More on successful franchises

Before I get started here, one quick note to point out that the WHL has released the official schedule for 2009-10. You can find it on the WHL site.

Back to the league's most successful franchises for some more analysis now.....just for the heck of it, I decided to take a look at regular season success as well. So, the WHL's most successful franchises based on average regular season points over the last five years:

Team	08-09	07-08	06-07	05-06	04-05	Avg
Vancouver	119	106	100	100	76	100.2
Calgary	122	99	85	101	83	98
Medicine Hat	79	93	107	103	96	95.6
Kootenay	78	92	104	94	104	94.4
Brandon	101	90	93	70	96	90
Tri-City	101	108	96	67	64	87.2
Kelowna	98	84	53	96	104	87
Seattle	75	91	88	76	91	84.2
Everett	63	81	111	85	77	83.4
Saskatoon	103	67	58	88	86	80.4
Spokane	95	107	80	58	58	79.6
Lethbridge	75	96	71	63	91	79.2
Swift Current	86	89	69	62	53	71.8
Regina	60	94	80	85	34	70.6
Kamloops	72	58	86	73	61	70
Moose Jaw	41	88	59	96	39	64.6
Red Deer	60	43	79	58	82	64.4
Prince Albert	67	57	60	61	71	63.2
Edmonton	67	55	n/a	n/a	n/a	61
Prince George	53	44	74	76	57	60.8
Chilliwack	45	65	57	n/a	n/a	55.7
Portland	43	25	37	72	80	51.4

If 100 points is considered the gold standard for a very successful season, the Vancouver Giants have averaged that number over the last five years. In fact, they've hit the century mark for four straight years now.

At the low end of the scale....well, apart from Edmonton and Chilliwack, who can be forgiven their low totals for being expansion teams, you have eight other teams that have not averaged .500, including the Cougars and Winter Hawks (I'll put the space in there because the space-less team hasn't played a game yet!) who have averaged worse than the expansion team(s).

And over the last ten years:

Team	03-04	02-03	01-02	00-01	99-00	Avg
Kootenay	74	83	83	100	102	91.4
Calgary	82	63	72	82	120	90.9
Kelowna	98	109	77	86	57	86.2
Vancouver	81	61	36	n/a	n/a	84.9
Brandon	68	98	92	72	59	83.9
Everett	80	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	82.8
Swift Current	79	86	97	95	101	81.7
Medicine Hat	92	67	66	56	54	81.3
Red Deer	85	105	100	114	73	79.9
Spokane	75	62	80	79	100	79.4
Seattle	65	94	53	69	80	78.2
Kamloops	78	84	85	79	78	75.4
Tri-City	76	48	72	57	57	74.6
Regina	59	69	92	85	75	73.3
Lethbridge	71	61	72	66	59	72.5
Moose Jaw	91	86	68	77	63	70.8
Saskatoon	27	85	62	48	79	70.3
Prince George	68	57	79	70	95	67.3
Prince Albert	87	62	57	43	65	63
Edmonton	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	61
Portland	77	51	83	82	39	58.9
Chilliwack	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	55.7

After comparing these charts to the ones of playoff success, I don't think there is a huge variation....teams that have consistently had some regular season success have generally also had some playoff success. No surprise there really, I guess....

UPDATE: A reader has thoughtfully compiled the complete records for the top teams over the last decade:

	W	L	T	OTL	SOL	Pts
Kootenay	413	219	42	11	15	894
Calgary	417	226	34	10	13	891
Kelowna	389	245	29	30	14	852
Medicine Hat	367	274	26	13	13	786
Vancouver	304	201	24	11	26	669
Kamloops	332	318	37	10	11	722
Brandon	359	260	17	15	17	767
Spokane	354	281	40	10	16	774
Red Deer	355	284	38	10	22	780
Kamloops	327	307	40	8	17	719