The Columbus Blue Jackets are last in the NHL in regulation wins.
The team has won only three contests after 60 minutes this season, two wins behind the next closest team.
At first glance, this statistic holds several negative implications, the biggest being that the Blue Jackets are a couple overtime results away from being at the bottom of the league standings overall.
8 of the Blue Jackets 19 games this year have gone past regulation and in these games the club has obtained 12 points. While 12 points in 8 games seems impressive, this fact results mainly from the concept of the "loser point." The Blue Jackets are only 4-4 in overtime and shootouts, but because every team in overtime is guaranteed at least a point, this number is inflated.
Outside of these 8 overtime and shootout games, the Blue Jackets have a record of 3 wins and 8 losses. That's not good.
The good news is that while the team is struggling, they're still obtaining points. It's the reality of playing in a league with a loser point, that teams that aren't winning can still make progress in the standings. It's important to force as many games to overtime in order to bank points.
The Blue Jackets have been doing just that by taking nearly half of their games beyond 60 minutes.
If the Blue Jackets do improve and make their way up the Metropolitan Division standings, these points will undoubtedly benefit the team, as compared to if they had just lost the games in regulation.
If we are seeing the Blue Jackets at their worst, they are still managing to create point-obtaining situations and there are reasons to believe better play is on the way. 1st Ohio Battery has already reported on the Blue Jackets' extremely low shooting percentage and struggles to create scoring chances. But there are indications this number may rise.
This indication is through the statistic, PDO. PDO is a statistical measure of luck in hockey that states a team's shooting percentage and save percentage should on average equal 1. Teams with a PDO above 1 are possibly over-performing or "lucky," and the teams with PDO below 1 under-performing or "unlucky."
The Columbus Blue Jackets' PDO is .983, suggesting a possible, positive regression to the mean in the future. Hopefully for the team, it comes in a rise in shooting percentage. As the team is getting around league average goaltending, the statistics suggest the dismal shooting percentage will improve.
The Blue Jackets are dead-last in the NHL in regulation wins, and while this fact means many bad things for a struggling team, there are suggestions there is improvement in the future.
