{"id":450893,"date":"2026-02-08T02:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T02:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/450893\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T02:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T02:47:13","slug":"the-nhls-broken-points-system-and-playoff-format-robbing-teams-like-the-maple-leafs-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/450893\/","title":{"rendered":"The NHL’s broken points system and playoff format robbing teams like the Maple Leafs blind"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t \"The <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

If you needed proof that the NHL\u2019s obsession with artificial parity is ruining the integrity of the season, look no further than the utter nonsense happening in the standings right now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s completely embarrassing.<\/p>\n

You have two teams with identical win totals through 57 games.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won 27 times. The Vegas Golden Knights have won 27 times.<\/p>\n

Yet, because of the league\u2019s geography and the “loser point” crutch, their realities couldn’t be more different.<\/p>\n

Vegas is sitting pretty in first place in the Pacific Division. They are planning their playoff route and resting guys down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Toronto? They are scraping for their lives in seventh place in the Atlantic and have approximately a 10% chance to qualify for the playoffs, according to Money Puck.<\/p>\n

It makes absolutely no sense.<\/p>\n

The difference isn’t dominance. It\u2019s “efficient losing.”<\/p>\n

Vegas has racked up 14 overtime or shootout losses compared to just nine for Toronto.<\/p>\n

They are being rewarded for failing to close out games in regulation.<\/p>\n

The current point system punishes teams for playing to win<\/p>\n

If the Leafs played in the Pacific, their 63 points would have them tied for third, comfortably in a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Instead, they are suffocating in the Atlantic meat grinder, punished for playing in a bracket that actually values winning.<\/p>\n

Gary Bettman loves this. He loves that the playoff race is tight, even if it\u2019s manufactured by handing out participation ribbons for making it to overtime.<\/p>\n

But it kills the product.<\/p>\n

Why should a team that loses 14 times in extra time be considered a division leader over a team that actually throws caution to the wind and plays to win games?<\/p>\n

It turns the regular season into a math equation instead of a competition.<\/p>\n

Fans in Toronto have every right to be furious.<\/p>\n

They are watching a team with the same number of wins as a conference leader fighting what appears to be a losing battle just to get a wildcard spot.<\/p>\n

The 3-2-1 point system would fix this overnight.<\/p>\n

Reward a regulation win with three points. Stop giving teams a reason to play for the tie in the final five minutes.<\/p>\n

Until the league fixes this, we are going to keep seeing mediocre teams coast on “loser points” while good teams burn out trying to overcome a broken format.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not parity. It\u2019s mediocrity.<\/p>\n

And right now, that mediocrity is costing the Leafs a fair shot.<\/p>\n

Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

10 HOURS AGO|172 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

The NHL’s broken points system and playoff format robbing teams like the Maple Leafs blind<\/p>\n

Is it time for the NHL to finally adopt the 3-2-1 point system?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images If you needed proof that the NHL\u2019s obsession with artificial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,464],"tags":[2216,295,5,4,60,2219,14,104,718,31,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-450893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-playoffs","8":"category-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-atlantic-division","10":"tag-gary-bettman","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nhl-playoffs","14":"tag-pacific-division","15":"tag-stanley-cup","16":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","17":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs-nhl","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","19":"tag-vegas-golden-knights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116032729843111826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}