Any Great Teams? 2010

Do we have any great teams in the NHL this year?  Any team that stands out, not from this year's competition, but from the best of other years?

First, lets identify the teams that are in contention for this discussions this year.  The way we have done it in the past is to use the 100-point mark.  How many teams have hit, or are likely to hit 100 points?  Well, as this column is written (April 7, 2010), there are 5 teams with 100 points (Wash, SJ, Chi, Pho, Van).  Other teams that are likely to hit 100 points (less than or same number of points required to hit 100 as games left) are NJ, Buf, Nash, LA, and Pitt.  That is another 5.  Det has a chance, 4 points required and 3 games left.

So that is 11 teams that have, or are likely to, or can reasonably, reach 100 points this season.  BUT WAIT!  We can't use the 100-point milestone.  We can't use the same criteria to identify great teams any more.  The league has more points available now, due to that stupid OT Loss point.   Here is a table I put together:

Team	Games Remaining	Wins	Points	Possible Points	Loss Points	Real Max Points	Points per game
Washington	2	53	118	122	12	110	1.34
San Jose	2	49	109	113	11	102	1.24
Chicago	3	50	107	113	7	106	1.29
Phoenix	3	48	102	108	6	102	1.24
Vancouver	2	48	101	105	5	100	1.21
New Jersey	3	46	99	105	7	98	1.19
Buffalo	3	44	98	104	10	94	1.14
Nashville	2	46	98	102	6	96	1.17
Los Angeles	3	45	97	103	7	96	1.17
Pittsburgh	3	45	97	103	7	96	1.17
Detroit	3	41	96	102	14	88	1.07

Real Max Points are equal to the Possible points the team would have in a 2-point per game world, based on current standings.  It is (Wins + Games Remaining) * 2.  Points Per Game (PPG) are the Real Max Points divided by the number of games in the season (82).

So, the BEST? team in the league, if you compare them to other historical teams that are based on 2-point games, come up woefully short, in Points per Game:

Team	Season	GP	Points	PPG
Washington	09-10	82	110	1.34
Pittsburgh	92-93	84	119	1.42
Calgary	88-89	80	117	1.46
NY Islanders	81-82	80	118	1.48
Edmonton	83-84	80	119	1.49
Boston	71-72	78	119	1.53
Montreal	72-73	78	120	1.54
Montreal	75-76	80	127	1.59
Detroit	95-96	82	131	1.60
Montreal	76-77	80	132	1.65

All the teams in the list were considered Stanley Cup favourites.  Well, except for this year's Washington team.  No great teams this year, unless you change your definition of great.