Like we always do about this time: The “real” standings, minus the bonus points.
Northeast W L T Pts Hartford (3) 41 29 6 88 Syracuse (7) 38 35 3 79 Albany 35 33 8 78 Springfield 33 36 7 73 Bridgeport 25 47 4 54 Atlantic W L T Pts Manchester (1) 48 23 5 101 Providence (5) 40 33 3 83 Worcester (6) 39 33 4 82 Portland (8) 37 35 4 78 St. John's 27 42 7 61 East W L T Pts WB/Scranton (2) 45 27 4 94 Hershey (4) 44 27 5 93 Binghamton 33 41 2 68 Lehigh Valley 26 42 8 60 Norfolk 27 45 4 58 North W L T Pts Utica (1) 45 27 4 94 Toronto (7) 39 36 1 79 Adirondack 34 39 3 71 Hamilton 34 41 1 69 Rochester 27 46 3 57 Midwest W L T Pts Grand Rapids (2) 44 28 4 92 Rockford (4) 43 28 5 91 Chicago (6) 39 35 2 80 Lake Erie 33 37 6 72 Milwaukee 31 36 9 71 West W L T Pts Oklahoma City (3) 41 32 3 85 San Antonio (5) 39 30 7 85 Texas (8) 38 35 3 79 Charlotte 26 44 6 58 Iowa 22 51 3 47
(Shootout games converted to ties. Overtime losses converted to losses. Yes, teams would play differently under these rules, but we’ve been doing this for years; lay off us.)
BUT. You can see in those records how three-on-three overtime changed the game down here. (Here are last year’s, for instance.) Fewer shootouts. (Bridgeport set a franchise record for longest stretch without a tie or a shootout, the last 53 games since Dec. 6, though it only got to three-on-three once in that stretch.) Maybe it’s worth it to just separate all the overtime games. Hence: The “REALER” standings.
Northeast W L T Pts Syracuse (3) 32 25 19 83 Hartford (6) 30 24 22 82 Albany 30 28 18 78 Springfield 26 28 22 74 Bridgeport 21 40 15 57 Atlantic W L T Pts Manchester (1) 41 17 18 100 Providence (5) 35 26 15 85 Worcester (7) 33 29 14 80 Portland (8) 32 28 16 80 St. John's 18 33 25 61 East W L T Pts Hershey (2) 37 22 17 91 WB/Scranton (4) 38 24 14 90 Binghamton 24 34 18 66 Lehigh Valley 19 35 22 60 Norfolk 20 39 17 57 North W L T Pts Utica (1) 39 20 17 95 Toronto (6) 31 27 18 80 Hamilton 28 29 19 75 Adirondack 30 33 13 73 Rochester 23 41 12 58 Midwest W L T Pts Rockford (2) 38 23 15 91 Grand Rapids (4) 35 22 19 89 Chicago (7) 31 29 16 78 Lake Erie 24 29 23 71 Milwaukee 23 28 25 71 West W L T Pts Texas (3) 35 22 19 89 San Antonio (5) 30 23 23 83 Oklahoma City (8) 27 27 22 76 Charlotte 24 38 14 62 Iowa 18 49 9 45
(Overtime wins and losses and shootout wins and losses ALL converted to ties. Sixty-minute games only. Boy, was overtime unkind to Texas. YES, teams would play differently, etc., heard you the first time)
Further tweakage appears set to come to the NHL; something along the lines of what we saw this year in the AHL, further bastardizing the game to award some team two points in every game. I’m kind of stodgy, admittedly, but this just drives me nuts, as you know if you’ve been following the blog or the Twitter account. My issue isn’t so much “the shootout is bad.” It may be entertaining (sometimes), but it should not be worth a point in the standings.
Nate Silver suggested recently that the NHL eliminate ties the easy way: keep playing. Yes, like the playoffs, until someone wins. But he’s encouraging three-on-three within that framework, so, well, can’t get behind that too hard.
I come back to something I suggested to friends in jest a decade ago, only to hear that at least one other person had suggested it seriously. I’ve come around to it: The more gimmicky things get to break ties, the more I like the idea of eliminating ties altogether.
To get rid of the shootout after tie games, have a shootout every night. First intermission. Three shooters or five, whatever you’d like. The winner of the shootout is designated as the winner if the game is tied after 60 minutes. The standings would be wins and losses. The first tiebreaker would be “regulation wins,” that is, games that weren’t ties.
So no matter the score, the game is never really tied. If Hartford leads the game 2-1 with seconds to go (Hartford 2, Bridgeport 1, final), but Bridgeport won the shootout, a Bridgeport goal makes them winners (Bridgeport 2* (or Bridgeport 2s?), Hartford 2, final — no phantom bonus goals).
Tell me that’s not better than dudes taking fake penalty shots or guys running practice drills at the end of a 60- to 67-minute effort.
(The playoffs, obviously, would be unchanged. It’s impossible to make playoff overtime more special, but making overtime unique to the playoffs would come as close as you can.)