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

Feb 17, 2012, 4:13 PM EDT

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:

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

(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.

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13 Comments (Feed for Comments)

back2backbees - Feb 17, 2012 at 4:19 PM

in honour of the habsman conspiracy theory….I’d like to thank Colin Cambell for the Bruins good fortune.
- drewzducks - Feb 17, 2012 at 4:25 PM
  
  Apparently all that praying in Montreal hasn’t really worked out.
- govtminion - Feb 17, 2012 at 5:19 PM
  
  Obviously he’s stacked the deck so the Bruins get the best medical care. It’s a conspiracy!
contraryguy - Feb 17, 2012 at 4:34 PM

And the least-healthy team in the Western Conference? As if you had to ask…
- hsnepts - Feb 17, 2012 at 7:50 PM
  
  At least its not St. Louis again this year.
  
  Seems like sometimes team injuries start to compound. Maybe its because when a couple of injuries start to pile up, more guys start having to play over their heads, and it just compounds from there.
brockohol - Feb 17, 2012 at 4:34 PM

interesting fact…the blues lineup has not once met the league minimum/floor this season. meaning, there had always been enough players pair of the lineup to make the overall salary of that games players below the cap floor. being that they started the season barely above the floor makes that fact slightly less remarkable…but makes their point total pretty remarkable
hsnepts - Feb 17, 2012 at 5:35 PM

I’d like to see these stats scaled by player salary of some other stat that measures the quality of each player.
- jpelle82 - Feb 17, 2012 at 5:53 PM
  
  pittsburgh probably still in 1st then
dolanster - Feb 17, 2012 at 6:45 PM

Guess that doesn’t include Marc Savard.
- hsnepts - Feb 17, 2012 at 7:47 PM
  
  heh, obviously James Mirtle made a few mistakes in his stats.
nsmiff87 - Feb 17, 2012 at 7:44 PM

Get better pens
bcisleman - Feb 17, 2012 at 7:57 PM

Isles have been most consistent there. DiPietro has been a big part of it but there have been a lot of other injuries as well. Have to find a way to kick the injury bug to advance in the NHL.
finfan88shark - Feb 18, 2012 at 1:19 AM

This article is not even close to accurate. Just looking at the Sharks alone, James Sheppard, and Antero Niittymaki have missed every game this season. Havlat is hurt like always and has missed something like 25 games. By my count alone San Jose is well above 250 in man games missed. But pretty typical of a Toronto paper, and NBC sports, because you guys always forget western teams. Bet the Globe Writer could not mention 15 Sharks players.