Jets need to improve at home and on road

Posted by Richard Pollock in Columns,Features,General Jets News,Winnipeg Jets on August 29, 2011 — 1 Comment

Much has been made of the Winnipeg Jets and the team’s opportunity to improve upon its record last season because of home-ice momentum. Few will argue that MTS Centre is going to be one of, if not, the loudest buildings in the NHL next season. However, the first question is, where do the Jets need to improve? Was this team poor on the road last season? Was it alright at home?

Let’s take a look at the home and road goal differential totals for the Jets/Thrashers relative to the rest of the NHL:

More after the jump.

Here are the NHL home goal differentials from last season:

Team	Games Played	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Differential
VANCOUVER	41	133	89	44
BOSTON	41	124	89	35
SAN JOSE	41	128	100	28
WASHINGTON	41	122	94	28
TAMPA BAY	41	134	107	27
NY RANGERS	41	125	98	27
PHILADELPHIA	41	130	104	26
NASHVILLE	41	114	88	26
PITTSBURGH	41	116	94	22
CHICAGO	41	128	108	20
CALGARY	41	134	114	20
DALLAS	41	114	96	18
ST LOUIS	41	119	102	17
ANAHEIM	41	126	109	17
MONTREAL	41	111	95	16
BUFFALO	41	123	110	13
CAROLINA	41	124	112	12
LOS ANGELES	41	106	96	10
PHOENIX	41	115	107	8
NY ISLANDERS	41	131	123	8
DETROIT	41	129	127	2
FLORIDA	41	105	106	-1
TORONTO	41	107	114	-7
NEW JERSEY	41	92	100	-8
MINNESOTA	41	104	115	-11
ATLANTA	41	103	116	-13
COLUMBUS	41	104	122	-18
OTTAWA	41	94	114	-20
EDMONTON	41	89	119	-30
COLORADO	41	119	150	-31

What about the road differential?

VANCOUVER	41	125	91	34
BOSTON	41	120	100	20
DETROIT	41	128	110	18
PHILADELPHIA	41	126	112	14
CHICAGO	41	124	112	12
PITTSBURGH	41	112	102	10
SAN JOSE	41	115	108	7
LOS ANGELES	41	103	100	3
NY RANGERS	41	99	97	2
WASHINGTON	41	97	97	0
BUFFALO	41	117	118	-1
PHOENIX	41	111	113	-2
NASHVILLE	41	99	102	-3
CALGARY	41	107	116	-9
ST LOUIS	41	117	126	-9
MONTREAL	41	102	111	-9
MINNESOTA	41	99	113	-14
ANAHEIM	41	109	124	-15
CAROLINA	41	107	122	-15
TAMPA BAY	41	107	127	-20
DALLAS	41	108	130	-22
COLUMBUS	41	106	128	-22
TORONTO	41	106	131	-25
NEW JERSEY	41	79	107	-28
FLORIDA	41	86	116	-30
ATLANTA	41	115	146	-31
COLORADO	41	102	137	-35
OTTAWA	41	96	131	-35
EDMONTON	41	102	141	-39
NY ISLANDERS	41	94	135	-41

The Thrashers were nothing if not consistent, as the team was the fifth worst in terms of goal differential at home and fifth worst in goal differential on the road. All in all, some terrible figures.

On Wednesday, we will look at how much of an effect playing in front of a packed house may or may not have on the Jets’ chances next season.