Points System

[Juiced3]

Yeah, Florida has 18 OT/SO losses. That's just ridiculous. They have the fewest wins of all playoff bound teams... and they are sub-.500 to boot.

[-AJ-]

Interesting...

[Jester@wraiths.ca]

The point system is in place to artificially create the appearance of parity in the league.

Having games which may put 2 points into the standings or may put 3 points into the standings is entirely unbalanced. The magic extra point that comes from Narnia serves one purpose, to raise team's points. 1 point per game played should be the average, middle mark. Above that you're a winning team, below it a losing team. This season, only 7 teams got under 1 point per game, and of those, 5 of them were within 4 points of that mark as well. The system is there to make all teams seem more equal "look how close the playoff race was!" when in reality, it isn't.

The two realistic solutions are;

1. Base standings on winning percentage, NOT points.

2. Use a proper 3 point system like is done in basically every other league that uses a system where an OT game produces 3 points - a regular time win is worth 3 points, and going to OT/SO splits the already expected 3 points between the two teams. No game produces mystery points. No matter what the outcome of the game, the same number of points go into the standings. This makes teams far more interested in winning in regulation time because if they let the other team take them to OT/SO, they are guaranteed to LOSE at least 1 point even if they win. The current unbalanced system rewards the teams for trying to get to OT, whereas a proper system rewards the team that pushes hard for the win in regulation.