NHL standings: Where would we stand with a revised points system?

What would the NHL standings look like if we revised the points system? Find out here.

By Andrew Berkshire Nov 21, 2013, 3:41pm EST

Patrick Roy's Avs have kept out of the shootout this season, and the results have been excellent.

The NHL is worrying about the impact of shootouts on the standings. The league has talked seriously about extending overtime and even moving to 3-on-3 OT, but the NHL doesn't want ties, so the shootout is never fully going away.

One way to minimize the impact of the shootout on the NHL's standings is to change the way that points are allotted. The first thing that has to be done is to eliminate the illogical oddity that is some games accounting for two points, and some for three. The easiest way to do this is to have a win count for three points, a shootout win for two, and a shootout loss for one.

This means teams no longer get a point for an overtime loss either, which should push teams to go harder after the three-point win during overtime instead of sitting back and defending.

So what would the standings look like if the points were awarded in this way? Let's check it out:

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	GP	Wins	SO Wins	SO Losses	Losses	Points
Boston Bruins	21	13	1	1	6	42
Tampa Bay Lightning	21	11	3	0	7	39
Toronto Maple Leafs	21	11	2	1	7	38
Montreal Canadiens	22	10	1	2	9	34
Detroit Red Wings	22	9	0	4	9	31
Ottawa Senators	22	8	0	3	11	27
Florida Panthers	22	4	2	4	12	19
Buffalo Sabres	23	2	3	1	17	13

The only real change in the standings here is that Montreal hops over Detroit, and the teams outside of a playoff spot all get worse.

Metropolitan Division	GP	Wins	SO Wins	SO Losses	Losses	Points
Pittsburgh Penguins	22	13	1	0	8	41
Washington Capitals	22	7	5	1	9	32
New York Rangers	21	10	0	0	11	30
Carolina Hurricanes	21	7	1	3	10	26
Philadelphia Flyers	20	8	0	1	11	25
New Jersey Devils	21	8	0	4	9	24
Columbus Blue Jackets	22	7	1	1	13	24
New York Islanders	22	5	3	2	12	23

Philadelphia rockets up the standings from last to fifth, and New Jersey tumbles from a secure playoff spot to six points out, and two points out of the wild card spot. Mostly though, the Metropolitan division is as bad as it's name.

Western Conference

Central Division	GP	Wins	SO Wins	SO Losses	Losses	Points
Colorado Avalanche	20	15	0	0	5	45
Minnesota Wild	23	12	2	3	6	43
St. Louis Blues	20	12	2	1	5	42
Chicago Blackhawks	22	11	3	2	6	42
Nashville Predators	21	10	0	1	10	31
Dallas Stars	20	8	3	0	9	30
Winnipeg Jets	23	5	5	1	12	26

Chicago tumbles from first in the division to the wild card section, and Colorado is back where it's been for most of the season. Doing all its damage in regulation has paid off big time in this scenario.

Pacific Division	GP	Wins	SO Wins	SO Losses	Losses	Points
Anaheim Ducks	24	14	1	2	7	46
San Jose Sharks	21	12	1	4	4	42
Los Angeles Kings	22	11	4	1	6	42
Phoenix Coyotes	21	10	4	2	5	40
Vancouver Canucks	23	10	1	3	9	35
Calgary Flames	22	6	1	1	14	21
Edmonton Oilers	23	5	1	1	16	18

The Pacific is almost exactly what a lot of folks predicted it would look like coming into the season, with the three Californian teams on top, a buffer of Phoenix, and the three Western Canadian teams on the bottom. Vancouver's struggles are probably the most surprising thing here.

Does this point system show which teams have been truly better this season? We don't really know at this point. Surely if this were the way the standings were calculated, certain teams would play differently with the game on the line, but it's interesting to look at things from this perspective nonetheless.