Rested and Ready

Tyler Dellow provides us with an analysis of the remaining schedule and its potential impact on the playoff race in the West. As most Canuck fans know, once the good guys get past the next seven games, it is smooth sailing the rest of the way. Anyway, here’s a point Tyler makes in the comments:

I’m rethinking my approach to [back to back] games, by the way. The relevant thing probably isn’t playing B2B, it’s playing with less rest than the other team. If they’re playing B2B too, who cares.

This is an absolutely critical point for anyone trying to understand how travel and the schedule impacts on the standings. Travel is relative. It is not merely about who has a better schedule or the longest flights or the most back to back games. It is about the number of times a tired team plays a rested one.

The New York Rangers will, year in, year out, have the easiest schedule in the league, but they don’t gain nearly as much from a scheduling advantage as say, Detroit or Columbus, even though the Red Wings have to travel much further than the Rangers. Most of the time New York is playing a team with a schedule that is only marginally worse. Most of the time Ranger fans see two teams that are rested and ready to play.

Columbus, on the other hand, is much closer to the Eastern teams and jet lag hurts more going West to East than vice versa. Columbus opponents have a much more difficult schedule than Ranger opponents. The Jackets are more likely to be rested and more likely to catch a tired opponent.

Adding more crossover games doesn’t really disadvantage the Rangers. It makes their schedule worse, but it makes all their opponent’s schedules worse too. More crossover games doesn’t make the Columbus schedule worse. It makes it easier. They add games that are geographically close, and, more importantly, it adds substantially more travel to Blue Jacket opponents and playoff rivals. They become even more likely to catch a tired opponent.

Sometimes it isn’t the road team that is rested. Vancouver got to Phoenix from St. Louis late last night or this morning. The Coyotes play in Dallas tonight while the Canucks rest. Who has the home ice advantage tomorrow in Phoenix? The wrong team.

Hey, we’ll take it. Far more often than not, the shoe is on the other foot.  On friday night in Dallas, for example…