ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Scott Howson will attend the general managers meetings in early March with a revolutionary proposal in his briefcase.

The Blue Jackets' GM believes the rise of NHL games decided by shootout -- among the three-point games that inflate records and create traffic jams in the standings -- has become a problem. Howson will present to his 29 peers a system by which shootout wins earn 1 1/2 points instead of the current two. Losers would still get one point.

"Everybody agrees that (shootouts are) a skill competition," Howson said, "and the weight of getting two points out of a skill competition is disproportionate to wins in regulation and overtime. This might get shot out of the sky, but I think it's something we should be looking at."

NHL standings are already muddled enough for some casual fans to decipher, so wouldn't decimal points further the confusion?

"Baseball does half-games," Howson said. "Basketball does half-games. They do percentages in baseball. I'm not saying this is the perfect answer, but it's something I want discussed."

At its current pace, 184 of 1,230 NHL games this season will end in a shootout, up from 159 last season and 145 in 2005-06, when the shootout was introduced.

Dineen on the verge

Original Blue Jacket Kevin Dineen, coach of Buffalo's minor-league affiliate in Portland, Maine, will almost certainly land a job behind an NHL bench in the near future.

It's unlikely that general manager Darcy Regier would stand in Dineen's way should an NHL job offer arise before the end of the season.

If the Blue Jackets opt to fire coach Ken Hitchcock during or after the season, keep Dineen's name in mind.

Dineen, the American Hockey League coach of the year in 2005-06, has always held a soft spot for Columbus despite the way the end of his career was handled by the Blue Jackets in 2002-03.

And, oddly enough, his former home in Bexley is back on the market.

Mr. Consistency

Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash, with 22 goals going into a game last night at the Minnesota Wild, has scored at least 20 goals every season since 2003-04.

Only 16 other NHL players would be in that club if they get 20 this season: Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Arnott, Pavel Datsyuk, Shane Doan, Alexander Frolov, Brian Gionta, Milan Hejduk, Marian Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Olli Jokinen, Mike Knuble, Ilya Kovalchuk, Daymond Langkow, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Joe Thornton.

Sniping in Detroit

Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock and rarely used goaltender Chris Osgood are sniping over playing time.

Osgood played only 31 minutes of mop-up duty during a recent 12-game stretch.

"At the start of the year, (Jimmy Howard) didn't play for a month and now I haven't played for a month," Osgood said. "To me, that's not a good way of doing things, to let one guy get stagnant."

Babcock finally let Osgood start Tuesday against Washington, the NHL's top-scoring club. The Red Wings lost 3-2.

Quotes of the week

• "I can wash your shirt on my abs right now." -- Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns, when asked about his fitness level after missing two months because of a concussion

• "I agree with Rick Nash 100 percent. (Chicago is) playing more like we did, and we are playing more like the other teams did -- it's called necessity." -- Babcock, when asked about Nash's comment that Chicago is the new Detroit

Slap shots

Put Pittsburgh at the top of the list of possible destinations should the Blue Jackets decide to trade left winger Raffi Torres at the trade deadline. Former Blue Jackets goaltender Ron Tugnutt wants back in the NHL as a goalie coach. If he gets the job in Ottawa, he would be coaching former Blue Jacket Pascal Leclaire, who has struggled this season. Former Blue Jacket Ray Whitney was recently asked by Carolina Hurricanes management to waive his no-trade clause. He could be headed to the Penguins to awaken a power play that, despite Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and all those skilled defensemen, ranks 29th in the NHL. The trade deadline is March 3.

aportzline@dispatch.com