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Good morning to everyone except whoever invented snow. You suck, Dave Snow, or whatever your name is. The rest of you are cool, though.
🤔 What If?
There were just four NHL games last night, although that Lightning-Mammoth battle had some real intensity and we got another Ilya Sorokin shutout. We also had a trade between … the Rangers and Islanders? Unacceptable. Dogs and cats, things of that nature.
Hey, who wants to shake up the standings?
Regulation rules ⏱️
Regular-season overtime is fake.
Oh, it’s fun. At least some of the time, when players aren’t turning around to “regroup,” which is a hockey term meaning “beg your mean coach to let you do something fun for once instead of playing dump-and-chase until everyone falls asleep.” Every fan knows the feeling when three-on-three tips into that flow state of back-and-forth rushes. It’s pretty awesome.
It’s also fake. So is the shootout, which doesn’t even have the benefit of being fun. Basically, anything that happens after 60 minutes of five-on-five regulation is only quasi-hockey. Entertaining sometimes, and necessary to get a winner if you can’t handle ties. But also: fake.
It’s important to know that, because as you may have noticed, three-on-three OT and shootouts end when the playoffs start. So, if you’re trying to figure out which teams are most likely to have postseason success, one line of logic goes, you should ditch the gimmicks and focus on real hockey.
OK, let’s do that. The standings page over at Hockey-Reference is kind enough to include a few extra columns that play with the NHL records in interesting ways. One of them gives us each team’s points percentage in regulation only, not counting anything that happens after 60 minutes. Games that go into overtime are considered ties, with each team getting a point but no third point in play.
A caveat: We have to be careful about reading too much into those numbers, because in today’s NHL, getting a close game to overtime is basic strategy, and some teams do it better than others. We can’t just invent a better system and then say, “Here’s how the standings would look,” because changing the rules would fundamentally change how teams play. But with that in mind, we can still take a look and see if we can find anything interesting.
• For example, the best team in the league by regulation record is … OK, it’s the Avalanche. No surprise there. The Lightning are second, and the Stars are third, same as the regular standings. But after that, we start to see some movement, as there’s a team that slides up ahead of the Hurricanes, Wild and Red Wings. Would you believe … the Penguins, whose regulation-only percentage of .578 ranks fourth-best in the league even though their real record is only tied for seventh? The Panthers move from sixth in the Atlantic into a tie for fourth, passing the Canadiens. The Capitals go from fifth in the Metro to third. And the Kraken would move up from sixth in the Pacific to third, albeit at just .480.
NHL regulation points standings
(Data via hockey-reference.com)
• On the other hand, there’s bad news for fans of the Sharks, who drop from an impressive .550 under the current system all the way down to .440. Apparently there’s something in the water in California, because the Ducks also plummet .100, and the Kings drop .080.
• Those California teams all see their records drop below .500 under this change, but they’re hardly alone. Other teams to drop under water include the Maple Leafs, Flyers, Senators, Devils, Blue Jackets, Kraken and Predators. Wait, a league where half the teams are under .500? What a concept!
• Finally, one team stands out for not standing out at all. That would be the Blues, who have the smallest change of anyone. All 32 teams see their percentage drop under the regulation system (because there are fewer points in play), but the Blues drop a measly 10 points, from .452 to .442, thanks to having won only one of their 10 overtime games this season. Good news, Blues fans, your team is built for the playoffs. The bad news is … well, you already know.
So, there you go. That’s what life could look like in a world where the NHL didn’t hand out extra points seemingly at random while encouraging dull and conservative play, all so that their wimpy GMs can pretend they have a better record than they actually do.
Wow, I just bummed myself out. Quick, somebody think of something cool a Toronto Maple Leaf did to cheer me up …
Darryl Sittler. (Tom Szczerbowski / Imagn Images)
Sittler’s big night turns 50 (kind of) 🔟🚨
The Maple Leafs will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the NHL’s greatest records tonight when they celebrate the only 10-point game in the league’s long history.
