Avalanche are best team in NHL, and their staggering numbers prove it

The Colorado Avalanche were 6-0 winners against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night, continuing their early-season domination of the NHL. With Wednesday's win, they find themselves with the best record in the NHL at 17-1-5, opening up a substantial gap between them and the rest of the NHL.

It is not just the fact that the Avalanche have the best record in the NHL that is impressive. It is how much better they have been than everybody else. There is nobody even close to them.

Staggering numbers from Avalanche start to season

Just how good have the Avalanche been? Let's just look at some quick numbers for some perspective.

• Their 39 standings points are five more than any other team in the NHL as of Thursday, while they are one of just three teams (Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils being the other two) that have even more than 30 points.
• By points percentage, their .848 mark is also by far the highest in the NHL. The gap between them and the second-best team by points percentage (Dallas at .708) is the same as the gap between Dallas and the 18th-best team in the league (Utah Mammoth at .563).
• Their plus-44 goal differential is 28 goals better than the second-best team in the NHL. The gap between them and the second-best team (Dallas, again) is larger than the gap between Dallas and the No. 27 team in goal differential (the San Jose Sharks). 
• They lead the NHL in both goals per game (4.09) and have allowed the fewest goals per game (2.09). 
• From an advanced analytics perspective, their expected goals share of 58.35% (meaning 58.35% of the expected goals that happen in their games during five-on-five play belong to the Avalanche) is also the best in the NHL by a significant margin. The second-best team is the Carolina Hurricanes at only 55.87%. 
• Over their past four games, the Avalanche have scored 13 consecutive goals without allowing a goal. 
• On an individual level, three of the top-10 scorers in the NHL currently play for the Avalanche, including the league's leading scorer, forward Nathan MacKinnon with 39 points. He has five more than any other player in the league despite playing in fewer games than the second- and third-leading scorers. Defenseman Cale Makar and forward Martin Necas (30 points each) are also both in the top 10. 

So what does this start mean for the Avalanche long-term this season? Potentially a lot.

According to the Hockey-Reference StatHead database, the Avalanche are the 39th team in NHL history to win at least 17 of their first 23 games.

Of the previous teams, 37 of them went on to make the playoffs.

Even better, 12 of those teams (a whopping 31.5%) reached the Stanley Cup Final, while nine of them (23.6%) went on to actually win the Stanley Cup.