Why the NHL Standings are a farce and 3 Point Games stink

Posted 12:08 PM ET | Comments 2

I listen to people complain about the 3 point games and at this time of the year there are more complaints than ever. I hear Gary Bettman explain on his radio show that the races are more exciting than ever and the shootout is great for the game.

I say bullshirt! Nobody goes to the game hoping to see a shootout. I feel this is ruining the sport just like the 3 point shot has destroyed basketball.

I did the work thanks to Sportsnet which has a complete standings page that shows OT Wins, OT Losses, Shoot Out Wins and Shootout losses. Thank you Sportsnet - the link is:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/stats/team

I reapplied the rules of the sport pre-shootout. 2 points for a win in regulation or OT and 0 - yes nada, nothing, zippo - for losing in regulation or OT. After OT - no shootout so the game is a tie!

Here are the current (as of noon 4/8/09) standings for just the Eastern Conference.

Position Team W L OTL Points
1 Boston 51 18 10 112
2 Washington 49 23 8 106
3 New Jersey 49 27 4 102
4 Carolina 45 28 7 97
5 Philadelphia 43 25 11 97
6 Pittsburgh 43 28 9 95
7 Montreal 41 29 10 92
8 NY Rangers 41 30 9 91
9 Florida 39 30 11 89
10 Buffalo 38 32 9 85
11 Ottawa 36 34 10 82
12 Toronto 33 34 13 79
13 Atlanta 34 40 6 74
14 Tampa Bay 24 38 18 66
15 NY Islanders 26 44 9 61

This has been driving me crazy for the last few seasons. There are not this many good teams. The 8th and 9th place teams are going to have 90 points and 1 will miss the playoffs. Insane how many good teams now huh? WRONG!! It's mirrors created by the Bettman crew. Here are the standings adjusted to pre-Shootout and OTL counting for a point.

Position Team W L T Pts
1 Boston 45 24 10 100
2 Washington 39 28 9 87
3 New Jersey 35 29 7 77
4 Carolina 35 33 8 78
5 Philadelphia 33 31 10 76
6 Pittsburgh 31 34 12 74
7 Montreal 30 36 14 74
8 NY Rangers 28 36 16 72
9 Florida 32 38 11 75
10 Buffalo 28 37 13 69
11 Ottawa 29 39 9 67
12 Toronto 23 41 13 59
13 Atlanta 23 41 8 54
14 Tampa Bay 19 48 13 51
15 NY Islanders 20 49 8 48

Now you will notice that Florida not only is ahead of the NYR but also Montreal without all the inflated points. Also notice that the teams records reflect the parity of the league more. The Rangers, for example are not a 90 point team that shows a good season (from the days of old). They are a team that is 28 W, 36 L and 16 T. A below .500 team.

My problem is that the point for being tied has created a bunch of teams that are happy to "get a point" and are willing to roll the dice for the extra point. In other words, many teams have lost the killer instinct.

Filed Under: NHL Standings Shootout

szandor

April 8, 2009 1:42 PM ET | Delete
Not only that, let me give you another example. Two teams split a series 2-2 but one game goes to OT. The team that won the game in OT has a record of 2-2 (4 points). The team that LOST in OT has a record of 2-1-1 (5 points) and officially won the series.

Predaceous