Looking at alternate formats in the NHL standings

Different point formats would leave different paths to the Stanley Cup for some teams, and possibly dead ends for others, including the Montreal Canadiens.

There were a lot of comments and criticisms, on various message boards, over how the final playoff spot in the NHL Eastern Conference came to a decision by shootout.

Some were good, some were bad. Many feel that a shootout is not the way to decide a critical game, such as a gold-medal game in the WJC, and it should be the taken out of the NHL regular season. That or the league needs to make changes in the points system.

One solution is to adopt the 3-2-1 point system in the NHL. Three points for the regulation win, two for over time/shootout and one for a non-regulation loss.

Below is the NHL’s Eastern and Western Conference final standings, with regulation and non regulation won-loss records separated.

Eastern Conference

Team	RW	RL	OT/SO W	OT/SO L	PTS
Washington	43	15	11	13	121
New Jersey	40	27	8	7	103
Buffalo	35	27	10	10	100
Pittsburgh	33	28	14	7	101
Ottawa	34	32	10	6	94
Boston	25	30	14	13	91
Philadelphia	35	35	6	6	88
Montreal	24	33	15	10	88
NYR	34	33	4	11	87
Atlanta	29	34	6	13	83
Carolina	26	37	9	10	80
Tampa Bay	25	36	9	12	80
NYI	20	37	14	11	79
Florida	24	37	8	13	77
Toronto	21	38	9	14	74

Western Conference

Team	RW	RL	OT/SO W	OT/SO L	POINTS
San Jose	43	20	8	11	113
Chicago	37	22	15	8	112
Vancouver	41	28	8	5	103
Phoenix	31	25	19	7	107
Detroit	33	24	11	14	102
Los Angeles	32	27	14	9	101
Nashville	33	29	14	6	100
Colorado	34	30	9	9	95
St. Louis	30	32	10	10	90
Calgary	35	32	5	10	90
Anaheim	31	32	8	11	89
Dallas	28	31	9	14	88
Minnesota	28	36	10	8	84
Columbus	27	35	5	15	79
Edmonton	18	47	9	8	62

 

Next are the conference standings based on a 3-2-1 points format.

Also added is the format, used by the NBA, that ranks the three division winners and the fourth best team in the conference one to four.

In other words, you could win your division but still be the fourth seeded team. I did a piece on adopting the NBA format, and resulting scenarios in previous seasons, last year when I wrote on Bleacher Report.

Conference Rankings (3-2-1 Points System)

	East	Pts		West	Pts
1	Washington	157	1	San Jose	151
2	New Jersey	146	2	Chicago	150
3	Pittsburgh	140	3	Vancouver	149
4	Buffalo	136	4	Phoenix	141
5	Ottawa	132	5	Los Angeles	138
6	Philadelphia	128	6	Nashville	135
7	NYR	124	7	Colorado	135
8	Boston	115	8	Detroit	132
9	Montreal	115	9	St. Louis	118
10	Atlanta	99	10	Calgary	115
11	Carolina	96	11	Anaheim	109
12	Tampa Bay	93	12	Minnesota	104
13	NYI	88	13	Dallas	102
14	Florida	88	14	Columbus	91
15	Toronto	81	15	Edmonton	72

Analysis: The Eastern Conference, using this format, puts the Northeast Division Sabres as the fourth seed.

Sunday’s Rangers/Flyers game would have had little meaning, but the Canadiens OT loss to Toronto, and Boston’s win over Washington on Suday would eliminate Montreal from the playoffs. Total wins, then regulation wins were used as tie-breakers.

In the Western Conference, Detroit would be the eighth seed. Dallas and Minnesota swap potential draft positions.

The downside to using a 3-2-1 format is that regular season points records would be shattered. The asterisk would need to be used.

Another Scenario: What if the NHL went back to ties?

Scrap the shootout and go back the way things were with the old-school point format (Win = 2pts Tie = 1pt) and a five minute overtime. Teams shootout records have been factored in as ties in this scenario.

How does that pan out? Let’s take a look.

NHL Standings based on Win-Loss-Tie Records

Eastern Conference

	W	L	T	POINTS
Washington	49	22	11	109
New Jersey	42	29	11	95
Buffalo	41	31	10	92
Pittsburgh	39	33	10	88
Ottawa	39	33	10	88
Philadelphia	37	38	7	81
NYR	35	40	7	77
Boston	29	34	19	77
Montreal	32	38	12	76
Atlanta	31	41	10	72
Carolina	31	42	9	71
Tampa Bay	30	41	11	71
Florida	26	40	16	68
NYI	26	42	14	66
Toronto	26	48	8	60

Western Conference

	W	L	T	POINTS
San Jose	44	25	13	101
Chicago	43	24	15	101
Vancouver	45	29	8	98
Phoenix	36	26	20	92
Detroit	38	29	15	91
Nashville	39	31	12	90
Los Angeles	36	28	18	90
Calgary	37	35	10	84
Colorado	36	34	12	84
Anaheim	34	35	13	81
St. Louis	33	37	12	78
Minnesota	33	37	12	78
Dallas	30	35	17	77
Columbus	30	40	12	72
Edmonton	19	49	14	52

Going this way has little change atop either conference, but again has the Rangers in and the Canadiens out in the Eastern Conference. A pair of Sutters in Calgary might have liked this method a lot better in the west.

Keep in mind that these variations are just based on the final numbers from the 2009-10 season. A straight 1 to 16 format (which was used in the early ‘80s) or going by point percentage would be otehr ways of seeding the playoff contenders.

If one of these formats was put in place down the road, there would be more strategy involved in the game (ie: playing for the tie) and results would obviously be different.

Fans in Montreal should be grateful neither was used this season.The Canadiens collapse in the final three games would not have been as forgiving in one of the above options.