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Everyone’s a Winner in Hockey
by Alanah McGinley on 10/24/08 at 12:58 PM ET
Comments (4)
From Chris Sprow at ESPN The Magazine,
Last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs were a fairly dreadful team by most standards. They were last place in their division, had the fourth worst record in the East, were outscored by 29 goals and were an atrocious 78.2% on the penalty kill. Their record, however, was a competitive-looking 36-35-11. They were over .500!
But in the current NHL, who isn’t?
Last year, in a 30-team league, just 6 teams were under .500. In the West, discounting the NHL’s worst team—the Los Angeles Kings who were all of 9 games under .500— the other two “losers” combined to go a whopping 5 games under .500. Yikes! That’s because the NHL has devised a clever marketing ploy where at least based on a traditional look at the standings, your team is never really out of it.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: marketing,
Comments
I totally agree. It’s ridiculously inflationary to award the same amount of points for winning an actual hockey game as for winning a skills competition.
2 points for a regulation win, 0 points for a regulation loss.
2 points for an overtime win, 0 points for an overtime loss.
1 point for a SO win, 0 points for a SO loss.
That’s how it should be. The standings now read Wins-Losses-SO wins.
The moral of the story? Don’t lose, cupcakaes… and don’t wait to win until there’s only two players on the ice at a time.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/24/08 at 03:00 PM ET
Cutting edge, Sprow. Maybe you could do an article on no-touch icing or the instigator rule next.
Posted by shep from california on 10/24/08 at 03:16 PM ET
The point awarded for OT/SO losses is a pox on the game, pure and simple.
Really? I think quite the opposite, actually. In my mind the pox is the point awarded for the OT/SO winner, because now you’re awarding points for something that has zero relevance in the postseason.
Giving a point for a 60 minute 5-on-5 tie I can deal with; giving an extra point for success in a 5- to 8- minute novelty exercise is the travesty.
Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 10/24/08 at 03:21 PM ET
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The point awarded for OT/SO losses is a pox on the game, pure and simple.
Posted by Forechecker from Nolensville, TN on 10/24/08 at 12:51 PM ET