Results Comparison: The Explanation

This will be an ongoing look at the Leafs current season compared to last year. I got the idea from RAWK a Liverpool FC forum that has run similar comparisons over the past couple of seasons. There are two comparisons, one based on the equivalent fixtures from last season and one based on the game number.

The equivalent fixtures comparison looks at the games based on the same game from last year. So this year's opening trio of games that went Ottawa - Home, Ottawa - Away, and Montreal - Home are compared to last year's first game at home against Ottawa, first game away to Ottawa, and first game at home against Montreal. The order of comparison is based on this season's schedule.

The one problem is that because of this terrible unbalanced schedule the Leafs do not play all of the same opponents. Last year we visited the Northwest Division and hosted the Pacific Division. This year we host the Northwest and visit the Central. Therefore, the Northwest games will still correspond but the Central games will be compared with the Pacific games based on last year's finish in the standings. Therefore Dallas becomes Detroit, San Jose becomes Nashville, Anaheim becomes Columbus, Los Angeles becomes Chicago, and Phoenix becomes St. Louis.

The comparison based on the game number is a bit more in-depth for now and matches game # 1 of last season with this game # 1 of this season, # 2 with #2.

With all of that explained here is the first installment.