ESPN Fantasy Hockey Rotisserie League Stats Breakdown - NHL Average Stats

With another day in the books comes another article in Fantasy Hockey matchup quality. Today we're going to take a look at the league averages in stats allowed for each category and how each team stacks up. Below you'll find the averages for all NHL Teams so far this year through yesterday's games:

	Scoring	+/-	PIM	PP	SOG	ATOI-PP	ATOI-PK	W	SV%	GAA
NHL Average	2.64	0	11.41	0.6	29.95	5:32	5:32	0.50	0.912	2.542
Standard Dev	0.39	0.51	1.92	0.14	2.74	0:35	0:28	0.130	0.011	0.401

Looking at theses numbers gives you an idea of how matchup-dependent each stat category is, as the the larger the standard deviation is compared to the average, the more the category varies based on the opposing team. As you might expect, Goalie Wins and +/- vary considerably based on match-up, as a strong opponent does a much better job of outscoring their opponents than a weak opponent. Another stat that varied substantially was Power Play Points, which makes sense as some teams couldn't kill a penalty to save their lives! (See New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers).

On the other end of the spectrum, you'll see that a goalie's save percentage doesn't vary much from opponent to opponent. However, in a league where a 92% save percentage is mediocre and 93% is pretty good, there's a slim margin at that stat. Similarly, Power Play Time On-Ice and Penalty Kill Time On-Ice stay pretty consistent, with the Penalty Kill Time being the most matchup-proof of these groups, league wide.

So, what's does it all mean? As a general rule, for +/-, Power Play Points, Wins and, heck, for all goalie stats the opposing team matters tremendously. Penalty Kill players tend to be the most consistent with ATOI, while PIM, ATOIPP and SOG vary somewhere in the middle.

So now that we know what's typical for the NHL, here's a look at what teams have been averaging so far this year, keeping in mind, these are the stats for teams against the teams listed. For example, teams are averaging 2.43 goals per game against Anaheim.

Teams Stats Against								Goalie Stats
TEAM	Scoring	+/-	PIM	PPP	SOG	ATOIPP	ATOIPK	W	GAA	SV%
Anaheim	2.43	-27	11.86	0.63	28.8	5:23	5:33	0.34	3.03	0.903
Boston	2.06	-22	10.06	0.45	28.9	5:20	4:24	0.33	2.58	0.907
Buffalo	2.91	37	11.61	0.64	34.2	5:32	5:17	0.79	1.48	0.941
Calgary	3.15	17	9.85	0.62	29.6	5:11	5:40	0.61	2.55	0.907
Carolina	2.68	7	9.24	0.62	30.8	5:25	5:13	0.59	2.18	0.921
Chicago	2.72	-32	9.97	0.55	27.3	5:26	5:20	0.33	3.53	0.891
Colorado	2.31	-20	9.84	0.78	31.3	4:32	5:13	0.31	2.72	0.904
Columbus	2.76	8	11.44	0.59	30.3	5:29	4:54	0.59	2.41	0.908
Dallas	3	-5	12.38	0.66	32.8	5:03	6:13	0.53	2.69	0.913
Detroit	2.51	1	8.49	0.57	29.1	6:12	5:36	0.57	2.46	0.915
Edmonton	3.4	29	11.86	0.63	30.9	5:28	6:08	0.69	2.49	0.908
Florida	3.09	16	12.53	0.79	29.1	4:51	5:54	0.65	2.15	0.926
Los Angeles	1.94	-22	12.24	0.56	27.4	6:39	6:03	0.35	2.50	0.914
Minnesota	2.2	-3	10.09	0.71	26.2	5:32	5:14	0.46	2.09	0.920
Montreal	2.06	-3	11.83	0.43	30.1	5:40	5:39	0.43	2.37	0.915
Nashville	2.7	16	10.03	0.48	30.1	5:34	5:05	0.52	2.24	0.918
New Jersey	2.35	5	7.15	0.41	24.5	5:35	5:01	0.62	2.24	0.910
NY Islanders	3.41	24	10.56	0.88	30.3	4:53	5:31	0.74	2.32	0.922
NY Rangers	2.68	21	11.62	0.44	28.9	4:50	5:24	0.53	2.15	0.928
Ottawa	3.09	4	12.29	0.86	34.1	6:27	6:05	0.60	2.69	0.916
Philadelphia	2.67	11	15.97	0.70	30.4	7:02	6:22	0.58	2.12	0.922
Phoenix	3.06	-4	10.44	0.78	33.4	5:36	5:15	0.44	2.97	0.902
Pittsburgh	2.14	-10	11.31	0.37	26.9	5:00	5:11	0.31	2.89	0.902
San Jose	2.33	-18	11.88	0.48	27.5	4:22	6:42	0.39	3.03	0.913
St. Louis	2.34	-26	16.13	0.56	25.7	5:58	5:32	0.31	3.28	0.886
Tampa Bay	2.39	-7	11.48	0.55	29.2	6:02	5:55	0.42	2.48	0.907
Toronto	2.86	0	14.49	0.86	36.2	6:16	5:27	0.51	2.60	0.901
Vancouver	2.29	-10	11.77	0.31	28.3	5:17	4:58	0.43	2.71	0.915
Washington	2.85	8	14.85	0.60	35.1	5:33	5:43	0.45	2.94	0.903
Winnipeg	2.8	5	9.43	0.61	31.1	6:05	5:38	0.57	2.40	0.921

As you can see, teams like Anaheim, Chicago and Vancouver have been stingy in multiple areas, while Ottawa, Philadelphia, Buffalo and the New York Islanders have been quite generous. One thing that I noticed is that teams that are great for Skaters tend to be bad for goaltenders and vice versa.

I'll save you the trouble of searching for the best and worst matchups:

PLAYER STATS BEST/WORST
Goals/Assists: Best - NY Islanders. Worst - LA Kings.
Plus/Minus: Best - Buffalo Sabres. Worst - Chicago Blackhawks.
Penalty Minutes: Best -  St. Louis Blues. Worst - New Jersey Devils.
Power Play Points: Best -  NY Islanders. Worst - Vancouver Canucks.
Average Time On Ice Power-Play: Best -  Philadelphia Flyers. Worst - San Jose Sharks.
Average Time On Ice Penalty Kill: Best - San Jose Sharks. Worst - Boston Bruins.

GOALIE STATS BEST/WORST
Goalie Wins: Best -  Buffalo Sabres. 3 Tied for Worst - STL, PIT and COL.
Goals Against Average: Best - Buffalo Sabres. Worst - Chicago Blackhawks.
Save Percentage: Best - Buffalo Sabres. Worst - St. Louis Blues.

So there you have it folks. For the next PuckNumbers post, we'll be taking a look at which teams have been the best to play against objectively, with a follow-up post on which goalies have been fantasy gold for their opponents.