Daily Faceoff midseason NHL Rankings #32-25: Boy, the Coyotes are bad
Welcome to the Daily Faceoff midseason report cards. Here, we’re going to be using some analytics to find out which teams are struggling and who is at the top of the class. Teams are graded on how they stack up against league average in a variety of key metrics both offensively and defensively. The best team is given a score of 100 and the worst is given 0. To determine team OVR, all five metrics (5v5 OFF, 5v5 DEF, PP, PK and Goaltending) are combined.
32 – Arizona Coyotes
Things are tough in the desert. They find themselves at the bottom of the league and that’s probably where they’re going to stay. The most exciting thing they’ll do all year is make some trades.
31 – Buffalo Sabres
I’m a little surprised to see them so low, but the numbers never lie. They’ve struggled in net this year, but an abysmal power play and weak offensive numbers significantly drop their value. Should I be surprised? Probably not. They’re the Sabres after all.
30 – Montreal Canadiens
Things are fine. Right? ….. right?…. Wrong. Things are far from fine in Montreal with the team posting the second worst record of any team in the league. Nothing seems to be going right, and a house cleaning in the front office might be best to help turn things around.
29 – Ottawa Senators
Ottawa feels like it’s having a better season than it is, but the Senators are still the third worst team in the league in terms of record. Their season can be encapsulated by the fact they buried Matt Murray in the minors without even talking to him. Woof. On the ice, they’ve been one of the worst teams at defending at 5×5 and on the PK. That power play sure looks nice though.
28 – Seattle Kraken
Hey, kid. Welcome to the show. The Kraken have had a rude awakening with the worst goaltending of any team in the league. While they’ve struggled to score, they’ve certainly been above average defending at 5×5.
27 – Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers sure have had it tough. They’ve found themselves sitting at 12-12-5 at the Christmas break and that’s even with a nine game losing streak. They fired Alain Vignaeault and a fresh face in Mike Yeo has led them to a 4-2-1 record since. At the end of the day, nobody is worse at defending at 5×5 than the Flyers.
26 – Columbus Blue Jackets
Another team that has struggled mightily on the back end is the Blue Jackets. They’ve got the third worse 5×5 defense and are relying on a lot of young faces. They’re below average everywhere and could benefit greatly from an early draft pick.
25 – Detroit Red Wings
Above-average goaltending and penalty killing, well below average everywhere else. The Red Wings are still in the midst of their rebuild, but things are going their way with a 15-14-3 record largely on the back of their goalies.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.