I got this in an email from DJ. He makes a very good point. Have a read and see what you think.
T-bone
NHL Still All Tied Up
Since the NHL's inception in 1917, its taken 90 years but in a collectivefit of logic, We (and/or people inside the NHL with IQ's above roomtemperature) finally bellowed, "No more boring ties!" Big kudos to the newNHL for taking action. To most hockey fans, the shootout is a gem andproof-in-the-pudding of the exhilarating crusade to make the NHL the best itcan be. So Ding-dong, the witch is dead. Good riddance to the ugly,anti-climactic NHL tie. Or is it?
Until teams can no longer go into thelocker room and say, "Well, at least we got a point out of it." , the answerhas to be no. With more than two-thirds of the regular season gone andonly 8 points seperating 4th place from 11th in the Eastern Conference,those precious points earned have not been resolved by the shootout.
In its noble quest, the new winner-in-every-game NHL hasn't eliminated the tie. Notice how a team at 25-25-6 looks suspiciously like one with six tiesused to. Shouldn't that now be 26-31? Have they not LOST thirty-one games?But wait! There's more [logic] ! Second place San Jose currently has 35wins and first place Anaheim 33. The Ducks have three more points in thestandings. So now, the end-of-regulation charity point for being tied notonly encourages and rewards mediocrity like the tie used to, but creates adouble-whammy that can inadvertantly punish teams who win games inregulation.
The NHL needs to take action for next season. They can reward the loftieraccomplishment of a regulation win with three points and leave theOT/shootout structure as it is. But in the spirit of integrity andsimplicity, a campaign to truly eliminate a tie is best acomplished when ateam leaves the ice with nothing if they don't win the game. Win the game,two points. Lose the game, zero points. Why? Because it's good for the game.Top-4 professional sports league can't have a winner and a kind of, sort ofloser. It needs a winner and loser. And by the way, think OT and shootoutsare good now? Watch what happens to the intensity when it's all or nothing.......What do you think?