The 30 Team Era

For all of the talk of relocation, expansion and tumult in the NHL, it's been seven years since we've seen the shifting (or creation) of a franchise. The 2000-01 season was the beginning for Columbus and Minnesota, and the end to the league's latest, four-team expansion plan.

A look at how all 30 teams have fared in the 30 team era:

		GP	W	L	T/OTL	PTS
1	Detroit	492	304	113	75	683
2	Ottawa	492	283	137	72	638
3	Dallas	492	274	143	75	623
4	New Jersey	492	273	143	76	622
5	Colorado	492	266	146	80	612
6	Vancouver	492	257	163	72	586
7	San Jose	492	250	165	77	577
8	Toronto	492	250	170	72	572
9	Philadelphia	492	237	167	88	562
10	Buffalo	492	250	182	60	560
11	Edmonton	492	222	182	88	532
12	Boston	492	220	182	90	530
13	Nashville	492	227	189	76	530
14	St. Louis	492	221	184	87	529
15	Calgary	492	219	191	82	520
16	Carolina	492	215	191	86	516
17	Anaheim	492	214	192	86	514
18	Tampa Bay	492	221	199	72	514
19	Montreal	492	219	201	72	510
20	Minnesota	492	209	194	89	507
21	Los Angeles	492	208	197	87	503
22	NY Rangers	492	214	213	65	493
23	NY Islanders	492	212	212	68	492
24	Phoenix	492	197	210	85	479
25	Washington	492	196	216	80	472
26	Atlanta	492	190	229	73	453
27	Pittsburgh	492	189	230	73	451
28	Florida	492	168	218	106	442
29	Chicago	492	177	228	87	441
30	Columbus	492	172	258	62	406

It's certainly worth noting that the two postlockout seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07, had more points up for grabs, with teams averaging 91.4 points in those years due to the implementation of the shootout. Previously in this time frame, teams averaged between 86 and 87.3 points per year, which means clubs that excelled from 2000-2004 have a minor handicap in the point department.

Even still, this gives you a good idea of which clubs have dominated since September, 2000. Detroit and Ottawa are as close as we've had to regular season dynasties in that time period, while Columbus' attempts to put a franchise together have been, well, let's call them unsuccessful.

		GP	GF	GA	Gdif.
1	Ottawa	492	1644	1216	428
2	Detroit	492	1587	1189	398
3	Colorado	492	1524	1261	263
4	New Jersey	492	1387	1142	245
5	Dallas	492	1386	1159	227
6	San Jose	492	1422	1254	168
7	Vancouver	492	1470	1307	163
8	Buffalo	492	1430	1305	125
9	Toronto	492	1474	1365	109
10	Philadelphia	492	1395	1313	82
11	Nashville	492	1312	1292	20
12	Edmonton	492	1351	1341	10
13	Minnesota	492	1215	1215	0
14	St. Louis	492	1331	1349	-18
15	Anaheim	492	1262	1286	-24
16	Calgary	492	1260	1286	-26
17	Montreal	492	1315	1370	-55
18	Los Angeles	492	1350	1409	-59
19	Boston	492	1366	1430	-64
20	NY Rangers	492	1392	1460	-68
21	Tampa Bay	492	1348	1422	-74
22	NY Islanders	492	1362	1447	-85
23	Carolina	492	1307	1404	-97
24	Phoenix	492	1296	1452	-156
25	Washington	492	1343	1516	-173
26	Florida	492	1231	1468	-237
27	Pittsburgh	492	1379	1625	-246
28	Chicago	492	1233	1481	-248
29	Atlanta	492	1365	1624	-259
30	Columbus	492	1168	1517	-349

It's really interesting to note that Vancouver was so strong over this time period, but had very little postseason success.

This also gives you an idea of the tough times the fans in Pittsburgh have been through, and Toronto's been the fourth-highest scoring team in the past six seasons.

Philadelphia would be much, much higher if not for finishing 30th last season.

		PP%	Rank	PK%	Rank
1	Detroit	20.90	1	85.67	1
2	Ottawa	19.45	3	84.75	6
3	Dallas	17.97	7	84.53	7
4	Colorado	19.83	2	83.47	14
5	New Jersey	17.23	12	84.78	4
6	Anaheim	17.32	11	84.77	5
7	Vancouver	17.78	8	84.13	9
8	Buffalo	16.38	16	85.43	2
9	San Jose	17.55	9	83.72	10
10	Toronto	18.05	5	83.05	18
11	Nashville	15.80	21	84.35	8
12	St. Louis	16.87	13	83.17	17
13	Montreal	17.40	10	82.87	20
14	Boston	16.07	19	83.60	12
15	Minnesota	14.67	29	85.27	3
16	Philadelphia	15.97	20	83.48	13
17	Washington	18.02	6	81.33	27
18	Pittsburgh	18.33	4	81.02	29
19	NY Islanders	16.08	17	83.00	19
20	Edmonton	14.98	27	83.63	11
21	Los Angeles	16.85	14	81.40	26
22	Tampa Bay	16.08	17	82.62	23
23	Carolina	15.40	25	83.42	15
24	NY Rangers	16.73	15	81.08	28
25	Phoenix	15.80	21	81.85	25
26	Chicago	13.88	30	83.38	16
27	Calgary	15.60	23	82.35	24
28	Florida	15.33	26	82.85	22
29	Columbus	14.92	28	82.87	21
30	Atlanta	15.53	24	80.95	30

Detroit's essentially been the class of almost every category over this period, although Colorado, Toronto and Pittsburgh have been strong on the power play, and Buffalo, Minnesota and New Jersey are top penalty killing teams.

This season so far has been a weird one, something that may indicate we're shifting away from these trends. Detroit and Ottawa are still dominant, but New Jersey and Dallas have struggled, and Columbus and Minnesota may be putting something together.

Thoughts?