NHL Standings: Olympic Style!

One of my friends (Hi Ben) is a Maple Leafs fan (pray for us please). We are riding the high of a near-perfect regular season record the city of Toronto did not see since EA Sports launched NHL '94 and revolutionized sports gaming. The current NHL standings do not tell the whole story, however, since the NHL care more about how teams lose games than win them. For instance, all wins in regulation, overtime and shootout are worth a HUGE two points...HUGE...

Anyway, losing in overtime or in the shootout earns one point, and losing in regulation gives you nothing. Why not give proper credit to winning in the quickest possible way? Three points to your team, and you can get back to your pad from the arena in time to watch Dancing With The Stars, if that is your kind of thing? Keeping fans overtime while winning gives you two points, but the other team steals one point for dragging the night onward and putting your date to sleep in the seat next to you.

Does that point system look familiar? Of course, the Olympics used that in the 2010 Winter Olympic hockey tournament last winter. One of the best things the Olympics ever did; Sidney Crosby agrees, too.

Here is the link to the current NHL standings I found online on NHL.com.

If the NHL used the Olympic point system, the standings would look like this. In the event of ties, I broke them with regulation wins, overtime wins, and so on, and then goal difference a la football (the other football):

Eastern Conference:

1. Toronto (1), 12 points (3W-1OW-1OL-0L)
2. Pittsburgh (5), 11 points (3W-1OW-0OL-3L)
3. Tampa Bay (4) , 11 points (3W-1OW-0OL-1L)
4. Washington (2), 10 points (2W-2OW-0OL-1L)
5. Montreal (6), 10 points (3W-0OW-1OL-1L)
6. NY Islanders (3), 10 points (2W-1OW-2OL-1L)
7. Atlanta (7), 8 points (2W-1OW-0OL-2L)
   
8. Philadelphia (8), 7 points (2W-0OW-1OL-2L)
9. Boston (9), 6 points (2W-0OW-0OL-1L)
10. Florida (10), 6 points (2W-0OW-0OL-2L)
11. Carolina (11), 5 points (1W-1OW-0OL-2L)
    
12. NY Rangers (12), 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-2L)
    
13. Buffalo (14), 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-4L)
    
14. Ottawa (15), 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-4L)
    
15. New Jersey (13), 3 points (0W-1OW-1OL-4L)
    

If I am an Islanders fan, I would enjoy the season while I can because against under the Olympic point system my team is over-achieving; underachieving this year are Pittsburgh and Washington. The Penguins (+7) have better goal difference than the Lightning (-1) as of the morning of October 19th, 2010. If I want to watch a hockey game and get home in time for HOUSE, I'm going for Montreal (Hi Jordan...and Michael...and Andrea...and Sean).

Western Conference:

1. Chicago (1), 12 points (3W-1OW-1OL-2L)
2. Colorado (3), 10 points (2W-2OW-0OL-2L)
3. Dallas (2), 9 points (1W-3OW-0OL-1L)
4. Nashville (4), 10 points (3W-0OW-1OL-0L)
5. Detroit (5), 9 points (2W-1OW-1OL-1L)
6. Los Angeles (6), 8 points (2W-1OW-0OL-1L)
7. Vancouver (8), 7 points (2W-0OW-1OL-2L)
8. Anaheim (9), 7 points (2W-0OW-1OL-3L)
9. St. Louis (7), 7 points (1W-1OW-2OL-1L)
10. Edmonton (10), 6 points (2W-0OW-0OL-2L)
    
11. Calgary (11), 6 points (2W-0OW-0OL-2L)
    
12. Columbus, 5 points (1W-1OW-0OL-2L)
    
13. San Jose, 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-1L)
    
14. Minnesota, 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-2L)
    
15. Phoenix, 4 points (1W-0OW-1OL-2L)
    

You get more bang for your buck in Nashville (YEEHAW)!

Dallas has more to gain from the old "two points for a win" system! Someone get Gary Bettman on the phone! I knew this conspiracy involved Tom Hicks! They should be in fifth!