NHL: Ranking the Best Teams of All Time (By Points Percentage)
The Montreal Canadiens Hall of Fame
Boy, the Montreal Canadiens own just about every major team record in NHL history and here’s another one.
The Canadiens have the best all-time points percentage of any franchise. For the Habs, that’s 95 years of consistent high-level play. Even the New York Yankees can’t match that.
It’s after Montreal that things get interesting on today’s list. There are definitely some surprises.
But first, what is points percentage? According to my source, hockey-reference.com, it’s “points divided by maximum points.” So, of the total amount of points available (GP X 2), how many points did the team actually accumulate through wins, ties and now overtime losses?
Take the Canadiens, for example. They’ve played 6,131 games in their history as of the date of this post (Feb. 12, 2013). So, Montreal had 12,262 points available and earned 7,216 of them (7,216/12,262 = .588). The Canadiens have won nearly 60% of their potential points.
Here are the full rankings for every NHL franchise.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, classic and championship teams, round out the top three.
Then (what?!) the Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators. In 42 years, the Sabres have made two Stanley Cup Finals appearances, losing both. The sneaky Predators, who have only been around 14 seasons, started out typically poorly, but have really come on the past eight years.
The middle of the pack is fairly expected, but in the bottom half, more surprises.
What are the New Jersey Devils, one of the most successful teams of the past 20 years, five-time Stanley Cup finalists and three-time champions, doing in 22nd? Well, they were pretty hideous in the early years (going back to their Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies days), putting up 11 straight years with 22 or fewer wins.
The other two New York teams haven’t fared much better. And the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks have won less than 50% of of their maximum points.
Follow @VinGetz| FRANCHISE | PTS PCT | FROM | YRS | GP | PTS | |
| 1. | Montreal Canadiens | .588 | 1918 | 95 | 6,131 | 7,216 |
| 2. | Philadelphia Flyers | .578 | 1968 | 45 | 3,519 | 4,071 |
| 3. | Boston Bruins | .555 | 1925 | 88 | 5,970 | 6,626 |
| 4. | Buffalo Sabres | .553 | 1971 | 42 | 3,293 | 3,641 |
| 5. | Nashville Predators | .538 | 1999 | 14 | 1,078 | 1,159 |
| 6. | Detroit Red Wings | .536 | 1927 | 86 | 5,906 | 6,336 |
| 7. | Calgary Flames | .535 | 1973 | 40 | 3,134 | 3,356 |
| 8. | Edmonton Oilers | .527 | 1980 | 33 | 2,580 | 2,721 |
| 9. | Minnesota Wild | .524 | 2001 | 12 | 914 | 958 |
| 10. | Colorado Avalanche | .522 | 1980 | 33 | 2,579 | 2,690 |
| 11. | San Jose Sharks | .516 | 1992 | 21 | 1,620 | 1,673 |
| 11. | St. Louis Blues | .516 | 1968 | 45 | 3,518 | 3,634 |
| 13. | Anaheim Ducks | .513 | 1994 | 19 | 1,455 | 1,494 |
| 14. | Ottawa Senators | .510 | 1993 | 20 | 1,540 | 1,570 |
| 15. | Dallas Stars | .508 | 1968 | 45 | 3,518 | 3,572 |
| 15. | Toronto Maple Leafs | .508 | 1918 | 95 | 6,133 | 6,237 |
| 17. | New York Rangers | .506 | 1927 | 86 | 5,905 | 5,977 |
| 18. | Washington Capitals | .505 | 1975 | 38 | 2,980 | 3,011 |
| 19. | New York Islanders | .500 | 1973 | 40 | 3,136 | 3,135 |
| 20. | Pittsburgh Penguins | .497 | 1968 | 45 | 3,519 | 3,499 |
| 21. | Chicago Blackhawks | .495 | 1927 | 86 | 5,906 | 5,848 |
| 22. | New Jersey Devils | .492 | 1975 | 38 | 2,980 | 2,934 |
| 23. | Florida Panthers | .488 | 1994 | 19 | 1,455 | 1,421 |
| 24. | Vancouver Canucks | .485 | 1971 | 42 | 3,291 | 3,195 |
| 25. | Phoenix Coyotes | .482 | 1980 | 33 | 2,581 | 2,487 |
| 26. | Los Angeles Kings | .481 | 1968 | 45 | 3,517 | 3,383 |
| 27. | Carolina Hurricanes | .477 | 1980 | 33 | 2,579 | 2,460 |
| 28. | Tampa Bay Lightning | .454 | 1993 | 20 | 1,539 | 1,396 |
| 29. | Winnipeg Jets | .453 | 2000 | 13 | 995 | 902 |
| 30. | Columbus Blue Jackets | .444 | 2001 | 12 | 915 | 813 |
Photo: blog.livedesignonline.com
Posted on February 12, 2013, in NHL and tagged all time, best, franchises, highest, history, hockey, List, most, NHL, percentage, points, ranking, sports list of the day, teams. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Thanks Sandy. This is just one of many ways to take different looks at how to rank teams. These are the best teams by points percentage. I like ranker.com and how they’ve put together their rankings.
While I totally agree that overall stats play a big part of how you decide which team is the best of all time, it’s kind of painful to consider the Habs the best team of all time when for the most part they haven’t done much over the last decade. Yes they have the most championships and yes they have so many records but I have to put a certain amount of weight into how well they’ve sustained this excellence always. The same goes with ranking Edmonton in the top 10. Sure the stats back them up but come on, they have stunk it up for a long while now. After their 80s dynasty they have done little else since. I think at least from a fan perspective, you have to put some personal opinion into how you’d rank teams, like over at a place like http://www.ranker.com/list/best-nhl-teams-of-all-time/sportsyeah, to really get the big picture. Stats are fabulous and for a list like this where it’s all about points and percentages it does tell a story, but it might not be the whole story as to which is ultimately the best.