It’s kind of strange how (as you pointed out) Edmonton didn’t deserve to make the playoffs in 2005-2006 under a pre-shootout league, and yet they managed to make the Cup finals (can you say parity?).

One thing I would like to see is a new point system. Personally, I think it should either be 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an OT win, 1 point for a SO win and 0 points for losing; or conversely make it 2 points for a regulation win, 1 point for a SO/OT win and 0 points for losing. Now, I don’t know how much this would change the standings, but I do think it would cut down on the amount of games that go into OT and the SO, since the farther along the game goes, the less points there are up for grabs. Would it actually work? Tough to tell, since as far as I know this hasn’t been done before in a Pro hockey league. But they could easily institute this into the AHL for a year and see how it affects the game and the playoff races.

And I know some people don’t like the idea of 3 points being awarded to the winner because it’ll thrash the records, but that has been happening for a long time – as far back as the institution of OT.

Ryan Callahan was taken down the other night against the Red Wings and was given a Penalty Shot. Was it still exciting? Sure, but not like it was back in the day when a Penalty Shot was a rare, rare occurrence.

There is too much of a good thing going on with shootouts.