The Shootout Post

I've been putting this one off for as long as possible, but it's finally time.

By now, many of you have seen at least one NHL shootout, even though the season's still young. I actually had the dubious privilege of seeing one in person, at the Senators' 6-5 defeat of the Leafs on October 10. Was it exciting? Maybe. Nerve-wracking? Absolutely. A vulgar gimmick introduced to titillate people who previously didn't care about hockey in the least? You bet your ass.

I'm not sure how ties became such a faux pas; many people seem to detest the lack of resolution. If a draw is so horrible, why not just keep overtime going? Leave the extra point for an overtime loss, because no one wants to watch 4 extra periods of pure defence in the regular season, but just keep the periods coming until somebody scores. No one ever decided a baseball game on a home run derby, did they? What about a basketball game on a dunk competition?

The other obvious upside about keeping overtime rolling is that it's still a team sport. Fans still get to see huge hits, great playmaking, stunning defensive plays (and breakdowns), and it's all in search of just one massive goal. Instead, look at the kinds of players who would likely be excluded in a shootout (unless, of course, it were to go several rounds without a resolution); say goodbye to power forwards and hulking defencemen. So long, Brendan Shanahan and Keith Primeau. See ya, Scott Stevens and Dion Phaneuf. If you can't dangle the puck on a string, the coach likely isn't going to look at you; a 100 mph slapshot loses a lot of its worth if the goalie can square to the shooter without worrying about a pass.

Shootouts have received a fair bit of interest so far; it's probably just as well, since they're here to stay anyway. In a poll commissioned by the NHL Fans' Association, 60% of random respondents approved of the switch, compared to 54% of those who consider themselves "hardcore fans." Obviously, with both of those numbers being above the halfway point, the league isn't about to repeal the rule, but it should be noted that NHL brass was expecting a much higher approval rating, particularly in the random respondents' category. It also bears mentioning that this polling data comes 5 games into the new season; 41 games in, let's see how fans feel. That would give them a reasonable amount of time to become acclimatized to the new rules, and would eliminate any responses that were positive just for curiosity's sake (it's easy to imagine that many people who answered the poll confused the notions of "approval" and "intrigue.")

At any rate, no amount of bellyaching on my part is going to convince Gary Bettman and the NHL Competition Committee to give shootouts the boot, so I suppose I'd better get used to them.

But you still can't make me like them.