The AHL confirmed today what was long rumored for months. The five teams that are playing in California will play 68 games in the 2015-16 season while the other 25 teams in the 30 team league will play 76 games.
The two teams in the same division as the “California Five” which consist of San Diego (Anaheim affiliate) Bakersfield (Edmonton) Ontario (Los Angeles) San Jose (San Jose) and Stockton (Calgary) are Texas (Dallas) and San Antonio (Colorado) These Texas teams will play 76 games, while their divisional counterparts play eight fewer games.
The AHL, in an effort to somehow make things fair, indicated in their release today that qualification for playoffs will be based off of points percentage (points earned divided by points available ) vs. actual points for wins, losses or overtime or shootout losses.
For the 25 teams that are playing 76 games, it’s season ending points divided by 152. For the California Five, it’s season ending points divided by 136.
Say San Antonio and Bakersfield are in a battle for a playoff spot. They have an identical 88 points. But, based off of points percentage, San Antonio trails Bakersfield by .068 percentage points with a .579 points percentage vs. Bakersfield’s .647.
You may look at that and say that is not much of a deficit. But consider this. San Antonio plays the next night and loses in a shootout. They get a loser point, bringing their total points up to 89, one more point than divisional rival Bakersfield. Yet they still trail the Condors in points percentage by .061 points with a .586 points percentage.
Oh, by the way, the crossover is back. There are two conferences, with two divisions per conference. In each conference there are eight teams in a division and seven teams in the other. If the fifth place team in the division with eight teams has a higher points percentage than the fourth place team in the division with seven teams, they get the playoff spot over the fourth place team in the division with eight teams.
So the potential exists that San Antonio or Texas could lose out in a playoff battle to a team in the Central Division, a division that will have all teams play 76 games, because of points percentage.
It isn’t fair.
It isn’t fair because San Antonio or Texas is relegated to fourth place in their division with five other teams playing less games based off of points percentages. It was calculated that a win for a California Five team is worth 1.47% in the standings as opposed to 1.32% for the 25 other teams in the AHL, San Antonio and Texas included.
Play less games, your wins count more.
Nope, not fair.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
How do the scoring races get decided? What about the veteran rule? (320 pro games) Salaries? Per diems? Less games mean less travel, less travel means less wear and tear on a California Five body vs. the wars waged in Wilkes-Barre, Hershey, Lehigh Valley and Binghamton or anywhere else not domiciled in the Golden State. How do you collectively bargain all of this?
The reality is that the situation is still in flux. Nothing has been announced yet regarding a collective bargaining agreement for next year. What I mentioned in the last paragraph was probably only a thumbnail of the other issues that are up in the air which I haven’t even thought of.
Other, relatively minor, rules announced were three on three overtime for 5:00, bringing the AHL on the same level as the NHL and ECHL. If there is no winner at the end of overtime, it’s onto a three player shootout. Also announced was a “coaches challenge” rule which, provided you have a time out, can challenge a reviewable play via video review. Finally, the face-off rule was changed. If you are defending in your zone, your stick goes down first. At center ice, the visitors stick goes down first.
What do you think of these rule changes? Fair or foul?
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