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Which teams have lost the most man-games to injury?

newmarkovinjuryphoto

James O’Brien

Over at the Globe and Mail, James Mirtle has compiled a list of man-games lost to injury by all 30 NHL teams -- and unsurprisingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens have topped the charts:

RankTeamGPPtsMGLMGL/G
1Pittsburgh57692784.9
2Montreal58562794.8
3NY Islanders57562704.7
4Buffalo57542524.4
5Columbus57402524.4
6Florida56652444.4
7Calgary58632474.3
8Winnipeg59602384.0
9St. Louis57772294.0
10Minnesota57592193.8
11Philadelphia57712043.6
12Edmonton56501953.5
13Vancouver57781833.2
14Toronto58641833.2
15New Jersey56681763.1
16Washington56611753.1
17NY Rangers56791703.0
18Colorado58601743.0
19Tampa Bay57561682.9
20Ottawa60681652.8
21Anaheim57571562.7
22Carolina57531292.3
23Dallas57611202.1
24Detroit58801182.0
25Los Angeles58651121.9
26Nashville57721021.8
27San Jose5569971.8
28Phoenix5865931.6
29Chicago5867641.1
30Boston5572410.7

(MGL = Man Games Lost. MGL/G = Man Games Lost per Game.)

Only six Penguins have played all 57 games this year -- Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, Steve Sullivan, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz and James Neal -- and the team has dressed a whopping 34 different skaters. That said, the most staggering statistic is probably how Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Jordan Staal have combined to miss 99 games, yet Pittsburgh still finds itself fifth in the Eastern Conference, three points back of second-place Boston.

Montreal’s had a far tougher time coping with equally devastating injuries. Captain Brian Gionta has missed 27 games, $7 million-man Scott Gomez has missed 30, offensive defenseman Chris Campoli has missed 38 while Andrei Markov -- arguably the team’s best blueliner and power play QB -- has missed all 58 games while dealing with a re-occurring knee issue. Injuries are a big reason why Montreal has the NHL’s third-worst home record (11-12-8).

As for the healthiest teams? The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins have been nothing short of remarkable, especially considering their short offseason. Over half the roster has played in at least 50 of 55 games, though the B’s have run into injury trouble lately with Nathan Horton (concussion) and Rich Peverley (MCL sprain) out for the foreseeable future.

Finally -- it’s interesting to note that of the healthier teams, Anaheim and Carolina have failed to take advantage. The Ducks are an especially curious case given the big four -- Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf -- haven’t missed a game and goalie Jonas Hiller has made 51 appearances, second-most in the league.