Loser/Winner Point

When looking at the WHL standings the problem to me isn’t the loser points it’s the winner points that cause the problem of having some many teams above .500.
Before shootouts and before regular season overtime games, teams would still get 1 point for a tie.
So when you look at the standings and see a team with 4 OT losses and 2 SO losses those aren’t loser points they are tie points.
The teams that have extra wins in the win column because of overtime and shootout victories is the reason for the so called untrue standings.
What if teams got zero points for a loss in overtime or a shootout?
What if you take away overtime and shootout wins and gave both teams 1 point for a tie?
What if teams got 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss?
What if teams get 4 points for a regulation win, 3 points for an overtime win, 2 points for a shootout win and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss?

Here is what the WHL standings would look like under these situations. 
Standings as of December 17.

#	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS
1	Prince George Cougars	35	25	8	2	0	52
2	Everett Silvertips	32	23	4	5	0	51
3	Medicine Hat Tigers	35	24	10	1	0	49
4	Regina Pats	30	21	3	6	0	48
5	Moose Jaw Warriors	32	20	7	4	1	45
6	Kelowna Rockets	34	20	12	2	0	42
7	Kamloops Blazers	35	20	13	1	1	42
8	Swift Current Broncos	34	17	10	3	4	41
9	Lethbridge Hurricanes	35	18	12	3	2	41
10	Tri-City Americans	36	19	14	3	0	41
11	Portland Winterhawks	35	19	15	1	0	39
12	Red Deer Rebels	35	16	13	4	2	38
13	Victoria Royals	35	17	15	3	0	37
14	Seattle Thunderbirds	32	16	13	2	1	35
15	Edmonton Oil Kings	34	16	15	3	0	35
16	Spokane Chiefs	32	14	12	5	1	34
17	Brandon Wheat Kings	32	14	14	4	0	32
18	Saskatoon Blades	35	13	18	3	1	30
19	Vancouver Giants	33	12	18	1	2	27
20	Calgary Hitmen	29	12	15	2	0	26
21	Kootenay ICE	34	6	20	7	1	20
22	Prince Albert Raiders	34	7	25	1	1	16

Standings with zero points for an overtime or shootout loss.

#	Team	GP	W	L	PTS
1	Prince George Cougars	35	25	10	50
2	Medicine Hat Tigers	35	24	11	48
3	Everett Silvertips	32	23	9	46
4	Regina Pats	30	21	9	42
5	Moose Jaw Warriors	32	20	12	40
6	Kelowna Rockets	34	20	14	40
7	Kamloops Blazers	35	20	15	40
8	Portland Winterhawks	35	19	16	38
9	Tri-City Americans	36	19	17	38
10	Lethbridge Hurricanes	35	18	17	36
11	Swift Current Broncos	34	17	17	34
12	Victoria Royals	35	17	18	34
13	Seattle Thunderbirds	32	16	16	32
14	Edmonton Oil Kings	34	16	18	32
15	Red Deer Rebels	35	16	19	32
16	Spokane Chiefs	32	14	18	28
17	Brandon Wheat Kings	32	14	18	28
18	Saskatoon Blades	35	13	22	26
19	Vancouver Giants	33	12	21	24
20	Calgary Hitmen	29	12	17	24
21	Prince Albert Raiders	34	7	27	14
22	Kootenay ICE	34	6	28	12

There was a little shuffling of positions in the standings but nothing to drastic.
Swift Current drops from 8^th to 11^th, Red Deer drops 12^th to 15^th.
The stat that stands out is we go from 5 teams below .500 to 10 teams.

Standings with no overtime or shootouts and both teams get 1 point for a tie.

#	Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS
1	Prince George Cougars	35	23	8	4	50
2	Everett Silvertips	32	20	4	8	48
3	Medicine Hat Tigers	35	21	10	4	46
4	Regina Pats	30	18	3	9	45
5	Moose Jaw Warriors	32	14	7	11	39
6	Kelowna Rockets	34	17	12	5	39
7	Swift Current Broncos	34	13	10	11	37
8	Kamloops Blazers	35	15	13	7	37
9	Lethbridge Hurricanes	35	14	12	9	37
10	Portland Winterhawks	35	15	15	5	35
11	Victoria Royals	35	15	15	5	35
12	Tri-City Americans	36	13	14	9	35
13	Seattle Thunderbirds	32	15	13	4	34
14	Spokane Chiefs	32	12	12	8	32
15	Red Deer Rebels	35	10	13	12	32
16	Edmonton Oil Kings	34	9	15	10	28
17	Brandon Wheat Kings	32	9	14	9	27
18	Saskatoon Blades	35	10	18	7	27
19	Vancouver Giants	33	8	18	7	23
20	Calgary Hitmen	29	7	15	7	21
21	Kootenay ICE	34	4	20	10	18
22	Prince Albert Raiders	34	4	25	5	13

Big change in the win columns as there have been 66 overtime wins and 17 shootout wins. All of those get moved into the Tie column. This brings us back to the 2-point games. Again there is some minor shuffling in the standings, the biggest is Red Deer dropping 3 spots.

