NHL Tiebreaker Issue, Improper team given playoff spot

[tyleraven10]

Dear FHM Tech Staff,

I'm writing to report a bug encountered in the FHM sim regarding tiebreaker calculations.

In a recent simulation, we encountered a scenario where three teams were tied for both wildcard spots. The teams in question were:

Arizona Coyotes (Wild Card 1)
Winnipeg Jets (Wild Card 2)
Chicago Blackhawks (Wild Card 3 equivalent)

The tiebreaker criteria outlined in the FHM sim documentation were not applied correctly. Despite the tie in points, it doesn't appear that the tiebreaker was done properly with regulation wins followed by ROW, as while Arizona had more regulation wins than both Winnipeg and Chicago, Winnipeg and Chicago had identical RWs, but Chicago had more ROWs. We have a feeling that ROW wasn't taken into consideration or was bypassed by a different tiebreaker, potentially H2H or goal differential instead. This resulted in what we believe to be an inaccurate ranking of the teams.

As per the NHL tiebreaker rules:

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order:
The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage).
The greater number of games won, excluding games won in Overtime or by Shootout (i.e., 'Regulation Wins'). This figure is reflected in the RW column.
The greater number of games won, excluding games won by Shootout. This figure is reflected in the ROW column.
The greater number of games won by the Club in any manner (i.e., 'Total Wins'). This figure is reflected in the W column.
The greater number of points earned in games against each other among two or more tied clubs. For the purpose of determining standing for two or more Clubs that have not played an even number of games with one or more of the other tied Clubs, the first game played in the city that has the extra game (the 'odd game') shall not be included. When more than two Clubs are tied, the percentage of available points earned in games among each other (and not including any 'odd games') shall be used to determine standing.
The greater differential between goals for and against (including goals scored in Overtime or awarded for prevailing in Shootouts) for the entire regular season. This figure is reflected in the DIFF column.
The greater number of goals scored (including goals scored in Overtime or awarded for prevailing in Shootouts) for the entire regular season. This figure is reflected in the GF column.
However, in our simulation, the tiebreaker incorrectly prioritized head-to-head matchups, leading to an incorrect determination of the wildcard spot. More details are available in the attached documentation export data.

In the location to upload save files, I have uploaded a file called "Tiebreaker Concern Save" which shows the issues that we are looking at right now and shows our save file for you to inspect and see what caused this and how to fix it.

We kindly request that the FHM development team investigate this issue and rectify the tiebreaker calculation to align with the documented rules. If possible, we would also like to know if the playoffs could be altered as well as this is a 32 person sim league this file comes from.

Thanks,
NSL - National Sim League

[Sebastian Palkowski]

I was able to "fix" your save: luckily you had a backup save in rs_two that was one day before your actual save and there the PO´s were not yet started.

I send you a PM with the link of the fixed save to download.