An Olympic funk?

We’ve heard a lot, in the past month, about an “Olympic hangover” for teams that had several players participating in the Games. Is it a reality? Not according to the numbers. Detroit had eight Olympians and is 12-2-1 since the break. Edmonton had two and is 5-9-1 since the break. There are some exceptions, but at least in the West, the teams that have had some of the most success since the break are the teams that were out of the playoffs (Detroit, St. Louis, Columbus, Minnesota), while teams such as Chicago, San Jose and the Kings have struggled more. Below are the NHL’s post-Olympic “standings” for each conference, with each team’s number of Olympians listed in parenthesis. Also, Terry Murray gave his thoughts on his team’s Olympians, and whether the experience might be able to help his players in the playoffs…

WESTERN CONFERENCE
(8) Detroit 12-2-1
(4) Nashville 11-5-1
(3) Phoenix 10-4-1
(7) Vancouver 9-4-2
(3) St. Louis 9-5-0
(3) Calgary 9-6-0
(6) Columbus 7-4-3
(5) Minnesota 7-7-2
(7) Anaheim 7-6-1
(8) San Jose 7-7-1
(6) Chicago 6-7-2
(5) Kings 6-7-2
(4) Dallas 6-8-2
(3) Colorado 6-8-1
(2) Edmonton 5-9-1

EASTERN CONFERENCE
(5) Buffalo 10-5-1
(4) Washington 8-2-4
(3) Carolina 9-5-2
(6) Toronto 9-5-2
(5) Pittsburgh 8-4-3
(5) Montreal 8-4-2
(5) Atlanta 8-7-2
(6) New Jersey 7-5-3
(6) Boston 8-7-1
(4) NY Rangers 6-5-3
(4) Philadelphia 6-7-3
(1) NY Islanders 6-6-2
(2) Florida 6-7-2
(5) Ottawa 6-7-1
(4) Tampa Bay 5-10-1

MURRAY: “For the young guys that were involved in it, there’s no question. The focus on the U.S.-Canadian game, in particular, was incredible. The level of play, the pace of the play, and I think the guys we had in those games, especially, were very good and contributed to their teams. So yeah, they’ve got to draw on that later on.”