Silver Nuggets: The NHL points system

Down Goes Brown pointed out that everyone in the NHL is within two points of .500 with the exception of Columbus. While this lets a lot of fans feel like their team is not that bad, this is a ridiculous situation to me. The fact that two losses can end up almost equalling one win (almost because of tiebreakers) is something that doesn't sit well with me. So here are my preferred alternatives in order of most awesome to least awesome:

1) Three points for a win, one for a tie, none for a loss
This could be the European football fan in me, but this would lead to the greatest effort to push for a victory. By making the difference between a tie and a win greater than the difference between a tie and a loss, teams will be much more motivated to push for the victory. Accumulating too many ties could kill a club late in the season. The inclusion of overtime is not necessary either, I could go either way.

2) Two points for any win, zero points for any loss.

This is a simple format. You win a game you get two points, you lose a game you get nothing. I have nothing against the shootout itself, it's an exciting way to finish a game and always has me on the edge of my seat. It's a legitimate hockey play and involves scoring a goal, the most basic hockey event. It's not like it is a hardest slapshot competition. If a winner must be decided, the shootout is the way to go. Playing indefinitely in the regular season is not feasible.

3) Three points for regulation win, two points for shootout/overtime win, one point for shootout/overtime loss, zero for regulation loss.
This would have the benefit of having exactly three points awarded in every game and still provide an incentive to win a game in regulation. I don't like rewarding teams with anything for losing a game though, which is why this ranks #3.

Links after the jump.

Tonight's game

• The lines for today: 1) Greening-Spezza-Michalek, 2) Foligno-Da Costa-Butler, 3) Daugavins-Smith-Neil, 4) Condra-Konopka-Winchester. (Sylvain St-Laurent)
• Paul MacLean clearly read my comment that the Senators have yet to win a game without David Rundblad. The pairings were: 1) Kuba-Karlsson, 2) Cowen-Gonchar, 3) Phillips-Rundblad. (Sylvain St-Laurent)
• The real reason is that MacLean feels Rundblad is a better player than Brian Lee right now. MacLean confirms that Rundblad was just being given a rest. (Senators Extra)
• Daniel Alfredsson skated for the third straight day, this time with the rest of the team as well. He won't play tonight but can't be too far away. (Ian Mendes)
• And now Alfie says he is day-to-day and will travel with the team on their six-game road trip. (Ian Mendes)
• Game preview for tonight. (Senators Extra, Ottawa Sun)
• Everyone predicts a loss tonight except Ian Mendes and Jeremy Milks. Peter is all alone in front with a 12-3 record and predicts 3-1 for the Rangers. A 3-1 Rangers win seems to be popular, with four panellists predicting that. (Senators Extra)

How would you like the NHL to award points?