Once in NM in december 2000 I got caught in a blizzard.  There was snow everywhere and visibility was basically nil.   I was driving too fast for conditions...which means I was going 20 mph when I shouldn't have been driving.   Suddenly appeared in front of me a T intersection and I tried to turn.  I chose to turn left only because I was on the right side of the road thus giving me a tad more room to make the turn.  It was a pointless gesture.  With full left turn and antilock brakes vainly trying to do their thing I went straight into a fence.  Did about 900 damage to a rent car.   The problem was that I didn't know the intersection was there and thus I couldn't plan on the direction I wanted to take.   I do not understand Joe Niewendyk, unlike me he knows the intersection is coming.   Currently a realistic best case scenario is that we barely make the playoffs.  Thus we have 2 playoff games at home and get the revenue generated from that to try to sign or extend contracts (read James Neal here).  Thats not much.  The intersection is coming and we either need to trade prospects for players who can help us get deep in the playoffs this year...or we need to start unloading our veterans for prospects.  Waiting for the trade deadline only means your playoff spot (or draft pick) is already unchangable and thus the turn you have to make is that much sharper.   I don't mind losing...if by doing so we improve our chance of winning for next year.  Currently we are neither setting ourselves up to win this year and we are not building for the future.    And yes you can tell me that the Texas Stars are good and thus our future is bright.  And while the team is Cedar Park has on its roster some people who will likely have long NHL careers as 3-4th line forwards and 2 or 3 pairing defenseman, none seem bound to be All-Star players and that is what we need right now.  Looking into the future have great great depth, maybe the best in the league but without great starters we are destined for mediocrity.

The current logic says that losing in overtime is more of an accomplishment than losing in regulation, but winning in regulation is NOT more of an accomplishment than winning in overtime.

Just a crazy thought here...but could the point system be changed to...

3 points could be awarded for a regulation win.
2 points for an overtime win
1 point for an overtime loss

0 for regulation loss

The current point system awards teams for playing equally mediocre. An accurate point system would reward a team for the degree to which they played better than another team.