Picking up from last year, here’s the first edition of the Special Teams Index for this 2007-2008 National Hockey League regular season.
The low-down: Add together a team’s power-play percentage and penalty-kill percentage, and you get their Special Teams Index number. The bigger the number, the better the ranking. It’s a quick-and-dirty snapshot of how effective a club is on both sides of odd-man situations. PP and PK don’t completely determine success in the NHL, but their big factors, so this Index presents a composite statistical measure.
Unlike last year, I will not be cobbling this together every week. I’m kicking around doing it at the end of every month; or else, whenever I feel like it. We’ll see.
Of note in the early going: The Devils are uncharacteristically dead last in PK — is that 9-game season-opening road-trip the only reason?… The Canadiens have picked up right where they left off last season with the league’s top-ranked PP — along with a lower-ranking PK. That’s the same combo that kept them out of the playoff dance last year… The Blue Jackets are off to their best-ever start, and that No. 1 PK has everything to do with it.
STI Rank | Team | PP % (Rank) | PK % (Rank) | STI Number |
1 | New York Islanders | 28.6 (2) | 90.0 (2) | 118.6 |
2 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 18.2 (16) | 94.1 (1) | 112.3 |
3 | Montreal Canadiens | 30.4 (1) | 78.7 (25) | 109.1 |
4 | Dallas Stars | 20.5 (9) | 87.5 (8) | 108.0 |
5 | Ottawa Senators | 17.4 (18) | 89.4 (3) | 106.8 |
6 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 23.2 (3) | 83.3 (14) | 106.5 |
7 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 22.5 (4) | 83.8 (13) | 106.3 |
8 | San Jose Sharks | 18.3 (15) | 87.7 (7) | 106.0 |
9 | Florida Panthers | 20.3 (10) | 84.2 (12) | 104.5 |
10 | Detroit Red Wings | 20.0 (12) | 84.5 (10) | 104.5 |
11 | St. Louis Blues | 14.0 (21) | 88.9 (4) | 102.9 |
12 | Buffalo Sabres | 19.6 (13) | 83.0 (15) | 102.6 |
13 | Philadelphia Flyers | 22.0 (6) | 80.0 (17) | 102.0 |
14 | Los Angeles Kings | 21.9 (7) | 80.0 (18) | 101.9 |
15 | Colorado Avalanche | 14.6 (20) | 87.0 (9) | 101.6 |
16 | Vancouver Canucks | 22.4 (5) | 79.0 (22) | 101.4 |
17 | Minnesota Wild | 12.8 (26) | 88.5 (5) | 101.3 |
18 | New York Rangers | 13.0 (24) | 88.0 (6) | 101.0 |
19 | Boston Bruins | 19.5 (14) | 80.5 (16) | 100.0 |
20 | Chicago Blackhawks | 20.0 (11) | 77.6 (26) | 97.6 |
21 | Carolina Hurricanes | 21.7 (8) | 74.6 (28) | 96.3 |
22 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 13.2 (23) | 80.0 (19) | 93.2 |
23 | Washington Capitals | 13.7 (22) | 78.8 (24) | 92.5 |
24 | Calgary Flames | 17.3 (19) | 75.0 (27) | 92.3 |
25 | Nashville Predators | 11.9 (27) | 79.5 (21) | 91.4 |
26 | Edmonton Oilers | 6.8 (30) | 84.4 (11) | 91.2 |
27 | Anaheim Ducks | 11.3 (28) | 79.7 (20) | 91.0 |
28 | Phoenix Coyotes | 9.3 (29) | 78.9 (23) | 88.2 |
29 | New Jersey Devils | 18.0 (17) | 69.0 (30) | 87.0 |
30 | Atlanta Thrashers | 12.8 (25) | 71.0 (29) | 83.8 |