Do away with the shootout

[azsouthendzone]

Great game last night. It was everything that you could hope for. Big crowd, Hockey Night in Canada, Luongo vs. Bryz, great back and forth game and it gets decided by a free throw contest. I understand why the shootout exists, for the fairweather, fickle, fans, but just play 20 min 4 on 4 or even 5 on 5. The shoot out is so cheap. It woud be like if a Suns game was decided by a slam dunk contest. They don't do it in the playoffs and I would love to see them scrap it.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

agreed

i was OK with it at first - but the novely and excitement of seeing the 1 on 1 matchup is gone

it's not part of the normal course of the game

 

[JerkFace]

it's a lot better than a tie.

 

[Scott MS]

Actually, I would prefer the Ties of a few years back. Shootouts are fun to see and fun to win, but when you lose, you hate to lose because of a freaking shoot out.

Three skaters seems like not enough to "earn" a whole point in the NHL. A shoot out win should be 1/2 a point.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Personally, I can't stand ties and never really understood why people compare it to having a home run derby or slam dunk contest. Sure having them play 5 on 5 OT until there's a winner would be better than a shootout, but due to scheduling and such in the NHL they would never have even a 20 minute OT during the regular season.

 

[Compa]

I think the shootout and the OTL are horrible for the game. I might be wrong about this, but I think the shootout and the OTL were meant to get the attention of fringe hockey fans. I'd much rather have ties. Of course, if wins were worth 3 points and ties were one point, I would imagine that teams would attempt to win instead of playing to get at least get one point (as teams did before the OTL and as they do now with the OTL). It bothers me when I see the Coyotes, who are truly at .500, behind other teams like Columbus, who has 15 wins and 20 losses.

 

[PHXSportsFan4]

it's a lot better than a tie.

That is true but they should make it a 4 on 4 sudden death OT and if no one scores instead of making it a tie just keep going into multiple overtimes like every other basketball or college football.

 

[Scott MS]

I don't like ties and I don't like a whole 1 pt. for winning a 3-man shootout.

Either you go back to ties, or give 1/2 a point for a OT win. Like the previous post mentioned:

Win 3 pts.
OT Win 2 pts.
OT Loss 1 pt.
Loss 0 pts.

 

[PDXChris]

If you look at the NHL with the OTL, is allows for the perception that more teams are over .500. Right now it appears that 7 teams are under .500. If you late the over OTL away there are 11 teams under .500. Also if you take the OTL away, Chicago are in the playoffs if they started today and the Coyotes are 4 points out instead of the 8 points they are now. I say that the NHL needs to go to the MLB and NBA standing system, with straight wins and losses. They want to be a top 4 sport again and make changes to draw in fan and I think that would be a first great step.

 

[NightHawk11and81]

If you look at the NHL with the OTL, is allows for the perception that more teams are over .500. Right now it appears that 7 teams are under .500. If you late the over OTL away there are 11 teams under .500. Also if you take the OTL away, Chicago are in the playoffs if they started today and the Coyotes are 4 points out instead of the 8 points they are now. I say that the NHL needs to go to the MLB and NBA standing system, with straight wins and losses. They want to be a top 4 sport again and make changes to draw in fan and I think that would be a first great step.

That graphic doesn't work, because you just made games disappear. Chicago doesn't go from 37 to 36 games played. I like the overtime loss if you lose in a shootout, it at least gives you something. 20 minute continuous overtime would not work in the regular season because of how demanding the sport is and how many games are played. I like it how it is.

 

[Darth Llama]

I love the Shootout personally. The one thing I hate most in professional sports is a tie. There should be a winner, and a loser in every game.

I was at the Coyote Game last weekend that went into a shootout, and it was the first one I have ever seen live. Even though we lost I thought it was great. Much better then a tie or having OT just drag on and on till no one cares anymore.

I dig the Shootout!

 

[NightHawk11and81]

I still have yet to see a shootout live, that's one thing I'd like to see. I was 17 seconds from seeing one last year, but Alexander Semin of Washington ended that.

I will say, though, that I don't want shootouts in the playoffs. Continuous overtime is amazing in playoff hockey where one mistake means everything, especially in a Game 7. For the regular season, however, they work nicely.

 

[PDXChris]

That graphic doesn't work, because you just made games disappear. Chicago doesn't go from 37 to 36 games played. I like the overtime loss if you lose in a shootout, it at least gives you something. 20 minute continuous overtime would not work in the regular season because of how demanding the sport is and how many games are played. I like it how it is.

I make the graphic during the Chicago game last night, l must have gotten the second group of data just after the game ended, sorry, but you get the point.

 

[chickenhead]

My biggest problem is the point awarded for an overtime loss. There's nothing more frustrating than two of your team's closest competitors playing each other in the home stretch and both of them gaining ground because their game goes to OT. If the shootout is meant to make things more decisive, I would be more comfortable with it if the loser weren't also getting a point.

 

[NightHawk11and81]

My biggest problem is the point awarded for an overtime loss. There's nothing more frustrating than two of your team's closest competitors playing each other in the home stretch and both of them gaining ground because their game goes to OT. If the shootout is meant to make things more decisive, I would be more comfortable with it if the loser weren't also getting a point.

That's been suggested before, but I wouldn't be in favor of it because you really get nothing for playing 60 minuted of good hockey. What you could do is go to the 3-2-1 system, which I would be fine with, or go to a system of 2 points for a win, 1 for an OT win and nothing for a loss. But I'd definitely prefer either the first or current system to that.

 

[chickenhead]

It's really hard to come up with a great solution because people vary in what they dislike the most. Me: 3 points being handed out in a game. Others: the shootout. Still others: the tie in general.

I wonder if anyone ever suggested an approach where the OT winner got 1.5 points and the OT loser got .5 of a point. Somehow that seems to me like it would keep the points a little closer to the reality, the way it was with the 2-0-1 system.