The Flyers are so far having a better season than everyone in the wild card race except Boston. Sure it is easy to look at the standings and shake your head no, but I have some numbers to say otherwise. It took Montreal, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Ottawa all more games to reach the 48 points we now have.
Now, rankings are displayed by the NHL in points, this is due a lot to the old adage that “games in hand are meaningless if you don’t win”, but I like to view win pct. as a better indicator for true position in the standings. So let’s take a look at how the number stack up for us.
The current team sitting in the second wildcard spot is Montreal. They have earned just over 54% of their points so far and are on pace for roughly an 89 point season.
Just behind them is Pittsburgh with just about the same numbers, marginally better.
Next down the line is New Jersey on pace for an 87 point season.
Sitting just below us is Ottawa, but they are on pace for just a hair more points than New Jersey.
The Flyers I am proud to say have just under 56% of points earned and are on pace for about 92 point season.
What does this all mean?
Unfortunately it may mean nothing, as mentioned before “games in hand…..”. Is it likely that Montreal, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Ottawa will continue to struggle? No, 92 points wouldn’t have been enough to sneak in last year, and likely won’t be this year, but at this point it is a whole new season, and we are slightly ahead of the race. Which sure beats where we were at in November. I say being in a an actual race for the playoffs while rebuilding is a pretty good sign that Hextall knows what he is doing in that booth, and Hakstol has figured out how to get the best out of his team.