The actual anniversary of the record-breaking game isn’t until Feb. 7, but this is the Leafs’ last home game before the Olympic break. Given how things are going in Toronto, the Leafs probably also wanted to give their fans something to do besides booing, throwing waffles and wondering what’s up with Craig Berube’s head.
Either way, it’s certainly a night worth remembering. There was nothing especially remarkable heading into the game, a Saturday “Hockey Night in Canada” at Maple Leaf Gardens between the Leafs and Bruins. Maple Leafs star Darryl Sittler was having a solid year, as usual, but nothing historic, and the Leafs were barely .500. In hindsight, the big news was on the Boston side, as the red-hot Bruins had just announced the return of goalie Gerry Cheevers from the WHA. That was great news, but Cheevers wasn’t ready to play quite yet, and Boston coach Don Cherry wanted to save his debut for a hometown crowd. That meant that Bruins goalie Dave Reece essentially had no backup that night. He’d turn out to need one.
The game didn’t start out especially unusually, with Sittler getting a pair of assists and the Leafs heading to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. But things blew up in the second, with Toronto scoring seven times and Sittler recording a hat trick and two more assists along the way. That left him at seven points heading into the third, one short of the NHL record of eight, held by a pair of Montreal Canadiens, Rocket Richard and Bert Olmstead.
Sittler tied the record early in the third with a power-play goal, leaving himself with almost a full period to get the record-breaker. He’d need about half that, scoring again midway through the period for his ninth point. Then he added yet another goal, his sixth of the night, to get his points into double digits.
And through it all, poor Dave Reece stayed in net, forced to endure the embarrassment in front of a national TV audience. To make matters even worse, he was sent down to the minors after the game and never played in the NHL again. Sittler’s big night was Reece’s last appearance in the big leagues.
If you’d like, you can watch Sittler’s 10 points in this YouTube clip from Sportsnet:
There’s also a retrospective from Sportsline that I broke down in a 2020 Grab Bag. Fair warning: If you’re a goaltender, or somebody who knows a goaltender, or somebody with a vague concept of what goaltending is supposed to look like, 1970s NHL highlights may not be for you.
Somewhat amazingly, the record still stands to this day, having held up through the high-scoring 1980s and the primes of guys like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Sittler’s six goals also remains tied for the modern single-game record; that mark also hasn’t been touched since.
Will anyone ever get to double-digit points again? You’d have to think so. But (almost) five decades is a long time, and maybe some records really aren’t made to be broken.
💡 Trivia Time
Sittler got to 10 points. The list of players who’ve gotten as close as eight is a weird one, including legends such as Wayne Gretzky (twice) and Mario Lemieux (three times), but also names like Patrik Sundstrom, Tom Bladon and Sam Gagner.
But how many players can you name who have scored exactly nine points in an NHL game?
Answer below.
Coast to Coast
🤝 Really interesting stuff here from Joe Smith, who takes a deep dive into how the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program works.
👶 Corey Pronman has a look at all of the best prospects the contenders are about to trade to your favorite team for that washed-up fourth-liner the fan base turned on three months ago.
🛠️ Another angle on the trade market, this time from Shayna Goldman: Who could be this year’s Blake Coleman, the utility player who fills a need on a contender?
👆 Have you been following the William Nylander scandal? After flipping a middle finger in the direction of a TSN camera on Sunday, the injured Leafs winger has apologized and been fined $5,000. Let the healing begin.
🎙️ On the Monday edition of “The Athletic Hockey Show”: The eight true Stanley Cup contenders this season, in tiers. (Plus a few teams that could join them with a strong deadline.) Listen here.
Nick Suzuki at the 2017 draft. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
What to Watch
It’s a busy one tonight, with 10 games on tap. Don’t be late, because our picks for the best games are all from the early slot.
