How The Loser Point Affects The East

A recent topic for discussion around the NHL, this blog, and fans of the Colorado Avalanche has been the “Loser Point”. Teams are rewarded 1 point in the standings for losing a game in overtime or a shootout. We here at Avaholics Unanimous could go into detail about how ridiculous it is to reward losers, and how throughout history, if a hockey team scored less goals in a game than their opponent, they were given nothing. We could go on and on about how in the MLB, teams who lose in extra innings are not given extra percentages in the standings, or they do not get rewarded in the “Games Behind” category in the standings. This blog could be all about how in the Canadian Football League (Oh come on, it’s still football!) where they use the point system over the winning percentage system, games that go into overtime are either won or lost. Not won by the victor, and lost with a 1 point compensation by the loser. This blog could talk about ALL of those scenarios listed about. But we won’t. This blog will focus only on the NHL. We will try to outline how ridiculous it is that losing teams are given half the point value of winning teams when games go beyond regulation. Here is a scenario we noticed in the standings:

The Montreal Canadiens are last in the Eastern Conference. The Buffalo Sabres are 9^th, just two points out of the playoffs. The Winnipeg Jets are 10^th, just 2 points back of Buffalo

In their last three games, Buffalo won once, getting 4 valuable points in the standings. How did they get 4 points in three games with only one win? They lost the other 2 in extra time.

 In the Montreal Canadiens’ last two games, they lost. They did not score as many goals as their opponent, and therefore, according to National Hockey League rules, they lost. But: they lost in extra time both games, and as you all know, they were rewarded 1 point in each of the games. Why is this relevant?

Because in the Jets last two games, they also lost. Like the Canadiens, they lost by only one goal in both games. But UNLIKE the Canadiens, they were not awarded any points because they did not go to extra time. Do you see the flaw? The Winnipeg Jets lost both of their last 2 games by the same goal differential as the Habs. Two points for the Jets would have tied them for 9^th with the Sabres, and they would only be 2 points out. Instead, Montreal, last in the East, got 2 points. For losing. Not to over belabor that though.

This is just one of the many unjust scenarios in the world of three-point NHL games. Swedish reader Mattias Bostrom (Twitter account @mattiasbostrom) produced this often talked about scenario:

"The system of today is supporting the defensive teams. You can play defensivly, take one point and then win an extra point in the shoot out. That can't be the thought from the beginning.

My idea, as I'm from Sweden, is to do like we do in our Swedish Elite Series.

Regular win: 3p

OT win: 2p

OT loss: 1p

Regular loss: 0p

By this way you get rewarded by an offensive way of playing and the standings would change more rapidly. A winning streak would give you a boost up while a losing streak would give you the same effect but downwards. It would have been nice to see how the conferences would have looked like if it all was like this."

This could work in the NHL but it would be a drastic change. I like it, as do others. The bottom line though, is that something needs to be done. Too many well deserving teams are getting screwed. *Paging Gary Bettman*