The existence of random variance in hockey is not a controversial topic. Talk to any old-school lifer about a close series or a devastating loss and references to “puck luck” and “the hockey gods” are sure to come up. In the same vein, a stat-centric fan will namedrop terms like PDO and on-ice shooting percentage to quantify the impact of luck in driving results. While talent and execution obviously play huge roles in a team’s success, hockey is still a sport centered around a piece of rubber bouncing on ice. Weird things happen sometimes.



The 2016-17 Philadelphia Flyers were not immune to this phenomenon. In fact, general manager Ron Hextall specifically decried the team’s “bad luck” when describing his squad’s just-concluded season. And considering the Flyers’ odd underperformance in terms of goal scoring, there’s truth to Hextall’s assertion.



But there is a key distinction that often is glossed...