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Last week, we examined the correlation between face-off success and overall team success in the standings. This week, let’s take a look at whether there is a correlation between penalty minutes and overall team success.
Here are the team penalty minute totals from the lockout through last season:
2005-06 PIM
NJD 938
TBL 937
SJS 1044
DET 1103
CAR 1107
BUF 1144
BOS 1162
COL 1152
NYR 1182
PHI 1187
EDM 1182
MIN 1189
NYI 1248
FLA 1255
MTL 1314
ATL 1318
STL 1355
TOR 1378
CBJ 1396
ANA 1445
OTT 1442
LAK 1440
VAN 1465
CGY 1464
DAL 1484
WSH 1473
PHX 1493
NSH 1517
CHI 1518
PIT 1539
2006-07 PIM
NJD 822
MIN 850
COL 864
TBL 891
SJS 939
DET 958
CAR 1007
NYI 1038
ATL 1071
NYR 1087
DAL 1111
MTL 1119
TOR 1127
OTT 1161
NSH 1155
FLA 1163
BUF 1182
CGY 1182
VAN 1190
STL 1203
WSH 1217
LAK 1215
PIT 1211
BOS 1232
EDM 1263
PHI 1285
CHI 1316
CBJ 1337
PHX 1417
ANA 1427
2007-08 PIM
DET 933
LAK 930
NJD 956
WSH 953
COL 973
BUF 990
FLA 1002
NSH 1015
TBL 1022
NYI 1023
BOS 1051
SJS 1061
ATL 1057
TOR 1079
MTL 1072
MIN 1086
STL 1137
NYR 1142
EDM 1149
OTT 1153
DAL 1162
PIT 1155
CAR 1165
PHX 1175
CBJ 1303
CGY 1328
CHI 1371
PHI 1457
VAN 1458
ANA 1465
2008-09 PIM
CAR 786
DET 810
MIN 869
FLA 884
NSH 982
BOS 1016
WSH 1021
SJS 1037
NJD 1038
COL 1044
PHX 1074
OTT 1084
PIT 1106
BUF 1105
TOR 1113
DAL 1134
CHI 1129
NYR 1175
LAK 1191
NYI 1198
CBJ 1207
MTL 1223
EDM 1227
STL 1226
ATL 1244
CGY 1281
TBL 1280
VAN 1323
ANA 1418
PHI 1408
Those are the season-by-season totals, but here are the total penalty minute numbers since the lockout:
Teams Total_PIM Ranking
NJD 3754 1
DET 3804 2
MIN 3994 3
COL 4033 4
CAR 4065 5
SJS 4081 6
TBL 4130 7
FLA 4303 8
BUF 4421 9
BOS 4461 10
NYI 4507 11
NYR 4586 12
WSH 4664 13
NSH 4669 14
ATL 4690 15
TOR 4697 16
MTL 4728 17
LAK 4776 18
EDM 4821 19
OTT 4840 20
DAL 4891 21
STL 4921 22
PIT 5011 23
PHX 5159 24
CBJ 5243 25
CGY 5255 26
CHI 5334 27
PHI 5337 28
VAN 5436 29
ANA 5755 30
Now, here are the total points accumulated by each team since the lockout:
Teams Pts_Since_Lockout Ranking
DET 464 1
SJS 431 2
NJD 413 3
BUF 404 4
ANA 401 5
DAL 399 6
NSH 395 7
OTT 395 8
CGY 391 9
CAR 389 10
NYR 386 11
VAN 385 12
MTL 380 13
MIN 375 14
PIT 364 15
BOS 360 16
COL 354 17
PHI 351 18
FLA 349 19
TOR 345 20
WSH 342 21
ATL 339 22
EDM 339 23
CHI 328 24
TBL 322 25
CBJ 319 26
NYI 310 27
PHX 310 28
STL 309 29
LAK 307 30
Surprise, surprise Detroit is once again at the top of another rankings list since the lockout. The job Ken Holland and company have done in Motown is truly amazing. No surprise again, that Buffalo, San Jose and New Jersey are also sitting at the top of both rankings list. That said, we once again see a mix up of the rankings as we move further on down each list. What stands out most may be the Anaheim Ducks—a traditionally undisciplined team—sitting fifth in total points since the lockout, but with the most penalty minutes in the entire NHL over that same period. In fact, the next closest team is more than 300 penalty minutes behind the Ducks.
So, what do these total numbers above tell us? As you may think, taking less penalties does affect winning games. Using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, the findings establish that there is a -0.31 correlation between taking penalties and accumulating points in the standings since the lockout. Meaning that, teams that take more penalties tend to accumulate fewer points in the standings. Granted, this is a weaker correlation by statistical standards, however it is absolutely worth noting. While obvious it may be, there is the possibility that other variables associated with penalty killing, such as face-off winning percentages which I wrote about last week, could be inter-related.
Richard Pollock is Editor for the hockey website Illegal Curve. | 
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