Wednesday, February 21, 2007

NHL Misses An Opportunity To Right A Wrong

According to CBC.ca, "[t]he NHL will not change to a three-point system for wins during the 2007-08 season after the league's general managers universally gave the idea the thumbs down at their annual meetings in Naples, Fla."

Brilliant. I ranted on this last year, so I'll spare you that now, but the simplest of questions remains unanswered: why are some games worth three points in the standings while others are worth only two?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you just picked a good day last year to look at it.

In the end, the standings changed very, very little with almost any other system.

They were almost no different just a couple of weeks back.

Your question is a good one, but I'm not sure a 3-pt system is the answer.

JP said...

It's hard to say, because it influences the way teams play (conservative at the end of regulation, for example, to make sure they get at least a point).

And I'm not sure a 3-point system is the answer either, but I am sure that the answer has all games doling out the same number of points.

Anonymous said...

The GMs are just way way too short sighted, and way too powerful. There needs to be some sort of committee above the GMs that makes the decisions - or decisions should be made based on a majority - not 2/3 of GMs. After the lockout, the rule changes were great for the game for the most part. Now they're back to the pre-lockout mode of lets test it in the AHL first for 5 years and then we'll think about it. This glacial pace of change is going to kill the game.

Here's where the geniuses have dropped the ball - err puck.

1) Each game should be worth x points. It is a no-brainer. As it is right now, some games are more important than others (have more impact) by the simple fact that 3 points are awarded instead of 2. As arbitrary as the NASCAR point scoring system appears - the most popular major sport that uses points - at least they apply the points consistently. Make fun of the NASCAR analogy, but NHL Marketing could learn a thing or two from them.

2) The Schedule. I live in Denver, and GMs, fans and sportswriters west of the Mississippi are flat out pissed about falling one vote short of the required 2/3 vote to turn the schedule into something reasonable. I should be able to see Ovechkin, Semin, Malkin, Crosby and scoring machine Garth Murray at least once a year. The idiot GMs who voted against it are killing the game.

3) Brian Burke. This idiot in Anaheim pushes a fighting major rule for purely selfish reasons.

The GMs are so transparent and self-serving that it is really hurting the game.

Sorry for the diatribe in the comment area. I never meant for it to be this long. I'm a little worked up. I paid for Center Ice again this year to watch my favorite team Cap the bed again...

To make things worse the Caps just got scored on. At least it was former Denver University Pioneer Matt Carle so it doesn't hurt as bad...

faux rumors said...

1) The GM's do NOT make the rule changes, the owners do. The GM's simply make recommendations to the owners who then decide what they think is best for the game

Anonymous said...

My bad (I guess). I thought it was the GMs that represented the owners at the board of governors meetings where the votes actually take place. Since the GMs are obviously paid to promote the owner's wishes, I'll go ahead and throw all of upper management (including owners, presidents, etc.) into my tirade along with the GMs.

Unknown said...

I hope you realize that the Crapitals still wouldn't make the playoffs under a 3-pt system :)