Standings with 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss.

RW stands for Regulation win.

#	Team	GP	W	RW	L	OTL	SOL	PTS
1	Prince George Cougars	35	25	23	8	2	0	75
2	Everett Silvertips	32	23	20	4	5	0	71
3	Medicine Hat Tigers	35	24	21	10	1	0	70
4	Regina Pats	30	21	18	3	6	0	66
5	Moose Jaw Warriors	32	20	14	7	4	1	59
6	Kelowna Rockets	34	20	17	12	2	0	59
7	Kamloops Blazers	35	20	15	13	1	1	57
8	Lethbridge Hurricanes	35	18	14	12	3	2	55
9	Swift Current Broncos	34	17	13	10	3	4	54
10	Portland Winterhawks	35	19	15	15	1	0	54
11	Tri-City Americans	36	19	13	14	3	0	54
12	Victoria Royals	35	17	15	15	3	0	52
13	Seattle Thunderbirds	32	16	15	13	2	1	50
14	Red Deer Rebels	35	16	10	13	4	2	48
15	Spokane Chiefs	32	14	12	12	5	1	46
16	Edmonton Oil Kings	34	16	9	15	3	0	44
17	Brandon Wheat Kings	32	14	9	14	4	0	41
18	Saskatoon Blades	35	13	10	18	3	1	40
19	Vancouver Giants	33	12	8	18	1	2	35
20	Calgary Hitmen	29	12	7	15	2	0	33
21	Kootenay ICE	34	6	4	20	7	1	24
22	Prince Albert Raiders	34	7	4	25	1	1	20

Surprisingly there was very little change in the standings by giving 1 more point for a regulation win.

Standings with 4 points for a regulation win, 3 points for an overtime win, 2 points for a shootout win and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss.

RW stands for Regulation win, OTW is an overtime win, SOW is a shootout win.

#	Team	GP	W	RW	OTW	SOW	L	OTL	SOL	PTS
1	Prince George Cougars	35	25	23	1	1	8	2	0	99
2	Everett Silvertips	32	23	20	2	1	4	5	0	93
3	Medicine Hat Tigers	35	24	21	2	1	10	1	0	93
4	Regina Pats	30	21	18	3	0	3	6	0	87
5	Kelowna Rockets	34	20	17	3	0	12	2	0	79
6	Moose Jaw Warriors	32	20	14	5	1	7	4	1	78
7	Kamloops Blazers	35	20	15	5	0	13	1	1	77
8	Lethbridge Hurricanes	35	18	14	4	0	12	3	2	73
9	Portland Winterhawks	35	19	15	3	1	15	1	0	72
10	Seattle Thunderbirds	32	16	15	2	1	13	2	1	71
11	Tri-City Americans	36	19	13	4	2	14	3	0	71
12	Victoria Royals	35	17	15	1	1	15	3	0	68
13	Swift Current Broncos	34	17	13	2	0	10	3	4	65
14	Red Deer Rebels	35	16	10	6	0	13	4	2	64
15	Spokane Chiefs	32	14	12	2	0	12	5	1	60
16	Edmonton Oil Kings	34	16	9	6	1	15	3	0	59
17	Saskatoon Blades	35	13	10	2	1	18	3	1	52
18	Brandon Wheat Kings	32	14	9	1	4	14	4	0	51
19	Vancouver Giants	33	12	8	4	0	18	1	2	47
20	Calgary Hitmen	29	12	7	3	2	15	2	0	43
21	Kootenay ICE	34	6	4	1	1	20	7	1	29
22	Prince Albert Raiders	34	7	4	3	0	25	1	1	27

Not a lot of changes in the standings again except for Swift Current who dropped from 8^th to 14^th in standings. Seattle moves up 5 spots.

So, when we reward teams for regulation wins it does affect the standings but not in a major way. This experiment will tell us more at the end of the season when everyone has played the same amount of games and there is a larger amount of extra points to award in the RW column.

The one thing these numbers don’t tell us is how different will the game look when there is more points in the standings available at the end of game that is close. This will be a topic in a future article.