While the NHL doesn't release these numbers publicly, all 30 NHL teams track their man-games lost to injury during the season.
Here are their totals, sorted by man-games lost per game, as of their most recent game:
Rank |
Team |
GP |
Pts |
MGL |
MGL/G |
1 |
Pittsburgh |
57 |
69 |
278 |
4.9 |
2 |
Montreal |
58 |
56 |
279 |
4.8 |
3 |
NY Islanders |
57 |
56 |
270 |
4.7 |
4 |
Buffalo |
57 |
54 |
252 |
4.4 |
5 |
Columbus |
57 |
40 |
252 |
4.4 |
6 |
Florida |
56 |
65 |
244 |
4.4 |
7 |
Calgary |
58 |
63 |
247 |
4.3 |
8 |
Winnipeg |
59 |
60 |
238 |
4.0 |
9 |
St. Louis |
57 |
77 |
229 |
4.0 |
10 |
Minnesota |
57 |
59 |
219 |
3.8 |
11 |
Philadelphia |
57 |
71 |
204 |
3.6 |
12 |
Edmonton |
56 |
50 |
195 |
3.5 |
13 |
Vancouver |
57 |
78 |
183 |
3.2 |
14 |
Toronto |
58 |
64 |
183 |
3.2 |
15 |
New Jersey |
56 |
68 |
176 |
3.1 |
16 |
Washington |
56 |
61 |
175 |
3.1 |
17 |
NY Rangers |
56 |
79 |
170 |
3.0 |
18 |
Colorado |
58 |
60 |
174 |
3.0 |
19 |
Tampa Bay |
57 |
56 |
168 |
2.9 |
20 |
Ottawa |
60 |
68 |
165 |
2.8 |
21 |
Anaheim |
57 |
57 |
156 |
2.7 |
22 |
Carolina |
57 |
53 |
129 |
2.3 |
23 |
Dallas |
57 |
61 |
120 |
2.1 |
24 |
Detroit |
58 |
80 |
118 |
2.0 |
25 |
Los Angeles |
58 |
65 |
112 |
1.9 |
26 |
Nashville |
57 |
72 |
102 |
1.8 |
27 |
San Jose |
55 |
69 |
97 |
1.8 |
28 |
Phoenix |
58 |
65 |
93 |
1.6 |
29 |
Chicago |
58 |
67 |
64 |
1.1 |
30 |
Boston |
55 |
72 |
41 |
0.7 |
Not surprisingly, many of the teams with few injuries are near the top of the standings, with all of the seven least injured teams currently in playoff position.
Not that there aren't issues with these numbers. Man-games lost counts a game missed by Sidney Crosby as valued at the same as a game by a fourth line winger, and it also counts players like Andrei Markov and Rick DiPietro who are often out for long stretches of the season.
Still, there is a correlation coefficient of roughly -0.35 between points in the standings and man-games lost this season.
It's very difficult to win anything in the NHL while having 400 MGL, which is what Pittsburgh and Montreal are on pace for.