5.07.2007

Standings without the Shootout

The shoot out was brought into the NHL to pressure teams to go for the win in overtime and to make sure that there is a clear cut winner of every game. However, I was looking at the Eastern Conference standings and wondering if the shoot out had not been implemented would the standing have been that much different? As well would the playoff match ups been that different.

So let’s take a look

Standings with the shoot out


Team

PTS

1. Buffalo *

113

2. New Jersey *

107

3. Atlanta *

97

4. Ottawa

105

5. Pittsburgh

105

6. NY Rangers

94

7. Tampa Bay

93

8. NY Islanders

92

9. Toronto

91

10. Montreal

90

11. Carolina

88

12. Florida

86

13. Boston

76

14. Washington

70

15. Philadelphia

56

Team

PTS

1. Detroit *

113

2. Anaheim *

110

3. Vancouver *

105

4. Nashville

110

5. San Jose

107

6. Dallas

107

7. Minnesota

104

8. Calgary

96

9. Colorado

95

10. St. Louis

81

11. Columbus

73

12. Edmonton

71

13. Chicago

71

14. Los Angeles

68

15. Phoenix

67


So now say that every game had ended before the shoot out and teams did not get the winning points. Here is what the standings would look like.

Team

PTS

PTS diff

Position move

1. Ottawa *

103

-2

+3

2. New Jersey *

97

-10

0

3. Atlanta *

90

-7

0

4. Buffalo

103

-10

-3

5. Pittsburgh

95

-10

0

6. Carolina

88

0

+5

7. Toronto

87

-4

+2

8. NY Rangers

85

-9

-2

9. Montreal

84

-6

+1

10. Florida

84

-2

+2

11. NY Islanders

84

-8

-3

12. Tampa Bay

83

-10

-5

13. Washington

69

-1

+1

14. Boston

67

-9

-1

15. Philadelphia

55

-1

0

Team

PTS

PTS diff

Position move



1. Detroit *

111

-2

0



2. Anaheim *

106

-4

0



3. Vancouver *

100

-5

0



4. San Jose

105

-2

+1



5. Nashville

104

-6

-1



6. Dallas

98

-9

0



7. Minnesota

94

-10

0



8. Calgary

93

-3

0



9. Colorado

90

-5

0



10. St. Louis

75

-6

0



11. Edmonton

68

-3

+1



12. Columbus

68

-5

-1



13. Chicago

65

-6

0



14. Los Angeles

64

-4

0



15. Phoenix

62

-5

0



So what we can see is that the Western Conference would have changed very little and there would have been not match up changes for the playoffs.

However, let’s look at the Eastern Conference, without the extra shoot out point the standing would look much different. Tampa Bay and The New York Islanders would not have made the playoff. While the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs would have joined the quest for the holy grail of hockey. As well, the match ups would have looked quite different.

Ottawa vs. New York Rangers

New Jersey vs. Toronto

Atlanta vs. Carolina

Buffalo vs. Pittsburg


It is interesting to see what the standings would have been if the NHL had not adopted the shootout. However, after seeing these results I am glad that we have the Shootout if not only for the excitement, but, it also kept the Maple Leafs from being in the playoffs.


Edit to post: I used the NHL.com tie breakers to find standings after new point calculations and I used the NHL.com shoot out list to take points away to calculate the new standings

1 comment:

Rory said...

You have to consider the way teams would play if there was no shootout, for example if they are in OT a team like Dallas would probably want a shootout cause of Turco and Jussi "the shootout gives me a job" Jokinen (but with Stefan and Lindros on the team chances are they would get the axe first, such losers!). The standings would probably not reflect those numbers since having only OT may change the way they play. The shootout is here and teams must change their strategy and be prepared for it, at least it is not in the playoffs, that would be XFL like thinking to do that.