Shootouts

Imagine working hard to win a hockey game for sixty-five minutes (that includes overtime). Imagine that after this period of time, the score is tied. Now imagine that a small handful of players are responsible for determining the fate of the entire team with a gimmick. That is the shootout.

I’m not as opposed to shootouts as most people. In international play, I actually like the idea… sort of. After all, they face each other no more than twice, play a lot of hockey in a short period of time, and have to worry about the schedules for the buildings. It might be nice if they could let gold medal games continue on until someone scores, and I really hated how they allowed a team to reuse the same player over and over again during the Olympics instead of forcing them to use their depth.

One of the problems with shootouts in the NHL is that teams face each other more often. When they first implemented the rule, each team played division rivals eight times each. Fortunately, they have dropped to six. I can honestly say that I hated watching the same matchups being decided over and over again by something that doesn’t properly represent the game.

If shootouts were rare occurrences, they could be something special. Shootouts in the NHL are too abundant to be special. With the novelty worn off, there is no longer any reason to excited about the event.

Another problem with the shootout is that it can actually be detrimental to teams that are playing well. Many goalies play better when they are active. If a team dominates overtime, they could be punished for it.

Let me add one last problem. Three players is not very representative of a team. Taking into account the law of averages, the small sampling size is less likely to properly reflect the abilities of the players. This brings shootouts dangerously close to determining the outcome of a hockey game with a coin toss. If they really want to determine the outcome of a game based on a shootout, let them determine the outcome of a game based on a shootout. If they want to keep the shootout, they need to add more players.