📺 Golden Knights @ Canadiens
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / TSN2 / RDS
A fun thing about Golden Knights history is that Nick Suzuki the best draft pick in franchise history, and it’s not even close. Second place would go to … who, Pavel Dorofeyev? Nicolas Hague? It’s no contest, Suzuki is the undisputed champ of Vegas draft history. And he never played so much as a game for them.
📺 Mammoth @ Panthers
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Two hot teams in the playoff hunt meet in Florida. Utah had won five straight before last night’s nail-biter in Tampa. The Panthers have won three straight since the goalie fight game and look like they might finally be ready to stop slapping the snooze button and take their rightful place in the Eastern race.
📺 Sabres @ Maple Leafs
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / TSN4
This will be a crucial battle with major playoff implications, and the Sabres come in with all the momentum. Will their suddenly invigorated fans take over the building the way Leafs fans usually do in Buffalo? Man, do we ever need a playoff series between these two teams someday.
Full NHL schedule here. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo.
(Andrew Mordzynski / Getty Images)
No Dumb Questions
We believe that in hockey, as in life, there are no dumb questions. So if you have something you’ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at [email protected].
Where are the shootout goalie swaps?
As a Penguins fan, I cringe every time one of their games goes to a shootout, especially when Artūrs Šilovs is in net. Would it be legal for a coach to change goalies between the end of the overtime period and the beginning of the shootout (assuming it’s not an injury situation)? And if so, has a coach ever actually done this? — Brian W.
OK, first of all, Artūrs Šilovs has a .350 save percentage in the shootout this year, based on 20 attempts. That would have him in the running for a batting title most years, so let’s go easy on the kid.
But to answer Brian’s first question: Yes, a team could switch goalies right before the shootout if it wanted to. It’s no different than any other time in the game, and there’s no rule against it. So, if the Penguins got to the end of overtime and wanted to replace Šilovs with a more effective shootout option, like Stuart Skinner or a pile of wet laundry, they could do that.
Has it ever happened? Yes, actually. Just not very often.
The first time I remember seeing it was when Ron Wilson was coaching the Maple Leafs. After a scoreless overtime against the Ducks in 2008, Wilson told a rinkside TV reporter “watch this” and then removed Vesa Toskala in favor of Curtis Joseph. I’m not sure if this was the very first time any coach had tried the move, but if not it was close. In this case, it didn’t work; Joseph gave up two goals and the Leafs lost the shootout.
So yes, it can be done. And I’m guessing that leads to another question: Why doesn’t anyone ever do it, at least anymore?
I think there are a few answers there. The main one is that the new goalie would be coming in cold, having sat through 65 minutes of play without much to do. He wouldn’t even get a warmup. That’s a less-than-ideal scenario for a goalie coming into a regular game, where they may or may not be called on to make a big save early. When you know you’re going to face a breakaway or three right away? That’s a tough ask.
But I think there’s another reason, and it’s simple: It didn’t work when guys like Wilson tried it. And as the Leafs coach found out, making a move like that and losing means you get the blame instead of the players. Here’s an article from 2008 expressing confusion over Wilson’s strategy. Wilson never tried the move again, presumably because he realized that if Leaf fans are mad about Vesa Toskala coming out of a game, something weird is going on.
If Wilson’s move had worked, maybe a few more coaches would’ve tried it too. And if it worked for them, maybe it would’ve become a thing around the league. But it didn’t work, so a pre-shootout goalie swap took its place next to “calling for a stick measurement” in the category of Things That Coaches Can Do But Don’t Because Reasons.
🤭 Trivia Answer
If you came up empty on naming the NHL’s nine-point players, congratulations: You got today’s question right. No player in NHL history has ever finished a game with nine points.
Sittler is the only one to ever hit that mark, and he went on to cap off the night with a 10th point. There have been 15 eight-point nights in NHL history, including two (by Sundstrom and Lemieux) in the playoffs. Two brothers, Peter and Anton Stastny, did it in the same game. But only Gagner’s random explosion in 2012 has reached the mark since 1989. And in the 108-year history of the league, nobody other than Sittler has ever made it to nine.
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