Advertisement

Winners and losers in 2015-16 NHL schedule mileage

Josh Cooper
Photo via arizonacoyotes.com

For yet another year, Pacific Division teams will be burning up the jet fuel for travel.

The one and only Dirk Hoag, former head of On the Forecheck, looked at the NHL’s schedule and came up with an estimate of how many miles teams will travel. Teams in the Pacific Division occupy six spots in the top-10.

Behold the table below that shows … Edmonton's Connor McDavid will go way, way further to play his hockey games than Buffalo's Jack Eichel in their rookie years.

Miles and back-to-backs games go through the 2013-14 season, the first year of the NHL's current divisional format.

The table was originally released by OTF:

Team

2015-16 Miles

2015-16 B-to-B

2014-15 Miles

2014-15 B-to-B

2013-14 Miles

2013-14 B-to-B

San Jose Sharks

50,362

14

45,318

11

57,612

10

Edmonton Oilers

49,401

9

45,597

11

45,192

12

Dallas Stars

48,419

12

48,216

12

46,660

13

Calgary Flames

48,341

12

38,874

10

48,970

12

Vancouver Canucks

45,711

13

45,173

12

48,510

17

Anaheim Ducks

44,653

11

46,967

13

48,568

14

Los Angeles Kings

43,750

13

44,100

9

48,432

14

Colorado Avalanche

42,901

10

44,167

12

49,007

10

Winnipeg Jets

42,380

12

42,027

9

46,477

10

Florida Panthers

41,891

14

42,786

12

45,136

14

Carolina Hurricanes

41,558

16

40,800

16

38,879

20

Minnesota Wild

40,976

15

41,178

13

44,273

13

Tampa Bay Lightning

40,974

13

37,221

12

43,102

12

St. Louis Blues

40,649

12

38,965

14

39,328

13

Arizona Coyotes

40,504

15

49,818

13

52,633

12

Montreal Canadiens

39,947

16

37,135

16

39,327

17

Chicago Blackhawks

39,332

13

40,074

15

38,680

18

Ottawa Senators

38,796

14

33,421

13

34,850

16

Boston Bruins

38,236

11

38,938

16

42,389

17

Columbus Blue Jackets

37,602

18

35,139

19

36,597

17

Nashville Predators

36,971

12

42,096

11

39,810

15

New Jersey Devils

36,271

12

33,597

18

33,151

22

New York Rangers

36,089

17

36,113

13

29,839

13

Washington Capitals

35,487

13

36,487

16

36,250

17

New York Islanders

35,015

15

33,214

16

29,933

18

Philadelphia Flyers

34,811

15

31,272

14

34,929

14

Buffalo Sabres

34,201

15

37,022

19

34,812

13

Toronto Maple Leafs

33,880

16

34,020

18

35,975

16

Pittsburgh Penguins

33,660

17

32,444

17

37,061

17

Detroit Red Wings

33,487

17

34,179

12

35,324

15

Hoag also made an incredibly detailed spreadsheet on this.

A few reactions to this…

• The Detroit Red Wings must really, really love playing in the Eastern Conference. Per the 2011-12 super schedule, Detroit traveled 42,865 miles. On this graph they will travel an estimated 33,487 miles. Those 9,378 or so fewer miles go a long, long way. In 2011-12 the Blue Jackets, the other former Western Conference team moved East, went 42,831 miles. On the above graph they will travel an estimate 37,602 miles.

• A total of 14 teams will travel fewer miles than last year. Which means 16 teams will travel more.

• I’m amazed the Philadelphia Flyers don’t travel the fewest miles for the second straight year. Have they lost their favored status with the NHL?

• Teams that joined the Central Division after the 2012-13 season seem to still have the screws put to them from a travel perspective. Out of the top-10 most traveled teams, the only Central Division teams are relative divisional newbies Dallas, Winnipeg and Colorado. Minnesota is the fourth-most traveled Central team. They rank 12th overall. So much for that whole realignment limiting their miles.

• San Jose will travel the most miles for the second time in three years since the new alignment. Guess that’s the price you pay for being able to play Putt-Putt in the middle of winter.

• The Western Conference team with most back to backs is the Arizona Coyotes. Seven Eastern Conference squads have more with Columbus topping out at 18. Columbus will travel close to 2,902 fewer miles than Arizona. Would you rather play three more back to backs or travel 3,000 more air miles?

• The top-three most traveled Eastern Conference teams, Florida, Carolina and Tampa, all play below the Mason-Dixon line. The South will rise again!

• After Jan. 18, the Penguins will not have to leave the Eastern timezone.

• The Nashville Predators will travel 5,125 fewer miles than a year ago and only play one more back-to-back. They owe the NHL schedule maker a cold one.

• Hopefully McDavid knows how to pack a suitcase.

- - - - - - -

Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS