at 7 on March 1st, 37 away games to 30 home games.


The bright side is that it may force the flames to play their best hockey at the end of the season so they won't be able to coast into the playoff like last year.

Ideally if the Flames are in good position come the beginning of March, they could run the table, and prepare themselves for home ice advantage in the playoffs since a vast majority of their home games would've been home already for over a month.

[Mattman]

So I was curious as to if this happens normally to one or two teams possibly through the first 6 weeks of the season.

I went over each team's schedule for the 2018-19 season to see if this was a common scheduling strategy or something. And to keep things comparable I included all games up until last night's games, Nov 7th.

16 Games Played
ANA, CGY, TOR, VAN

15 Games Played
BUF, CAR, CHI, COL, CLB, DAL, DET, EDM, MTL, NSH, NYR, NYR, OTT, PHI, SJS, TBL, VGK

14 Games Played
BOS, LA, MIN, NYI, PIT, WSH, WPG

13 Games Played
ARI, NJD, STL

11 Games Played
FLA


So last season to start the Flames once again tied for the highest GP in a similar time span, but another thing you will notice is there is no anomaly. There is no team that is weirdly sitting at a higher number of games.

At the end of the day, every team plays 82 games and the early schedule doesn't necessarily affect your final standings at the end of the season, BUT the point I am highlighting is that the Flames have a pretty peculiar scheduling start to this season.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by kevman

The season is 6 months long.

After Saturday the Flames will have played a quarter of their games this season within the first month and a bit.

27 weeks, or more precisely 186 days.

Today is Day #38 of the NHL season. The quarter-mark is still more than a full week away on 17 November. We are at the 20%-mark of the season, which means that the Flames have played an overage of 15% of their games to this point—that's a 94-game pace through the first five weeks. The Flames will have played 20 games by Day #39 of the season before their first three-game break: that's essentially 25% of games in 21% of the schedule. They will have played 23 games by the actual quarter-pole on Sunday, 17 November.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The Flames had the easiest schedule in the league post all-star break last year, didn't they?

65 days; 31 games; 3 back-to-backs; 16 on the road in 30 days, 15 at home; 13 games v. playoff teams.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The Flames had the easiest schedule in the league post all-star break last year, didn't they?

What does that have to do with this discussion? Maybe because their schedule was tougher before contributed to the poorer finish because of little injuries or tiredness.

[Enoch Root]

Despite being at home for a few days now, the Flames have still played the most road games in the league (tied with MIN and VAN).

And they will play 6 of their next 9 on the road, with another eastern swing and their 3rd southwestern swing.

NYR and NYI have only played 5 road games so far, while TOR, CHI, NAS have played 6. NAS and CHI will play #7 tonight, while NYI, NYR and TOR are still at home.

They will have played 17 of their first 28 on the road, and if they can end November anywhere near the top of the division, or at least in a playoff spot, they will be in fantastic shape.

[Bingo]

Dug into some straight numbers.

If you look at last season's home and away records (less noise than early start win percentages ... for example right now it would read that Edmonton is one of the best home teams in the league) and apply them to this season's schedule you get the following.

Calgary has the 3rd highest weighted average opponent for their road games (other team's last year home records). Tampa and Boston are 1 and 2. However if you add in the number of games, they have the second hardest road record to date behind Tampa.

On the home record side it's been easier, but Calgary has less games. They have the easiest home schedule to date, and 24th easiest when you bring in the weighting of number of games.

Overall, when you bring the weighting together the Flames have had the 5th toughest schedule to start the season with a weighted opponent win % of .595 (home and road records)

1. Tampa
2. Boston
3. Montreal
4. Washington
5. Calgary

Interesting to see 4 Eastern teams and much less travel at the top.

31. LA
30. Edmonton
29. Minnesota
28. Detroit
27. Rangers

Certainly points out Calgary and Edmonton's paths to date.