NHL standings points system: Toss it, keep it or change it?

They were talking about this on NHL Live! this morning. I know traditionalists won't like it, but I really think that for the casual fan (and fans the NHL is trying to attract), simple wins and losses would make it easier. To figure out how far one team is back from another, you don't have to calculate games "in hand" and you simply look at the "games back" column.

At least with the World Juniors system, every game is worth three points.

 

Can you add a category: Toss the NHL?

 

Fixed.

 

I'd go for a three points for a win system. I grew up on soccer, where three points for a win has been standard for a long time now. I think it would be another sign that the league is going to reward attacking play.

 

50 days spent on this site, 7,000 posts (and from what I've seen, most of them serve no purpose other than to antagonize or beat another one of your favorite dead horses further into the ground) a Web site dedicated to everything you think sucks.... you must be a riot at a party. I'm beginning to think if you won the lottery you'd bitch about the dollar you spent.

Just try to not be a tool for a day. See if it grows on you.

 

I like the World Junior's System. Nothing wrong with the current scoring system, but it just seems like a regulation dub should be worth more than two points.

 

I've got a write-in vote:

3 points for any win, 1 point for SO loss, 0 points for regulation loss.

As much as I dislike the shootout concept (and don't want to give the full three points to a team that wins a shootout), this format would make things simpler and reward winning, but also give some credit to a team that earned a tie through 65 minutes of hockey. If you lose in OT, however, tough luck.

 

I added your suggestion to the options, Boomer.

 

2 points for regulation win
1 point for OT/shootout win
0 points for any loss

I don't like points for losses and while overtime is exciting, I think it's best avoided. This system would give teams an incentive to get the job done in regulation.

 

I added writing irish's suggestion as well.

 

Thanks, ondeadline. I voted for simple wins/losses when I clicked on this thread since that was the option that appealed to me most out of those available. In fact, I like that about as well as the 2-1-0 system I just suggested.

I know it's frustrating for people north of the border to feel constant pressure to dumb down for US fans, but I really think a complicated system involving three points for this, maybe two for this and one for that would just reinforce the concept that hockey is a freakshow event and not a real sport. Granted, the most closed-minded of US fans will never warm up to hockey, but there is that "swing fan" element.

Still, my preference for a simple system is based more on my own preferences than any desire to see the NHL pander to people who don't know the game. I like simplicity in reading the standings...why not? I don't like the present system since teams that win in regulation don't get any greater reward than teams that have to go to OT to win. And I don't like points for losses. It's called a loss for a reason...teams should get nothing. And if you lose in a heartbreaking OT, well, tough titty. Of course, that could be my Born in the USA Social Darwinism coming through...

There was a column about this in The Hockey News a while back about this...can't remember who wrote it, but I thought it was pretty good. The writer advocated simple wins/losses. The piece also had an example of what last year's standings would have looked like under a World Juniors-style system. It was a baroque mess of numbers...pretty ugly.

 

The old system seemed just fine to me. Two points for a win, one for a tie.

Since ties no longer apply, 1 point for a shootout win.

Points for a loss of any kind are stupid.