2009 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Mileage

The road to the Stanley Cup is an intense and exhausting one regardless of route. It's length in miles, however, varies greatly according to matchup.

The chart below shows total miles and average miles per round accrued by teams in the 2009 NHL playoffs. All figures include a trip home after each round save Chicago's direct route to Vancouver from Calgary between their first and second series.

Total Miles-----Avg/Round
ANA: 13,120----''ANA: 6,560
CHI: 10,924-----'CLG: 5,596
VAN: 10,642-----VAN: 5,321
DET: 9,510-------CHI: 3,641
CAR: 6,814-------STL: 3,550
CLG: 5,596-------DET: 2,377
PIT: 4,062-------'CAR: 2,271
STL: 3,550-------'NJD: 1,672
BOS: 2,934-------'SJS: 1,312
NJD: 1,672-------NYR: 1,236
WAS: 1,580------'PHI: 1,016
SJS: 1,312--------'PIT: 1,015
NYR: 1,236-------BOS: 978
PHI: 1,016-------'WAS: 790
MTL: 502--------'MTL: 502
CLB: 328---------'CLB: 328

This postseason Anaheim managed the most total miles (13,120), miles in a round (11,808), and average miles per round (6,560). Columbus ended up with the fewest in each category (328) falling prey to a seven day perfect sweep by Central division rival Detroit.

The Ducks' second round travels alone amounted to more than any team gathered in the entire playoffs and 1,228 more than the lowest eight team totals combined. In fact, their two round total travel was only 452 miles shy of the Cup Finalists two month combined mileage.

Pittsburgh was perhaps the luckiest of all logging less than half that of their rematched Finals foes posting 5,448 fewer than Detroit to be precise. Amazingly they collected 1,534 less in their 58 day playoff run than Calgary did in their 11 days, averaging a modest 1,015 miles per round.

Whether this schedule bliss led to the extra Game 7 goal they needed to win it all we'll never know. Suffice to say, it certainly couldn't have hurt.