The Integrity of the NHL Points Standings

I have never been one to understand rewarding a point to a team that loses. I have also never agreed with using a skills competition to determine the winner of a team sport. However, the evil ruler of the NHL empire, with agreement from his minions throughout the league, implemented a shootout system coming out of the lockout in 2005-2006.

As a hockey purist, a tie never bothered me. The shootout bothers me on two levels:

1. You won a game because your skaters could score more penalty shot goals than the other team.

2. Hey, your team couldn't score as many penalty shot goals as the other team, but you managed to stay tied with them through 60 minutes of real hockey and 5 minutes of 4-on-4 hockey, so we'll just be nice and give you a point in the standings.

These factors above soured me on the whole shootout idea from the get go, but when it was implemented I had no idea of the actual impact it would have on the standings. And it is a big impact.

I used http://www.nhlshootouts.com/ShootoutStats.htm to come up with the following numbers.

In 2005-2006, 281 games went into overtime, that is 281 extra points pumped into the NHL standings. (145 of those games were decided by a skill competition.) In 2006-2007, miraculously the same exact number of games (281) went into overtime. (164 of those games were decided by a skills competition.) So through the first two years of the shootout era, 11.8% and 13.3% of the games on the NHL schedule were decided by a skills competition, a gimmick.

In 2007-2008 the percentage is down from last season through January 17th with only 12.3% of games reaching the gimmick. However, I'd like to take a look at one specific team and show how INSANE these fake points they are pumping into the schedule really are.

Let's take a look at the 2007-2008 Edmonton Oilers. A storied franchise, a franchise that should be successful in the NHL. A franchise that has owned some of the greatest teams in the history of the sport.

As of the January 17th games, the Edmonton Oilers are 21-22-5. They have 47 points and are a mere 6 points out of a playoff spot, even though they have lost 6 more games than they have won. However, when you take a deeper look at the win loss record, 17 of their games (35.4%) have gone into overtime. 14 of those 17 games were decided by a gimmick (the Oilers are 11-3 in those games, 1-2 in games decided in the 4-on-4 overtime).

What this means, is that a team that has a total of 9, yes N-I-N-E, wins in regulation (18.75%). Yet they are still only 6 points out of a playoff spot. They are being rewarded for being able to get games into the shootout. 17 extra points have been pumped into the NHL standings thanks to the Edmonton Oilers...