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Should the NHL Include OT in Tie Breakers?

***Update

So I ran the numbers for 2007-2010 and here are the correlations;

Variables Correlation
Reg to OT -0.08
Reg to SO -0.05
OT to SO 0.10

Interesting that this year has shown such a strong correlation as compared to previous years.

By my account it seems reasonable. Should they include SO wins? No, definitely no.

Day late and probably more than a dollar short today. This is mostly a data dump for your viewing pleasure. I took a look at how teams have performed in regulation, SO, and OT. Nothing really amazing here. SO wins are basically a coin toss, and this is confirmed in the data that shows there is an insignificant correlation between regulation wins, or OT wins, to SO wins. I wasn’t sure that OT wins was going to be that fantastic, but at 0.45, the correlation is much stronger than for SO wins. It’s not as high as a split-half correlation of regulation wins, but I think it’s high enough to justify including them for tie breaking purposes.

Here’s the data in table form, note that the team values are a bit out of date. I think this data was pulled a couple weeks ago. AP = average points.

Variables Correlation
Reg to OT 0.455545009
Reg to SO 0.151642047
OT to SO 0.164683056

Team Home Reg AP Home OT AP Home SO AP Away Reg AP Away OT AP Away SO AP Total Reg AP Total OT AP Total SO AP
ANA 1.10 1.33 2.00 0.77 1.00 1.17 0.94 1.17 1.58
BOS 1.13 1.50 1.67 1.00 2.00 1.83 1.07 1.75 1.75
BUF 1.04 1.57 1.29 0.64 1.00 2.00 0.84 1.29 1.64
CAR 1.10 1.67 1.00 0.67 1.11 1.00 0.89 1.39 1.00
CBJ 0.77 1.00 1.33 0.37 1.67 1.40 0.57 1.33 1.37
CGY 1.26 1.67 1.20 0.86 1.00 1.40 1.06 1.33 1.30
CHI 1.46 1.67 1.43 0.73 1.25 2.00 1.10 1.46 1.71
COL 0.89 2.00 1.80 0.85 1.25 1.83 0.87 1.63 1.82
DAL 1.00 2.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.50 1.50
DET 1.71 1.50 1.75 0.67 2.00 1.60 1.19 1.75 1.68
EDM 0.97 1.33 1.60 0.55 2.00 1.25 0.76 1.67 1.43
FLA 1.28 1.50 1.22 0.96 1.00 1.67 1.12 1.25 1.44
L.A 1.04 2.00 1.20 0.96 1.17 1.50 1.00 1.58 1.35
MIN 0.92 1.00 1.50 0.62 1.50 1.44 0.77 1.25 1.47
MTL 0.72 1.00 1.33 0.79 1.50 1.50 0.75 1.25 1.42
N.J 1.00 2.00 1.70 1.04 1.60 2.00 1.02 1.80 1.85
NSH 1.43 1.33 1.40 1.04 1.67 1.50 1.23 1.50 1.45
NYI 0.86 1.33 1.33 0.67 1.25 1.67 0.76 1.29 1.50
NYR 1.28 2.00 1.50 1.21 1.50 1.25 1.25 1.75 1.38
OTT 1.04 1.67 1.33 1.04 1.20 1.67 1.04 1.43 1.50
PHI 1.26 1.50 1.00 1.07 1.80 1.75 1.17 1.65 1.38
PHX 1.04 1.40 1.33 1.00 1.00 1.43 1.02 1.20 1.38
PIT 1.38 1.33 2.00 1.04 2.00 1.57 1.21 1.67 1.79
S.J 1.15 1.00 1.83 0.92 1.25 1.33 1.04 1.13 1.58
STL 1.67 1.67 1.25 0.89 2.00 1.43 1.28 1.83 1.34
T.B 1.11 1.86 1.00 0.54 1.40 1.50 0.82 1.63 1.25
TOR 0.96 1.25 1.25 0.62 1.75 1.67 0.79 1.50 1.46
VAN 1.20 2.00 1.17 1.12 1.67 1.63 1.16 1.83 1.40
WPG 1.38 1.50 1.00 0.42 1.40 1.80 0.90 1.45 1.40
WSH 1.23 1.86 1.33 0.73 1.33 1.50 0.98 1.60 1.42
Avg 1.17 1.55 1.44 0.83 1.45 1.56 1.00 1.50 1.50

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