I was watching Sportsnet the other day and Inside the Crease came on. They were talking about the "Bonus Point" in Overtime. Personally I hate the idea of giving out an extra point in overtime when they should be able to finish in regulation. I like the way baseball and basketball do their standings with Gamesback. Why is it that canadians are the only people who like to reward mediocrity?
Here's how the overall standings would change:
**WITH BONUS POINT
Rank Team PTS
1 DETROIT 105
2 OTTAWA 103
3 CAROLINA 100
4 DALLAS 99
5 BUFFALO 94
6 NASHVILLE 92
7 NY RANGERS 92
8 PHILADELPHIA 90
9 COLORADO 88
10 CALGARY 86
11 ANAHEIM 86
12 VANCOUVER 84
13 EDMONTON 84
14 SAN JOSE 82
15 TAMPA BAY 81
16 LOS ANGELES 81
17 NEW JERSEY 81
18 MONTREAL 81
19 ATLANTA 76
20 TORONTO 74
21 MINNESOTA 73
22 FLORIDA 73
23 PHOENIX 72
24 NY ISLANDERS 71
25 BOSTON 69
26 COLUMBUS 61
27 WASHINGTON 55
28 CHICAGO 53
29 ST LOUIS 52
30 PITTSBURGH 48
**WITHOUT BONUS POINT**
WAS Rank Now Team PTS
1 1 DETROIT 98
2 2 OTTAWA 96
4 3 DALLAS 96
3 4 CAROLINA 94
5 5 BUFFALO 88
6 6 NASHVILLE 84
7 7 NY RANGERS 80
8 8 PHILADELPHIA 80
9 9 COLORADO 80
10 10 CALGARY 78
12 11 VANCOUVER 78
15 12 TAMPA BAY 76
16 13 LOS ANGELES 76
11 14 ANAHEIM 74
13 15 EDMONTON 72
14 16 SAN JOSE 72
17 17 NEW JERSEY 72
18 18 MONTREAL 72
19 19 ATLANTA 70
20 20 TORONTO 68
23 21 PHOENIX 68
21 22 MINNESOTA 66
24 23 NY ISLANDERS 66
22 24 FLORIDA 64
26 25 COLUMBUS 58
25 26 BOSTON 56
27 27 WASHINGTON 46
28 28 CHICAGO 42
29 29 ST LOUIS 40
30 30 PITTSBURGH 36
Now since we really only care about the Leafs here, lets do the Eastern Conference only and see what happends:
**WITH BONUS POINT**
RK PTS
1 OTTAWA 103
2 CAROLINA 100
3 NY RANGERS 92
4 BUFFALO 94
5 PHILADELPHIA 90
6 TAMPA BAY 81
7 NEW JERSEY 81
8 MONTREAL 81
9 ATLANTA 76
10 TORONTO 74
11 FLORIDA 73
12 NY ISLANDERS 71
13 BOSTON 69
14 WASHINGTON 55
15 PITTSBURGH 48
**WITHOUT BONUS POINT**
RK Pts
1 OTTAWA 96
2 CAROLINA 94
3 BUFFALO 88
4 NY RANGERS 80
5 PHILADELPHIA 80
6 TAMPA BAY 76
7 NEW JERSEY 72
8 MONTREAL 72
9 ATLANTA 70
10 TORONTO 68
11 NY ISLANDERS 66
12 FLORIDA 64
13 BOSTON 56
14 WASHINGTON 46
15 PITTSBURGH 36
Doesn't look like much, but now the Leafs are 4 points out of a playoff spot opposed to 7 points. That extra point is uselss, all it does is mess up the standings. I mean how can a third point just appear because the game went into overtime...makes no sense to me!
It really is meaningless when you look at the standings. In almost every case the order remains the same by removing the bonus points.
The biggest drop I see is 3 spots in the standings, but when yu look at how much closer the teams are to eachother it makes for better hockey in my opinion because a lotof teams still have a chance. Leafs would only be 4 points out...not 7 which is another 2 wins, or win and ot/so loss
I'm not a big bonus point fan either... I think the reason it was implimented was to generate offense in OT, since lower teams were content to grab the 1 pt for a tie against a stronger team.
But...now, with 4 on 4 hockey (sitting back is not an easy option) and a shoot out at the end of OT, this idea has become pointless (no pun intented).
Teams will play for the win in OT, since no one wants to take the chance on a shoot out.