Gary Bettman: No plans for NHL to change regular-season points system
BUFFALO – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, his expression sunny, sat down with media at KeyBank Center shortly before Game 2 of the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round matchup with the Boston Bruins. He expressed excitement taking in the joy of Sabres fans, starved for playoff hockey for 15 years and getting to see a comeback win on Sunday night in Game 1.
Bettman also took questions on various topics concerning the league. The one interesting Daily Faceoff the most: the standings and, more specifically, the points system that produced the 2025-26 standings, which were full of oddities.
The Los Angeles Kings made the playoffs despite tying for the second-fewest regulation victories in the NHL; they played an NHL record 33 overtime games this season and earned the last Western Conference Wildcard seed on the back of 20 overtime or shootout losses, setting an NHL record for loser points. On the Eastern Conference side of the bracket, the Philadelphia Flyers made the playoffs and finished third in the Metropolitan Division despite winning 10 fewer games in regulation than the Washington Capitals, who missed the playoffs. The New York Islanders won 43 games but were punished by only earning five loser points and missed the playoffs.
To set aside all the debates over the NHL playoff format, which Bettman has already refuted seemingly once a month for half a decade: what about the straight-up points system that determines who makes the playoffs at all? Is there any league-wide appetite to amend the system and weight regulation wins differently to give them more value?
“No – a lot of people suggest that what we have works well,” Bettman told Daily Faceoff Tuesday evening. “Every season, or every few seasons, or once in a blue moon, you may get an aberration. But I think if you look at the games in terms of how the playoffs have started, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the system. You’re getting great matchups. You’re getting great rivalry matchups. The hockey has been overwhelmingly sensational, so I don’t see it as a problem. Things vary from year to year. If there was a problem long term, we would take a look at it and we’d see if we needed to adjust, but I don’t think we’re at this point in search of a problem that needs to be fixed.
“Buffalo playing Boston, that’s a pretty good matchup. The Battle of Pennsylvania, that’s a pretty good matchup. You look around at the matchups, we’re seeing and we’re going to continue to see great hockey.”
Among other topics Bettman addressed in his availability:
– Asked about future outdoor NHL game plans for the NFL Buffalo Bills’ brand new stadium, Highmark Stadium, Bettman indicated it was a matter of when, not if, the NHL would stage a game there in the coming years.
– Bettman confirmed that any future NHL expansion team will have to pay a fee of “substantially more than $1 billion” to join the league, and that the price hasn’t deterred any interested parties.
“People tend to forget, for the most part, when you expand the expansion fee is really to reimburse the existing clubs for revenues that you’re giving up,” he said. “Because there is an economic value of your 32 teams, you expand to 33, you’re now taking national league revenues and instead of dividing them 32 ways, you’re dividing them 33 ways. And that incremental division has an economic value over time, whether you do it over 10 or 20 years. So based on the growth of revenues and everything else, and what’s going on in terms of franchise values, I would mention this day that $1 billion wouldn’t even be close to what we would exceed.”
– There have been “no developments” toward allowing Russia to play in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, Bettman said. The IOC and IIHF “have not changed their position,” and the NHL is following suit for now.
“Hopefully the world situation will change beyond hockey concerns,” he said. “Peace is always a good thing.”
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