Strength of schedule
Columbus Blue Jackets Strength of Schedule 2026-27
Columbus Blue Jackets faces the 29th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.81 standings points against an average slate over 76 games (opponents' points % .565). Over the next 10 days: 3 games, the 30th-easiest slate (−0.30), 0 on off-nights and 0 back-to-backs.
| Window | GP | H/R | Edge | Rank | Opp P% | Opp xGF% | B2B | Rest +/− | Off-night | Travel km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| So far | 8 | 6/2 | +0.22 | 9 | .564 | 50.9 | 2 | 4/2 | 3 | 3,264 |
| Next 10 days | 3 | 1/2 | −0.30 | 30 | .604 | 51.7 | 0 | 1/0 | 0 | 1,220 |
| Rest of season | 76 | 36/40 | −0.81 | 29 | .565 | 50.1 | 11 | 17/17 | 30 | 57,704 |
| Full season | 84 | 42/42 | −0.57 | 28 | .565 | 50.2 | 13 | 21/19 | 33 | 60,968 |
| Week 4 | 2 | 2/0 | +0.11 | 8 | .568 | 50.1 | 0 | 2/0 | 0 | 995 |
Rank: 1 = easiest of 32. Edge: standings points against an average slate of the same length.
Columbus Blue Jackets team page · week 4 (Oct 19-25) for every team
Game-by-game calendar
Coloured by opponent strength (points % rank, blended with last season). The percentage is how often an average team wins that game at that venue. Played games are faded with the result.
- Top 6
- 7th–13th
- 14th–19th
- 20th–26th
- Bottom 6
October 2026 · 12 games
- Thu, Oct 1vs BUF 48%W 6-3 · off-night
- Sat, Oct 3vs UTA 51%L 1-4
- Fri, Oct 9vs PIT 56%W 2-2 · off-night
- Sat, Oct 10@ STL 49%L 3-5 · B2B
- Tue, Oct 13vs FLA 54%L 3-7
- Sat, Oct 17vs NYR 55%W 1-0
- Sun, Oct 18@ MIN 40%L 1-2 · B2B · off-night
- Tue, Oct 20vs TOR 58%L 2-6
- Sat, Oct 24vs VGK 48%
- Tue, Oct 27@ PHI 50%
- Thu, Oct 29@ CAR 36%
- Sat, Oct 31@ DAL 39%1,692 km
November 2026 · 13 games
- Tue, Nov 3vs COL 45%1,469 km
- Thu, Nov 5vs DAL 46%
- Fri, Nov 6@ BUF 41%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Nov 10vs FLA 54%off-night
- Thu, Nov 12vs TBL 46%
- Sat, Nov 14vs PHI 57%
- Tue, Nov 17@ NYI 46%
- Thu, Nov 19@ CHI 57%1,171 km
- Sat, Nov 21@ TOR 51%
- Mon, Nov 23@ NJD 48%off-night
- Wed, Nov 25vs NJD 55%
- Fri, Nov 27vs DET 55%
- Mon, Nov 30@ PIT 49%off-night
December 2026 · 15 games
- Thu, Dec 3@ CAR 36%
- Sat, Dec 5@ NSH 48%
- Mon, Dec 7@ TBL 39%off-night · 1,000 km
- Thu, Dec 10vs MIN 47%1,338 km
- Sat, Dec 12vs MTL 49%
- Sun, Dec 13@ NYR 48%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Dec 15vs CAR 42%
- Thu, Dec 17vs SEA 56%off-night
- Sat, Dec 19vs LAK 58%off-night
- Mon, Dec 21@ PHI 50%off-night
- Tue, Dec 22vs MTL 49%B2B
- Sat, Dec 26@ WSH 46%
- Sun, Dec 27vs EDM 48%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Dec 29@ MTL 42%
- Thu, Dec 31vs WSH 53%off-night
January 2027 · 15 games
- Sat, Jan 2vs BOS 47%
- Sun, Jan 3@ NYR 48%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Jan 5vs NYR 55%off-night
- Thu, Jan 7@ NJD 48%
- Fri, Jan 8vs BUF 48%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Jan 12@ CGY 56%2,687 km
- Fri, Jan 15@ EDM 41%off-night
- Sat, Jan 16@ VAN 63%B2B
- Mon, Jan 18@ SEA 49%
- Thu, Jan 21vs CGY 63%3,233 km
- Sat, Jan 23@ OTT 42%
- Sun, Jan 24vs ANA 56%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Jan 26@ BOS 40%1,034 km
- Thu, Jan 28vs WPG 57%1,034 km
- Sat, Jan 30vs DET 55%
February 2027 · 11 games
- Mon, Feb 8@ TOR 51%off-night
- Tue, Feb 9@ OTT 42%B2B · off-night
- Thu, Feb 11vs OTT 49%off-night
- Sat, Feb 13@ BOS 40%1,034 km
- Mon, Feb 15@ COL 38%2,842 km
- Wed, Feb 17@ UTA 44%off-night
- Thu, Feb 18@ VGK 41%B2B
- Sat, Feb 20vs NSH 55%2,835 km
- Mon, Feb 22vs NYI 53%off-night
- Fri, Feb 26vs NJD 55%off-night
- Sat, Feb 27vs NYI 53%B2B
March 2027 · 13 games
- Mon, Mar 1vs CAR 42%off-night
- Wed, Mar 3@ SJS 49%off-night · 3,364 km
- Fri, Mar 5@ LAK 51%off-night
