Report: Kings to travel second-fewest miles in Pacific

Dirk Hoag, who works for Hockey Gear HQ and founded SB Nation Nashville Predators blog On the Forecheck, compiles an annual list of mileage logged by National Hockey League teams. It isn’t a completely definite, to-the-decimal-point-accurate account of road mileage, but it does a good job of previewing the expected amount of miles traveled per NHL team and is certainly worth a gander.

Hoag estimates that the Kings will travel 44,100 miles, which is the eighth-most in 2014-15. That’s well below L.A.’s 2013-14 predicted mileage of 48,432. Los Angeles’ nine back-to-back sets are tied with Winnipeg for the fewest in the league. The Kings had 14 back-to-back sets last year.

Amongst Pacific Division teams, the Coyotes will travel the most miles and are tied with Anaheim for the most back-to-back sets.

Arizona Coyotes — 49,818 / 13
Anaheim Ducks — 46,967 / 13
Edmonton Oilers — 45,597 / 11
San Jose Sharks — 45,318 / 11
Vancouver Canucks — 45,173 / 12
Los Angeles Kings — 44,100 / 9
Calgary Flames — 38,874 / 10

Arizona leads all NHL teams in mileage. Amongst the 10 teams with the most road miles traveled, only four are from outside the Pacific Division. Dallas ranks second with 48,216 miles traveled, Colorado ranks seventh with 44,167 miles, Florida ranks ninth at 42,786, and Nashville ranks 10th at 42,096. Philadelphia, which will travel approximately 31,272 miles this season, is the NHL’s least airborne team. Columbus and Buffalo will play 19 back-to-back sets, the most in the NHL.

For the full list of miles traveled, click here.