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Sport
NHL purists and innovators both blowing smoke
Neither the three-point game or the old-fashioned tie would produce significantly different standings than what we see today with the extra point for overtime losses
By Kevin Potvin
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Hockey purists complain that the extra point awarded to NHL teams that lose in overtime or the shootout produce inaccurate results in the standings. Two innovations are often suggested as ways to correct the resulting inaccuracies. One is to let teams finish with ties at the end of regulation time the way the league used to do it. The other is to adopt an innovation from soccer and award three points to a team that wins in regulation time, two points to a team that wins in overtime or a shootout, and one point to a team that loses in overtime or a shootout. But when points in the standings are adjusted using either of these innovations, to this depth in the season (as of January 17, roughly two-thirds the way through), very little difference appears in the standings. If all games were stopped at the end of regulation and ties resulted in both teams getting a point, in the Western Conference, seven of the eight teams currently in a playoff spot would still be in a playoff spot. (Colorado would out of a spot by one point, and St Louis would be in a playoff spot by one point). Moreover, the order of the seven other teams in the top eight would remain the same except for San Jose and Anaheim switching spots between second place and fourth place. In the eastern conference, it’s much the same result. Seven of the eight currently in playoff spots would still be in playoff spots. (Carolina would qualify, and New York Islanders would not). The order of the remaining seven would be shuffled a bit more than in the Western Conference. Philadelphia would move from sixth to second, New Jersey would move from second to fifth, and Pittsburgh would move from fifth to sixth. The three-point innovation would create less change in the west and not much more change in the east. All eight teams in the West that are currently in the top eight spots would retain their playoff qualifying spots, but Anaheim and San Jose would be switched around. In the East, Carolina would be elevated from tenth place to third place (on account of being first in their division), while Atlanta would fall from third to tenth, the New York Rangers would rise from ninth to eighth while the Islanders would fall from seventh to ninth. Philadelphia would be in second instead of sixth, while New Jersey would fall from second to fifth. Given that only ten points separate 20 of the 30 NHL teams in the overall standings, it’s not surprising that a few points here and there might rearrange the order. What is surprising is how little the order would be changed by either letting games end in regulation-time ties, or by awarding three points for regulation-time wins. And more surprisingly, particularly for those who argue that the current system of points is unfair, is the fact that letting games end in regulation ties would result in 14 out of the current 16 teams retaining their playoff spot, while awarding three points for a regulation win would also result in 14 of the current 16 playoff contenders retaining their playoff spots. The alteration to the standings that would result by either letting games end in ties at the end of regulation time, or by awarding three points to teams that win in regulation time, would be, after two-thirds of a season, no more than the alteration to the standings that happens after any given night of game results. The Vancouver Canucks, for example, currently in fifth place in the Western Conference, would still be in fifth place if games were ended with ties, or if three points were awarded for regulation-time wins. The only real difference is that, while in the current system, 16 teams have point totals the same as at least one other team, by allowing games to end in ties, as many as 18 teams would have the same point totals as at least one other team, but by awarding three points for a regulation-time win, there would only be six teams sharing point totals with at least one other team. So the only real advantage to a system that awards three points for a regulation-time win would be a greater separation of points in the standings—but little change to the teams that would qualify for the playoffs, or the order in which they would place.
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The Republic of East Vancouver masthead
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