Now enjoying the third full day of their five-day bye week, the Sharks can start thinking about the Vancouver Canucks. I think. I’m actually not sure if they’re allowed to think about hockey during the week. Well, we can think about it anyway. What started as a hunch (that teams coming off their bye week play poorly and lose a lot) has now blossomed into this post. So do the numbers back it up?
In a word: Yes! Teams sure lose a lot when coming off their bye week. 20 teams have taken their bye week so far and have lost 14 times when exiting them (I’m lumping overtime and regulation losses together here).