The New Jersey Devils could find themselves back on the right track for the first time in what feels like a century should they prevail tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes.
After back-to-back wins against playoff teams in the Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken with contributions coming from all over the lineup, the Devils still have some wreckage to dig themselves out of the Eastern Conference trenches.
Currently, New Jersey is in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with 50 points (24-21-2) through 47 games, sitting four points behind the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins and six points behind the Boston Bruins for the second and final wildcard spot in the East.
With the 2026 Winter Olympics right around the corner, it felt appropriate to take a look at how the NHL standings would change if North American hockey used the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) points system. For background, IIHF-sanctioned competitions record regulation wins as three points, overtime, or shootout wins as two points, overtime or shootout losses as one point, and a regulation loss as no points.
Noticeably, there are not many changes between the current standings and the standings with the IIHF points system, as only a few teams move just a couple of spaces. Uniquely, though, the gap between the top teams in the league and the bottom is further exacerbated with the extra point for winning in regulation. The Colorado Avalanche are already having a ridiculous season with 33 wins through 46 games, but with 30 of those wins coming in regulation, they would be a full 57 points ahead of the last place Vancouver Canucks with IIHF rules, a separation of 19 regulation wins.
Of the few teams that do jump around in the standings with the IIHF rules, the Washington Capitals are the greatest beneficiaries, moving from tenth in the Eastern Conference all the way up to third place in the Metropolitan Division and into the playoffs with a three-point cushion over the fourth-place New York Islanders. Teams like the Islanders drop from second place in the Metro with a three-point cushion over the playoff line to fourth in the division and out of the playoffs because of their many overtime or shootout wins relative to wins accrued in regulation; of the Islanders’ 26 wins, 35 percent (9) have come from overtime and the shootout, with five wins in overtime, four in the shootout, and 17 in regulation.
Likewise, teams with a lot of overtime losses would no longer be able to use the single point as a crutch, like the Los Angeles Kings, who are within striking distance of the Western Conference wildcard thanks to an NHL second-best 11 overtime losses. Currently, they are in fifth in the Pacific Division, just one point below the playoff line despite having only won 19 of their 47 games. They are ahead of the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames who both have more wins than them. With the IIHF rules, they would drop from fifth in the Pacific Division to sixth, below the Ducks, who would suddenly be one point beneath the playoff line.
As it pertains to the Devils, there is not really much difference between their current standing and what it would look like in this alternate 3-2-1 reality. They would technically be in a slightly worse position, eight points out of third in the Metro with 66 and ten points shy of the wild card, in large part due to their five overtime wins and three shootout wins. One third of the Devils’ victories this season have come in overtime and the shootout, which is no surprise, as their 5-on-5 expected Goals For Percentage (xGF%) is the worst in the league according to Natural Stat Trick.
An unsustainable trend for sure, but the Devils have taken what advantage they can in games that have gone beyond the 60-minute mark this season. Their high-skill, fast-paced identity has proven useful in the overtime setting for a few years now, even boasting a 5-2 record at 3-on-3 this season. When games have gone to a shootout, they’ve been perfect this season, a perfect three-for-three, which would have been unheard of 12 years ago.
If this thought exercise should be anything to Devils fans, it’s a reminder that this season has been a nightmare to this point. They’ve looked like turning things around at a couple of points over the last few weeks, most recently this pair of wins over the Wild and Kraken. They’ll have to get past the division-leading Hurricanes, fresh off a 9-1 win last night against the Florida Panthers, to really start convincing folks to believe again.
