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New Ways To Smell Old Stink: League Total Shots On Goal Since 2006-07

The numbers are so large, they're almost incomprehensible.

By Derek Zona
It's that kind of decade.
It's that kind of decade.
Marianne Helm

The Edmonton Oilers last went to the playoffs in April of 2006.  The well-balanced team was littered with veteran depth, a big-game winger in Ales Hemsky and a mountain man defender in Chris Pronger.  Since then the team has gone seven-and-a-half seasons without sniffing the post-season.  They've been the worst franchise in the game and they've "rebuilt" the team three different ways.  Over that time, the Oilers have played 591 games, winning just 229 of them.  They've used five coaches and three general managers to accomplish these incredible feats.  Their failures have been the topic of this site since inception, but we missed an angle that shows how bad the carnage, taken in totality, has been

Below is a table totaling the shots for and against for all 30 NHL franchises since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.

Team Games Shots For Shots Against Diff SF/G SA/G Diff/G
Detroit Red Wings 588 19,580 16,099 3,481 33.3 27.38 5.92
San Jose Sharks 589 18,951 16,437 2,514 32.17 27.91 4.27
Chicago Blackhawks 591 18,396 16,508 1,888 31.13 27.93 3.19
New York Rangers 591 18,174 16,878 1,296 30.75 28.56 2.19
New Jersey Devils 590 17,151 15,942 1,210 29.07 27.02 2.05
Los Angeles Kings 589 17,509 16,707 802 29.73 28.37 1.36
Pittsburgh Penguins 588 17,980 17,229 752 30.58 29.3 1.28
St. Louis Blues 587 16,763 16,270 493 28.56 27.72 0.84
Vancouver Canucks 590 17,649 17,419 231 29.91 29.52 0.39
Carolina Hurricanes 588 18,337 18,109 228 31.19 30.8 0.39
Ottawa Senators 589 18,113 17,937 177 30.75 30.45 0.3
Boston Bruins 588 18,184 18,126 58 30.92 30.83 0.1
Washington Capitals 589 17,971 18,009 -39 30.51 30.58 -0.07
Philadelphia Flyers 589 17,873 17,916 -43 30.34 30.42 -0.07
Anaheim Ducks 591 17,365 17,563 -198 29.38 29.72 -0.34
Toronto Maple Leafs 590 17,821 18,093 -272 30.2 30.67 -0.46
Colorado Avalanche 588 17,394 17,700 -306 29.58 30.1 -0.52
Columbus Blue Jackets 588 16,952 17,275 -323 28.83 29.38 -0.55
Dallas Stars 588 16,749 17,146 -397 28.48 29.16 -0.68
Tampa Bay Lightning 590 17,112 17,574 -462 29 29.79 -0.78
Calgary Flames 589 16,895 17,361 -466 28.68 29.48 -0.79
Buffalo Sabres 587 17,647 18,328 -681 30.06 31.22 -1.16
Nashville Predators 590 16,921 17,636 -716 28.68 29.89 -1.21
Phoenix Coyotes 588 17,543 18,297 -754 29.84 31.12 -1.28
Montréal Canadiens 589 17,425 18,238 -813 29.58 30.96 -1.38
New York Islanders 590 17,553 18,481 -929 29.75 31.32 -1.57
Florida Panthers 588 17,752 18,860 -1,108 30.19 32.07 -1.88
Minnesota Wild 591 16,240 17,668 -1,428 27.48 29.9 -2.42
Winnipeg Jets 590 17,274 18,798 -1,523 29.28 31.86 -2.58
Edmonton Oilers 591 16,018 18,708 -2,689 27.1 31.65 -4.55

The Oilers have been outshot by 2,689 shots over than span.  The next closest worst team, the Jets, are 1100 shots better - 2 per game - than the Oilers in 8 years.  The best team in the league by this measure, the Red Wings, have been 6000 shots better, more than 10 per game, than the Oilers.

After seven years and three rebuilds, the team should be better.  But the -4.8 shots per game differential in 2013-14 shows that the team is worse than their average as the worst team in the league.  As one of my fellow writers said:

"It's hard to believe there are still new ways to show how terrible this team has been for eight years."