(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
This year, it’s hard to escape the phrase “condensed schedule.” Due to the Olympic break forcing the league to take almost three weeks off in the middle of the season, the NHL had to jam 82 games into a shorter span than ever before. From players to coaches to media, it’s a topic that seems to find its way into any and all analysis about team and player performance this year.
What if I were to tell you, though, the most condensed part of the schedule hasn’t even happened yet?
This first portion of the season is one of the more jammed portions of schedule in Vegas history, but it’s not the leader, and it pales in comparison to what’s to come.
Thus far, the Golden Knights have played 57 games in 121 days, for a rate of 2.12 days per game. The final 25 games will be played over a span of just 50 days or 2.00 days per game.
Season SegmentDaysGamesDays/GameRecordPoints PercentageDays/25 games
25-26 First121572.1227-16-140.59653.0
25-26 Second50252.0050.0
24-25 First123562.2033-17-60.64355.0
24-25 Second54262.0817-5-40.73152.0
23-24 First110502.2029-15-60.64055.0
23-24 Second73322.2816-14-20.53157.0
22-23 First110512.1629-18-40.60854.0
22-23 Second66312.1322-4-50.79053.3
21-22 First113462.4627-16-30.62061.5
21-22 Second81362.2516-15-50.51456.3
20-21 Full119562.1340-14-20.73253.1
19-20 First112522.1525-20-70.54853.8
19-20 Second39192.0514-4-10.76351.3
18-19 First112522.1529-19-40.59653.8
18-19 Second65302.1714-13-30.51754.2
17-18 First94412.2929-10-20.73257.3
17-18 Second85412.0722-14-50.59851.8
Oddly enough, the first “half” of last year’s schedule, due to 4 Nations, was a bit more condensed than this year’s. The most condensed portion so far was the last 19 games of the third season, which was cut short due to COVID. And, surprisingly, VGK’s first 41 games were actually more congested than the first 57 games thus far this season.
Statistically, there’s no significant correlation between tighter or more spread-out segments of the schedule for the Golden Knights. Their most successful segment occurred when they played games every 2.13 days while their next most was the most jam-packed one when they played once every 2.05 days.
It’s going to be a big topic of conversation when the games start up after the players return from the Olympics, but for the Golden Knights, it shouldn’t be a determining factor in whether they achieve their goals the rest of the way or not.
