Yes, the shootout is still important

With the playoffs drawing closer and teams clinching, I basically stare at the standings at least once a day, usually more often than that, at the NHL.com standings. One of the most interesting numbers in the standings is the Shootout wins and losses. I use it as a barometer on the strength of teams, particularly those on the bubble. Good teams win and are able to deny their opponents points by outscoring them in regulation, or at least punch through in overtime. The number of shootouts they are involved in will generally be low. Other teams have to rely on the shootout scrap points together. However, this also means that they gift points to their opponents, making it overall tougher for themselves.

Personally I don't really mind the shootout as much as the fact that it shouldn't be worth the same as a regulation win (as explained in a previous blog post). Even the NHL kind of admits to that by making win totals excluding the shootout the first tie-breaker in the standings (provided equal number of games played). However, it is definitely a crutch some teams exploit and I call teams whose success is based in it paper tigers, fakes which look stronger than they actually are.

It is undeniable that some teams make the playoffs based on the shootout. As a Flyers fan people are quick to bring up the season-ending shootout in the last game of the regular season against the Rangers in 2010. It came down to a shootout, with the winner of it making the playoffs and the loser being on the outside looking in. The Flyers luckily made it, starting them on their run that ended in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The funny thing though is that it's not the Flyers who profited from the existence of the shootout that year: It was the Boston Bruins. The Bruins finished 3 points ahead of the Flyers and 4 points ahead of the Rangers. However, this lead was based in the fact that the Bruins participated in 19 shootouts that year, winning 10 of them. They were 14-13 in games going over regulation time that year. In comparison the Flyers had a 4-3 record in shootouts that year, with a 6-6 record in games decided in OT or the Shootout. The Rangers were 4-11 in games decided past regulation time. In most other point systems, such as the three point system I would like to have in the NHL, the Flyers and Rangers would have already been qualified before the final game of the season, and the Bruins would have been eliminated.

A similar example to the 09-10 Bruins can also be seen this year in the Washington Capitals. They too have participated in 19 shootouts, winning 9 of them. They are for now on the bubble, though two points behind the Blue Jackets who have a game in hand on the Capitals, making me think the Caps won't make it. The Capitals saw 25 of their 76 games played so far this season go into overtime, often by their own inability to hold a lead. It may very well be the reason they are on the outside looking in, as they have bled extra points to their opponents. However, without the extra points they earned in OT they wouldn't even have the chance to make the playoffs either.

On the flipside we have the New Jersey Devils who had to 11 shootouts this year, losing all of them. Yesterday night they lost to Buffalo in a 9-round shootout despite scoring two goals themselves, tripling the season total on successful shootout attempts for the year. They are now 3-for-39 in shootout attempts on the year, which is not surprising considering that their head coach Pete DeBoer does not practice the shootout.

Seriously, how does this happen in a league that has the shootout? If the Devils went as much as 5-6 in their 11 shootouts this year, they would now have 85 points, pushing them into a playoff position ahead of the Red Wings and Blue Jackets. If they had been able to flip their shootout record around, going 11-0, they'd be 2nd in the division and on the brink of clinching a playoff spot. By choosing not to practice this part of the game the Devils are essentially surrendering points to their opponents from the outset, and the importance of these points becomes more and more evident with every passing day this time of year.

Yes, the shootout does not exist in the playoffs. And yes, a team should not be reliant on the shootout to win a hockey game. But as much as I think that the shootout win should not be as valuable as a regulation win, matter of fact is that the shootout is still important and an opportunity to improve point totals and positions in the standings. Not even practicing the shootout should be immediate grounds of termination for any head coach.

However, this also makes me wonder about the Flyers. The last two games were decided in a shootout, losing both of them to the Bruins and Blues. It is good that they got the equivalent points as a win from two games against the two best teams in the league and giving them the extra points does not hurt the Flyers too much, but they are now again at a 3-7 record in the shootout this year. These are similar numbers to the last couple of seasons. In overall, the Flyers are 11-23 in shootouts since 2010, and Berube appears to not have put any more emphasis on the shootout than Laviolette did before him.

While it is always a delight to watch players like Claude Giroux show off their skillset in the shootout, it would be nice to actually win a couple of them. Particularly now as the Flyers are struggling to gain home-ice advantage. The Flyers are pretty much set to face-off with the Rangers in the first round, and they have a terrible record at MSG for the last couple of seasons. Leaving these points on the table could very well cost them dearly.