After much anticipation, the 2017-18 Super Schedule has arrived!
If you are new around here, our old headmaster Dirk Hoag (@Forechecker) began tracking the travel miles for NHL teams several years ago. It led to what has become known as the Super Schedule.
Here it is, including the number of back-to-backs, for each team this year and the last two years.
2017-18 Super Schedule
| Team | 2017-18 Miles | 2017-18 B2B | 2016-17 Miles | 2016-17 B2B | 2015-16 Miles | 2015-16 B2B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | 48,639 | 11 | 45,173 | 11 | 42,901 | 10 |
| Calgary Flames | 47,931 | 12 | 48,488 | 11 | 48,341 | 12 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 47,926 | 17 | 35,746 | 14 | 39,332 | 13 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 46,856 | 13 | 47,869 | 13 | 40,504 | 15 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 46,815 | 11 | 49,272 | 10 | 49,401 | 9 |
| Florida Panthers | 44,395 | 15 | 41,435 | 15 | 41,891 | 14 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 44,285 | 10 | 45,782 | 16 | 45,711 | 13 |
| Minnesota Wild | 43,970 | 15 | 39,175 | 14 | 40,976 | 15 |
| Dallas Stars | 43,929 | 12 | 45,091 | 10 | 48,419 | 12 |
| San Jose Sharks | 43,457 | 14 | 48,872 | 16 | 50,362 | 14 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 43,296 | 9 | 34,397 | 16 | 42,380 | 12 |
| St. Louis Blues | 42,421 | 16 | 38,738 | 12 | 40,649 | 12 |
| Nashville Predators | 42,366 | 11 | 39,027 | 13 | 36,971 | 12 |
| Las Vegas Golden Knights | 42,128 | 12 | ||||
| Anaheim Ducks | 42,032 | 11 | 44,121 | 14 | 44,653 | 11 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 41,719 | 13 | 42,042 | 16 | 40,974 | 13 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 39,915 | 14 | 45,742 | 16 | 43,750 | 13 |
| Ottawa Senators | 39,442 | 19 | 34,787 | 13 | 38,796 | 14 |
| Boston Bruins | 39,115 | 14 | 41,095 | 14 | 38,236 | 11 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 38,394 | 18 | 37,804 | 16 | 41,558 | 16 |
| New York Islanders | 37,836 | 16 | 32,425 | 16 | 35,015 | 15 |
| New York Rangers | 37,622 | 11 | 36,986 | 16 | 36,089 | 17 |
| Washington Capitals | 37,351 | 14 | 43,303 | 14 | 35,487 | 13 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 37,087 | 14 | 39,050 | 15 | 39,947 | 16 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 36,486 | 17 | 33,239 | 19 | 37,602 | 18 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 36,003 | 15 | 33,455 | 18 | 34,811 | 15 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 35,689 | 14 | 32,973 | 18 | 33,880 | 16 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 34,759 | 12 | 38,135 | 16 | 33,487 | 17 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 34,175 | 16 | 35,130 | 19 | 34,201 | 15 |
| New Jersey Devils | 34,052 | 16 | 32,945 | 18 | 36,271 | 12 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 34,041 | 19 | 33,388 | 15 | 33,660 | 17 |
Some interesting notes:
- The average mileage per team is 40,778, up from last year’s 39,856.
- There’s a new top two! Colorado and Calgary, previously 3rd and 7th on the list, will be traveling the most miles this year. They replace Edmonton and San Jose, who held the top two spots for the last two years running.
- New Jersey remains near the bottom of the list. This year they are joined by Pittsburgh, who has the least amount of travel at 34,041 miles. Finally! A break for the Penguins!
- Don’t worry, the Penguins didn’t get it too easy. They are tied with the Senators for the most number of back-to-backs at 19.
- The Predators only have 11 back-to-backs, down from 13 last year, though they add 3,339 miles to their travel this year.
- The Capitals lose the most mileage this year, traveling 5,952 fewer miles than last year.
- The Blackhawks add the most mileage to their schedule this year, clocking in at 12,180 more than last year. Heh.
- Vegas travels 42,128 miles this year, which is right around the league average. /
If you want, you can take a look at the full spreadsheet here, which has a number of other goodies like the number of days rest and the number of time zones jumped, going all the way back to 2008.
(Update: the spreadsheet at that link has been updated to reflect the Avalanche-Senators game being played in Stockholm, Sweden.)
As always, we appreciate Dirk’s help putting this together! You should go check out his website over here.