is there anybody out there? – a problem with the nhl

Note: this is the second part of a two part post, much like the complimentary songs in the Wall or peanut butter and jelly, this post goes hand in hand with the previous post.

It begins with a sorta surreal moment, watching someone play the theme (?) to Halo 3 on Guitar Hero III. No need to watch the whole thing, in fact, I encourage reading and listening to what will probably be the sample track on the top pop song in the summer of 2017.

There have been some issues raised recently with the NHL. They include:

Not enough fighting.

Too much fighting.

Too much expansion diluting the talent base.

Too much expansion into the US and not being able to find an identity.

Gary Bettman.

Lack of respect among players for each other.

The game is too fast.

Economic..... stuff

...and so forth.

I'm here to present another plausible option.

Since the dawn of time, people have gathered around fires and told fables of gladiators, philosophers, kings and paupers. Today, our fire is the internet, our gladiators; athletes.

What stories can we pass on about hockey players in the 21^st century? That they were the first athletes to get lifelong contracts? I'm struggling to think of their legacy, and perhaps I've disabled a few brain cells and am therefore unable to come up with stories. Here's what comes to mind, Hockey story wise.

Nagano 1998, Dominik Hasek leading the Czech's by Canada as Wayne Greztky, at the end of his career, chasing the one accolade that he had yet to achieve, sitting on the bench holding back tears.

Leafs playoff runs, pre-lockout.

The Flames and Oilers incredible playoff runs. Fans that cared. Sorry, but with all due respect, I'm sure some south east teams have ardent fans, and I know they have ardent bloggers, but the game is not entrenched in those markets as it is elsewhere. In fact, even in certain entrenched areas, (Detroit, Chicago) the game is fading. Passing away into obscurity. Why? There are probably a hundred and one reasons.

Why do people watch sports, watch tv, listen to the radio? Answer could lie in the entertainment, drama, information garnered from them.

Games that have meaning, games that have stories; those are the ones worth watching and remembering. There are far too many options in this day and age, far too many other entertainment outlets a person can hook their wagon to. Games, all 82 (84?) of them just aren't interesting. Say what you want about football, but at least there are only 18 (CFL) or 16 (NFL) games that have a chance to be boring. 82 games * 2.5 hours per game is a lot of time. Sometimes less is more.

As it has a solid core, a solid fan base, the game won't die. Hockey will just continue to struggle in purgatory until it learns that it is not alone.

dissonance n: 1 a: lack of agreement; especially : inconsistency between the beliefs one holds or between one's actions and one's beliefs — compare cognitive dissonance b: an instance of such inconsistency or disagreement
2: a mingling of discordant sounds; especially : a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord

uh oh, I hear a banjo

and hockey players? Tomfoolery ensues. This is a great NHL commercial and makes me smile that the guys at MyNHL finally woke up and started piecing together some good stuff (if this even done by those guys).



Ovechkin is to Crosby as Newman is to Seinfeld?

NHL 3 point System

In the past, I’ve complained about the unequal point distribution between NHL games which has come into play with the new OT and shootout point being awarded to the loser. Instead of rehashing that point, I’m going to display a quick little study on a new format that I suggested, that being three points being allocated to winners of NHL games in regulation (and 2 points to winners in overtime or a shootout and 1 point to the loser of the overtime or shootout game). As of today, here are the standings with the current NHL point system.

EAST	GR	PTS
1. Buffalo *	27	76
2. New Jersey *	28	72
3. Atlanta *	26	67
4. Montreal	27	64
5. Pittsburgh	29	63
6. Ottawa	28	63
7. Tampa Bay	27	62
8. Carolina	26	61
9. Toronto	28	60
10. NY Islanders	29	57
11. NY Rangers	28	55
12. Boston	30	52
13. Washington	27	52
14. Florida	27	51
15. Philadelphia	30	33
WEST	GR	PTS
1. Nashville *	27	77
2. Anaheim *	28	74
3. Calgary *	29	65
4. Detroit	28	74
5. San Jose	28	69
6. Dallas	28	66
7. Vancouver	28	64
8. Minnesota	27	62
9. Colorado	29	56
10. Edmonton	28	56
11. Phoenix	28	52
12. St. Louis	28	50
13. Chicago	29	47
14. Columbus	28	47
15. Los Angeles	26	44

In the East there is a huge logjam in positions 4 through 9 and the New York teams have to leapfrog a couple of others to gain a playoff spot.

