Vancouver Being Punished By OT Losses

One of the things that a lot of fans can't stand about the NHL is the fact that you get a point for an OT loss. I'm one of those fans, and this statistic has been harming the Canucks for the entire season.

I know that the NHL wants to reward teams for putting up a good fight, and I know that OT hockey is a little different from regulation hockey, especially the 4-on-4, but teams are being punished by this rule.

The Vancouver Canucks are the biggest example of this. They have not lost a single game in overtime this season, in fact, they've only been to overtime twice this season. Both of those games were won in a shootout.

The reason that I'm saying the Canucks are being punished is because they have just as many wins as the division leading Colorado Avalanche. Both teams are tied with 21 wins.

The Aves are beating the Canucks by six points from six OT losses.

However, the Aves have also played two more games and have two more losses (regulation and OT) than the Canucks have.

If you didn't get a point for OT losses, Vancouver would be in the division lead because they have a higher win percentage. These OT losses are the difference between third  and eighth place in the West.

My thoughts are that the OT losses should be part of the tie-breaking procedure. That way, a team can still be rewarded for an extra amount of fight, but it won't take away from a team that has more wins.

I'm not going to pretend that the Canucks are the only team being punished from OT losses. If there were no OT losses, then the Blackhawks would have the lead in the West, not San Jose, and there would be a lot of movement at the bottom of the standings.

Dallas has 11 OT losses. If there were no OT losses, they would drop a few positions as well.

My point is that I want to see the playoffs based on the teams that have the most amount of wins, not the teams with the most amount of points. I just don't like the system and I want to see it changed in the future.

You may see my blog, Tips for Hockey , for more of my NHL opinions.