- Sun, Mar 7@ ANA 49%off-night
- Thu, Mar 11vs VAN 70%3,155 km
- Sat, Mar 13vs SJS 56%
- Tue, Mar 16vs PIT 56%off-night
- Thu, Mar 18@ DET 48%
- Sat, Mar 20@ WPG 50%1,369 km
- Mon, Mar 22@ PIT 49%off-night · 1,700 km
- Thu, Mar 25vs CHI 64%
- Sat, Mar 27vs STL 56%
- Tue, Mar 30@ FLA 47%1,556 km
April 2027 · 5 games
- Thu, Apr 1@ TBL 39%off-night
- Sat, Apr 3@ WSH 46%1,318 km
- Tue, Apr 6vs WSH 53%
- Thu, Apr 8vs PHI 57%off-night
- Sat, Apr 10@ NYI 46%
How opponents see Columbus Blue Jackets
The rating other teams' schedules use for Columbus Blue Jackets after 8 games (26th of 32 by blended points %). Prior: last season pulled 40% toward the league average.
| Stat | This season | Prior | Weight | Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points % | .375 | .561 | 17% | .530 |
| 5v5 xGF% | 49.5 | 50.9 | 29% | 50.5 |
| Goals for / GP | 2.38 | 3.03 | 21% | 2.89 |
| Goals against / GP | 3.63 | 3.07 | 21% | 3.19 |
| Shots against / GP | 27.8 | 28.4 | 44% | 28.1 |
| Pts allowed to C / GP | 3.25 | 2.96 | 16% | 3.00 |
| Pts allowed to W / GP | 4.25 | 3.18 | 16% | 3.35 |
| Pts allowed to D / GP | 2.50 | 2.17 | 16% | 2.22 |
How much does schedule matter?
Not much over a season, more over a week. With perfect hindsight about every opponent, a normal 82-game NHL schedule moved a team by at most about 2.0 standings points from an average one (2018-19 to 2025-26; the 2020-21 divisional season was the exception at a standard deviation of 1.9).
Forecasting test: we trained on 2018-19 to 2022-23 and tested on 2023-24 to 2025-26 (96 team-seasons). At game 41, adding the remaining schedule to a team's own blended rating left the error of its rest-of-season points % unchanged (0.0810 without, 0.0810 with). A one-standard-deviation tougher remaining schedule is worth about 0.7 standings points over 41 games. That is noise next to a team's own quality, so we do not treat season SOS as a betting or futures edge.
Single games are different: a team facing an opponent one standard deviation weaker in goals against scores about 0.23 more goals that night (holdout 2023-24 to 2025-26, 7,872 team-games). Game lines already price the opponent, so this helps fantasy lineups, not bets.
How strength of schedule is measured
For every game we take the opponent's rating and ask how many standings points an average NHL team would expect against it, at that venue. Adding those up over a window and comparing with an average slate of the same length gives the schedule edge in standings points: positive means easier. The opponent rating is points %, blended with last season early in the year. Opponent xGF%, goals and shots per game are shown beside it.
Opponent ratings this early carry a lot of last season: on Oct 21 the typical team has played 8 games, so its rating is 17% this season and the rest last season. Over a full season even perfect knowledge of every opponent moves a team only about ±2 standings points.
For fantasy, short windows matter most: the next 10 days and the fantasy week, where off-nights, back-to-backs and weak opponents stack up. For standings or futures, treat the season numbers as a tiebreaker, not a forecast.
Metropolitan Division schedules
Frequently asked questions
Does Columbus Blue Jackets have an easy schedule in 2026-27?
Columbus Blue Jackets faces the 29th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.81 standings points against an average slate over 76 games (opponents' points % .565). Over the next 10 days: 3 games, the 30th-easiest slate (−0.30), 0 on off-nights and 0 back-to-backs.
How many back-to-backs does Columbus Blue Jackets have left?
11 of its remaining 76 games are the second night of a back-to-back, with 57,704 km of travel still to come.