With the NHL system as it is, in the West, Colorado and Edmonton have a huge 6 point deficit to make up on Minnesota and Phoenix is starting to make summer plans.

Basically, the East is jockeying for position with a slight race. To correctly display how difficult it is to make up points in this system, I have followed Toronto, who has won 5 straight. Before their streak began, Toronto sat 2 points out of the playoffs (they were tied with the Rangers for 9th, but the Rangers had a game in hand). They won 5 straight games and now still sit in 9th, trailing by a point. Five straight wins and only 1 point made up in the standings.

Going further back, in their past 10 games the Leafs are 8-2-0-0. Ten games ago (standings as of January 9th), the Leafs were sitting tied with Tampa Bay for 9th in the Conference, one point out of a playoff spot. Leafs win 8 out of their next 10 games and are still sitting in 9th, one point out of a playoff spot (they do have games in hand on the teams in front of them, but I think the point is that it’s hard to make up ground these days, especially when the teams you're trailing also keep winning or getting overtime losses points, I'm looking at you Penguins)

So I compiled a new system, with 3 points being given to a team that wins games in regulation time (with the current NHL overtime and shootout point systems in place) in order to balance the weight of games. With this came a new stat, Point Percentage. This stat is similar to winning percentage in other sports, as it shows how many of the total available points a team has obtained (available points = games played * 3 points). Needless to say this stat can only be created with all games being worth the same amount.

Here’s how it works; if the Leafs win 3 out of 6 games (2 regulation wins, 1 win coming in overtime and losing 3 in regulation) their point percentage under the 3 point system would be as follows.

(2 Regulation wins * 3 points) + (1 overtime win*2 points) = 8 points

Total points (6 games*3points) =18.

Point % =8/18 = 0.444

Now say the Senators win 2 out of 6 games but win both of their games in a shootout and lose 3 of their games in overtime (and lose their last game in regulation time) it would work like this;

(2 wins *2 points)+ (3 OT loss*1 point) = 7 points

Point %= 7/18 = 0.389

Toronto would have won more games, have more points and a better point percentage than Ottawa. Here lies, what I feel, is the flaw in the current NHL system.

In the current NHL system with (both teams performing the same as stated above), the Leafs would have obtained 6 points in those 6 games (3 wins) and the Senators would have obtained 7 points (2 wins and 3 overtime losses).

What is the goal, to win a game or to lose as late as possible? Under the current system, losing as late as possible is the way to go.

Here are the current NHL standings with the 3 point system in place.

EAST	GR	PTS	POINT %
1. Buffalo *	27	100	0.606
2. New Jersey *	28	96	0.593
3. Atlanta *	26	86	0.512
4. Ottawa	28	90	0.556
5. Montreal	27	87	0.527
6. Carolina	26	85	0.506
7. Pittsburgh	29	84	0.528
8. Toronto	28	83	0.512
9. Tampa Bay	27	82	0.497
10. NY Islanders	29	77	0.484
11. NY Rangers	28	73	0.451
12. Florida	27	71	0.430
13. Washington	27	70	0.424
14. Boston	30	66	0.423
15. Philadelphia	30	45	0.288
WEST	GR	PTS	POINT %
1. Nashville *	27	108	0.655
2. Anaheim *	28	103	0.636
3. Calgary *	29	93	0.585
4. Detroit	28	105	0.648
5. San Jose	28	102	0.630
6. Dallas	28	90	0.556
7. Vancouver	28	84	0.519
8. Edmonton	28	80	0.494
9. Colorado	29	77	0.484
10. Minnesota	27	77	0.467
11. Phoenix	28	71	0.438
12. St. Louis	28	65	0.401
13. Columbus	28	64	0.395
14. Chicago	29	62	0.390
15. Los Angeles	26	59	0.351

The biggest leaps from the current system to the new one come from Carolina and Edmonton. Colorado (with a game in hand) could conceivably tie Edmonton for 8th if they won their next game in regulation.

I hope this goes to show how flawed I feel that the current system is by rewarding overtime and shootout performance more than wins.