HockeyNew tiebreaking system could be quirky

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Imagine this scenario, Calgary Flames fans.

Calgary and Nashville are battling for the last playoff spot. Well, they kinda are right now, but we mean in the final week of the season.

Both club are tied in points as each plays their 82nd game on the final Saturday.

Calgary has two more overall wins than the Predators and swept the season series 4-0.

Sounds like a perfect setup, and the folks at Hockey Night in Canada are excited for the final game of the doubleheader, Calgary against Vancouver.

And ... the possibility exists that game will be rendered meaningless by the first intermission.

Possibly even at puck drop if Nashville is blowing out St. Louis in an 8 p.m. start.

Why?

Because starting this season, the primary tiebreaker in the standings is non-shootout wins. If Nashville holds an advantage of two more non-shootout wins heading into that final night, that's all she wrote. They just need to handle their business and not waste time sweating it out for the Calgary game against the Canucks.

We'll take the scenario one step further. Calgary's penultimate game is April 6, a full five days before the end of the season. If they are two points behind Nashville in the standings at the end of the night and have two fewer non-shootout wins, that's it folks, they're done, no matter what the overall wins or season series looks like.

The new system also applies to draft order. Sure it's a lottery system, but shouldn't the team with fewest wins get the better odds, not the team with fewer non-shootout wins?

Obviously any tiebreaking system can lead to quirks.

The impetus for this change was to motivate teams to finish more regular season business in regulation and before the shootout, as shootout games had crept up.

But have NHL GMs thought this all the way through for all the unintended consequences?

Listen, the change isn't going to produce seismic changes and our scenario rested on the extreme side of the continuum. But it will help determine placement in the standings, and more importantly: Why blunt the impact and suspense of any games during the final weekend?

The NHL needs to decide if the shootout is important or not, not just kinda important.

The change also needlessly complicates the chase for the fans - with overall wins, you knew where you stood.

Another quirk: We could see a few teams pulling the goalie in overtime in the final days of the season. Maybe that's not a huge deal but it seems optically kind of dumb for a team to need to pull a goalie in an even game because a shootout result is anathema.

(Greybeard fans will know of the 10-2 Chicago win over Montreal in the early 1970s, when goals were the primary tiebreaker and the Habs tried in vain to match the Rangers' goal total).

The overtime/shootout dividing line could also come into play with post-season matchups. Teams say they don't care about who they face in the first round, but do you believe them? In theory, it'd be a lot easier to coast through a five-minute 4-on-4 session to get what they perceive as a favourable matchup than an entire game.

At the very least the league - and maybe they've thought about this, I don't know - should leave final weekend start times amenable. If two teams are battling for a spot, their games should start at the same time to ensure some suspense.

And if non-shootout wins are so imporant, maybe they should be prominently displayed on the NHL's own website in the standings section; at the bottom of this article you'll find the totals for each team.

For the record, this writer believes that regulation excellence should be rewarded, with the main tiebreaker fewest regulation losses.

Fat Tuesday

There's a whack of games tonight with playoff race implications in both conferences.

Thrashers at Devils
Atlanta has played 69 games, New Jersey 68
Standing: Atlanta 70 points (11th), New Jersey 68 (12)
Nonshootout wins: Devils 29, Thrashers 26
H2H: Thrashers 1-1-1, Devils 2-1 (Teams play 4) 

Hurricanes at Sabres
Both have played 69 games
Standing: Buffalo 76 points (7th), Carolina 72 (9th)
Nonshootout wins: Buffalo 29, Carolina 27
H2H: Sabres 1-0-1, Hurricanes 1-1 (Teams play 4)

Rangers at Islanders
Both have played 70 games
Standing: Rangers 76 points (8th), Isles 65 (14th)
Nonshootout wins: Rangers 28, Isles 24
H2H: Rangers 3-1, Isles 1-3 (Teams play 6)

Kings at Predators
Both have played 69 games
Standing: Kings 83 points, Predators 80 points
Nonshootout wins: Kings 32, Predators 29
H2H: Predators 2-1, Kings 1-2 (Teams play 4)

Sharks at Stars
Both have played 70 games
Standing: Rangers 76 points (8th), Isles 65 (14th)
Nonshootout wins: Sharks 34, Stars 32
H2H: Sharks 1-1-2, Stars 3-0-1 (Teams play 6)

Cycling

Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times has a terrific piece on the long road and personal tragedies of California-born Predators defenceman Jonathan Blum.

Non-shootout wins

Philadelphia 40
Washington 37
Boston 37
Montreal 36
Pittsburgh 35
Tampa Bay 33
Buffalo 29
New Jersey 29
Rangers 28
Carolina 27
Toronto 26
Atlanta 26
Florida 24
Islanders 24
Ottawa 24

Vancouver 41
Detroit 37
San Jose 35
Anaheim 33
Minnesota 33
LA 32
Phoenix 32
Dallas 32
Chicago 33
Nashville 29
Calgary 28
Columbus 28
St.Louis 27
Colorado 23
Edmonton 21

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