Why The NHL Should Get Rid Of The Shootout And Why They Won’t
By Jim Lynch
The NHL added the shootout to end a hockey game entering the 2005-06 season. Since the lockout, teams have been able to end their games in a skills competition that is not the best way to determine a winner.
The NHL saw 102 games end in a shootout last season, which comes out to a little under eight percent of games ending in a shootout. Since the NHL adopted three-on-three overtime, the number of games going to a shootout is lower. However, the games that go to a shootout end basically with a coin flip.
Last season teams played anywhere from three to ten games that ended in a shootout; it is different for every team. The Penguins played in ten games going to a shootout while the Hurricanes and Flames played in just three shootouts in 2021-22.
The team with the most shootout wins last season shockingly enough was the Chicago Blackhawks. They won six games that went to a shootout and only lost two. The Penguins on the other hand lost some seven games that ended in the shootout.
Why The NHL Should Get Rid Of The Shootout And Why They Won’t
Shootouts are a fun spectacle to watch. They are like an all-star game to end a hockey game with your most skilled forwards skating down the ice to try and outsmart the goalie. There is no confusion as to why Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are tied for the second most wins in the shootout with five.
Shootouts are fun to watch, but they also are not a good way to determine a winner. If the NHL were to bring back ties that resulted in no points and extend the three-on-three overtime to seven minutes while dropping shootouts, I think the NHL standings would reflect the best teams in the league more accurately.
Ending a game in a tie is not the worst thing in the world. Some 13 teams finished last season with over 100 points, which used to be a bit more of a rare occurrence in the NHL. Ending the shootout would make the NHL more competitive with points having more value, and extending the overtime period would bring about more entertaining hockey for fans to watch.
The Stanley Cup playoffs do not use shootouts; the fact that the regular season does almost makes the regular season seem less important. If the NHL wouldn’t want a game to be decided by a shootout during the playoffs then why would they want their regular season games to be decided that way?
At the end of the day, the shootout has been around since 2005 and is a bit outdated. The league has an entertaining way to end games with three-on-three overtime, and they should highlight that more than a shootout that ends with a random outcome.
While I think the NHL should end shootouts, the reason they won’t is something that has already been mentioned – they are an entertaining way to market the game to young fans. Shootouts are fun to watch for someone who doesn’t watch hockey a lot or for young fans in the stands.
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The NHL will not give up one of its more marketable features, so even though it isn’t the best way to decide a game, shootouts are not going anywhere anytime soon. Hopefully, this upcoming season will not have any teams drastically change positions in the standings due to shootout wins or losses.