A question which has been rattling around in my head quite a bit lately is that of how NHL coaches utilize their forwards and defense, and how to get a handle on how this varies for teams across the league. Do individuals focus on matching up against particular opponents, or deploying specialists based on where the next faceoff is taking place?

It's important stuff, because as I've looked through the last few seasons of data, there's a pretty strong, consistent link between where a player starts his shift (offensive or defensive zone) and how the flow of Shots For & Against goes. What we have yet to find is any such direct link with the level of competition that player is facing while he's out there. Intuitively, we understand that lining up against Pavel Datsyuk is an entirely different thing than playing David Steckel, but the effect is harder to isolate.

So how do various coaches approach this issue? Follow after the jump for a look...

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If the Nashville Predators are going to return to the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons, they'll have to fight their way through what may be the NHL's most difficult remaining schedule.

A conversation this morning with Alec Brownscome of Maple Leafs Hot Stove prompted me to revisit some work I do each summer, compiling the NHL Super Schedule which focuses mostly on travel mileage and the number of back-to-back games played by each team in the league.

Once we bring into consideration the relative strength of the opponents each teams has faced so far, and what remains on their schedule, we can get some insight on which teams have an easier or more difficult road to the Stanley Cup playoffs. As it turns out, the Preds might have the toughest slate of remaining opponents in the entire league,

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Each summer I post the NHL Super Schedule, a detailed spreadsheet that fans can use to compare the difficulty of each team's schedule, as well as the total miles traveled by each team over the course of 82 games. I recently received a request to provide a different way of looking at the schedule, so wanted to add that followup here.

This spreadsheet which breaks down the entire NHL 2011-2012 regular season, along with Goals For and Goals Against per Game information for each team, and is freely available as a Google Spreadsheet that I've posted, so you can just copy & paste into your own document. It's sorted in date order, and all starting times are presented in Eastern Time (those start times may not be 100% accurate, as there have been a few minor changes since the initial schedule was posted).

One of the main differences here is that this spreadsheet contains only one line per game, rather than the Super Schedule which has separate lines for the home and road teams.

Enjoy!

One of the tougher questions to sort through this summer is whether or not the transition among the forward ranks for the Nashville Predators will work out to be a positive, or a negative. David Poile is certainly taking a gamble with his strategy of promoting from within, and relying upon more young players and bargain acquisitions like Niclas Bergfors. But what exactly was lost with the departure of the veteran forwards this summer, and how well can the kids fill that gap?

Follow after the jump as we dig into that question...

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With the Atlanta Thrashers relocating to Winnipeg while remaining in the Southeast Division, the potential loomed for an unbelievably difficult travel schedule during the upcoming 2011-12 NHL Regular Season. In fact, when I ran a simulation simply moving the team but replicating the previous year's schedule, it looks like the Winnipeg team would travel more than any squad in recent years.

Let's give the NHL's schedule makers a standing ovation, then, for doing a fine job accommodating that special situation, and doing a pretty fair job of reducing the burden on some other teams, as well. When I ran this year's numbers, I was shocked at some of the things I saw.

Follow after the jump, then, and check out your 2011-12 NHL Super Schedule...

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While Stephen Brunt of the Globe & Mail reported this evening that the deal to sell and move the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg is "done", with an announcement scheduled for Tuesday, numerous other respected hockey reporters (including Pierre LeBrun, Darren Dreger, and Bob McKenzie) are reporting from their sources that there are still issues being negotiated and that while this move is still likely to occur, it isn't a sure thing yet.

One interesting development, however, is Dreger's report from yesterday that the NHL's plan for the upcoming 2011-12 regular season is to keep the Winnipeg team in the Southeast Division for the time being:

...rather than rush in to making drastic changes, doing nothing for one season other than insert Winnipeg into Atlanta's spot in the Southeast will be the short term approach to give the NHL and its owners ample time to consider all of its realignment options.

Sources say NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is telling league owners nothing is going to change for one year, which confirms the theory above.

As Paul McCann joked on yesterday's SlapShot Radio show, Winnipeg isn't even in Southeast Canada! The impact of a team in Winnipeg participating in the NHL's Southeast Division creates a huge travel issue for not just the relocated team, but their division rivals as well.

Follow after the jump as we dig into the details...

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A playoff series tends to bring our attention to the narrowest of details, the battles within the battles which can sometimes turn the direction of a game, a series, and hence a team's entire season, in an instant. For the Ducks and Predators, one such battleground will be the faceoff dot. 

So follow after the jump for a detailed look (by zone on the ice, and manning situation) at how some of the key faceoff guys in this series have fared this season...

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One issue that has dogged the Nashville Predators in playoffs past has been their inability to win faceoffs consistently. Last year, their 12th-ranked performance among playoff teams contributed to their 1st-round loss, and against Detroit in 2008, they were outright dominated, particularly when the Preds were on the power play.

So how do things look as we head towards the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs? Yes, we know that Jerred Smithson is one of the best in the NHL on the dot, but what about the rest of the crew?

Follow after the jump as we detail how teams across the league compare in a variety of faceoff situations, and dig deep into how the various Preds perform...

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