Suppose, hypothetically, the league was to suddenly shrink back to 6 teams and either remove the Cap or raise it massively. What would happen (other than Phoenix fans being screwed over again, obviously)? What players would make the cut? You could imagine Toews, Kane, Hossa & Sharp making it in with regards to forwards, but defense is where it gets more interesting.

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Not much to say, but the Hawks have to kill 4 minutes of penalty right now. Still, it's worth it right now just to still have the game going.

Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks! Go Hawks!

EDIT: Third period thread opened basically as I posted this. No idea why it was late, but it'll serve for now. Link.

OK, this all started when I heard that the Olympic group stages would be using a slightly different points system from the NHL; their format rewarded a regulation win with 3 points, a shootout or OT win with 2 points and a shootout or OT loss with 1 point, but overtime lasted 10 minutes instead of the usual 5.

When I remembered this last night, I decided it would be a good idea to see what the final standings would be this season had these rules been in effect.

A few notes before we start:

• I ranked SOW (shootout wins) and OTW (OT wins) separately because, as mentioned above, in the OT in Olympic hockey is double the length of the OT in the NHL. It is also helpful with a view to the playoffs because, obviously, there are no SOs in the postseason, and so teams like San Jose (with only 1 OTW and 5 OTLs, but a respectable 7-6 record in SOs) might be worried if any of their games creep into extra time.
• In accordance with NHL rankings, if two teams had the same number of points, I ranked the team with the largest number of wins (in this case, regulation wins) first.
• I really hate the tables I've used for a number of reasons, not least because I can't figure out how to "zebra" them to make them easier to read, and also because I can't figure out how to highlight the line between 8th & 9th in Conference so you can easily see who made the playoffs. Sorry about that.
• To quote Robert Benchley, "Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment." I consider this post proof of that statement.

Anyway, let's get started:

Eastern Conference

Observations

• Well, that's certainly different... New York & Philly see the benefits of winning their games in regulation, while Montreal suffer from not being able to put their opponents away in 60 minutes.
• Boston vs. Washington would be an interesting first-round series; my brother is a Washington fan, and he is of the opinion that only Buffalo or Boston can stop Ovie et al. from reaching the Cup Finals, mainly because of Rask & Miller's ability to cockblock just about anyone into oblivion.

Onto the West...

Western Conference

Observations

• Not much change here, but a little push from Calgary could've seen them make the postseason. The Hawks are now playing L.A. instead of the Preds due to the Preds having more wins.
• If nothing else, this post shows just how bad the Oilers were this season. 17 wins in regulation is just laughable; they were about as on-the-ball as a dead seal.
• Columbus were 2-10 in SOs this season. Kopecky by himself could've done better than that.
• Meanwhile, Phoenix were dominant at 14-6. Too bad SOs count for diddly in the postseason...

Notes

• My stats are very slightly off; I have 116 OTWs and 117 OTLs combined with 185 SOWs and 184 SOLs. If anyone figures out where I made my mistake, please let me know.
• Special thanks to Radiohead, Tool, Björk, Anaïs Mitchell, Bon Iver, Led Zeppelin, Decibully and Explosions In The Sky for helping me stay sane while doing this.