Dump the OTL Column
As I write this, the teams seeded 1 through 8 in both the Eastern and Western conferences have more wins than any of their competitors who are on the outside looking in. Even if Toronto finishes the season 3-0 while Montreal finishes with three losses, the 8th and 9th place teams in the East would still be tied with 41 wins each. In other words, while there would be some position jockeying if the NHL threw out the 3 point games and simply recorded wins and losses, exactly the same 16 teams would qualify for the playoffs.
The extra point for losing in overtime (or the shootout) is supposed to reward teams in close games and encourage them to ‘go for it’ rather than playing for the tie. Unfortunately, all this does is inflate the points of teams with extra helpings of skill or luck in shootouts while encouraging teams to play for the tie in the final minutes of regulation rather than in OT.
It also rewards teams for losing, as long as they don’t lose in regulation. Detroit and Anaheim, currently sitting 1st and 3rd in league standings, each have lost 12 games after the third period.
Dumping the extra point for losing in OT would simplify the standings for new(er) fans, reward teams for winning and nothing else (losing in OT in the playoffs doesn’t get you anywhere, does it?) and would simply make sense.