NHL GM Meetings

The NHL GMs wrapped up their second day of meetings today. All the talk is about fighting. There were rumors that they were going to talk about the points system, but there is nothing to report so far.

Nothing will change. Just look at the races around the league. Everything is so close, and because you give a point to a team that loses in overtime you are naturally going to have these down-to-the-wire finishes. It's what the league wants.

Ken Holland of Detroit had an interesting idea that we can only hope sparks fixing of the points system. He suggested that tiebreakers in the standings should be decided by regulation wins, not just wins alone. 100% agree. Can anyone take it a step further and realize how ridiculous it is to award the same amount of points in the standings for a regulation victory and a shootout victory? Or how about awarding a total of 2 points some games, and 3 points in games that go to overtime? It's all nonsense.

The solution is simple. Devalue the shootout just a bit. There is talk about awarding 3 points for the winner in regulation and 2 points for a win in OT or shootout, with the loser getting 1 point in extra time. That's a step. It's consistently awarding 3 points every game.

That being said, what are the standings going to look like? Teams will have well over 100 points by now. You will be 9 points back of a playoff spot, but then you have to stop yourself and realize that it's only three wins away. The solution is simple. Go back to the old days of hockey, pre-overtime point.

Like it or not, the shootout is here to stay. I hate it, but it's not going anywhere. However, simply devalue the gimmick by going to the pre-OT-bonus-point format where the winner gets 2 points and the loser nothing if the game ends in normal hockey fashion. We have no ties anymore, so instead of a point each, you move on to the shootout, where the winner will get 1.5 points in the standings and the loser a half point. Fractions in the standings, you say? The other major North American sports don't seem to have a problem with it.

Back to 2 points awarded for every game. Back to .500 actually meaning .500. Back to 100 points in a season meaning you are a pretty good team if you get there. Take a look at the standings (sorted by percentage) today if the NHL was using this format. W and L are for wins and losses in regulation or overtime. SW and SL are shootout results. Notice the Rangers benefit from the shootout and are on the outside looking in:

TM	W	L	SW	SL	PTS	PCT		TM	W	L	SW	SL	PTS	PCT
BOS	39	18	4	6	87	0.649		SJS	39	18	3	4	84.5	0.660
NJD	37	21	5	2	82.5	0.635		DET	37	21	6	2	84	0.636
WSH	37	23	3	4	80.5	0.601		CGY	37	25	2	2	78	0.591
PHI	32	24	3	5	71	0.555		CHI	34	23	2	5	73.5	0.574
CAR	33	29	3	3	72	0.529		VAN	31	25	3	6	69.5	0.535
FLA	31	26	3	6	69.5	0.527		CBJ	29	28	4	5	66.5	0.504
MTL	28	26	7	5	69	0.523		NSH	29	30	4	3	65.5	0.496
PIT	30	28	5	4	69.5	0.519		EDM	28	29	4	4	64	0.492
NYR	25	28	9	5	66	0.493		MIN	28	31	4	2	63	0.485
BUF	26	29	7	4	64.5	0.489		DAL	26	31	5	4	61.5	0.466
OTT	24	34	2	5	53.5	0.412		ANA	28	34	3	2	61.5	0.459
TOR	22	34	4	7	53.5	0.399		LAK	25	30	4	7	59.5	0.451
ATL	21	40	4	1	48.5	0.367		STL	24	31	5	5	58	0.446
TBL	19	37	2	8	45	0.341		PHX	26	36	2	2	56	0.424
NYI	19	40	3	4	44.5	0.337		COL	21	36	8	1	54.5	0.413

Is this so hard to follow? Think about this if Florida and Pittsburgh go to overtime in their game tonight, meaning both gain points in the standings.