And you think MLB has problems???

[blankman]

NO RULE AGAINST THE TWO LINE PASS!

Its the stupidest offensive surpressant rule in the game.

Do away with touch icing. Who needs to have their stars hurt because two players are sprinting towards a wall, get tangled up and go crashing into the boards.

I'd like to see goalie pad sizes better regulated and made smaller (Garth Snow anyone?). Move the nets back where they used to be. Decide on how to enforce obstruction and enforce it consistantly, all year, rather than their regular crack down which ends after only 15 or so games.

I'd personally like to see the rink made a little bigger, although not quite the size of an Olympic rink. Having played hockey myself on an Olympic rink in a tournament this year, I can say that the size is way to big, but the NHL size is too small that it limits offense too much IMO. My high school team dominated with less talent than many teams using a 1-3-1 trap and it was amazing to see how little room the other team had once they got the puck.

The biggest problem they face in enlargening the rink IMO is with owners, because larger rinks = less seats = less tickets sold = less money in their pockets. In the end, if the game were opened up a little more I think the game would attract more fans and eventually = more money in the owner's pockets.

In the regular season, I'd be for a shootout after the 5 minute 4 on 4 OT. This eliminates ties. The way to keep teams from waiting for a shootout IMO is this. Make a Win worth 3pts, OT win- 3pts, Shootout win- 2pts, OT loss or shootout loss- 1pt. You have to award pts for an OT loss or shootout loss to encourage the teams to go all out to score during OT and it would be unfair to get 0 pts simply because you lose a shootout. A penalty shot or breakaway is the most exciting play in hockey and what better way is there to encourage fans to watch than a shootout? Think about how many more highlights hockey would have on Sportscenter with shootouts (Jagr anyone?). And seeing exciting things on Sportscenter makes people want to watch the real thing.

[blankman]

I hate shootouts from an integrity standpoint. Hockey is a team sport and I would hate to see it come down to who has the best few 1-on-1 players. I think that Clarke said that it wouldn't be good for the games to end on a gimmick. A lot like ending a tie in the NFL by having the QB's throw passes through tires.

This may be true, but it is the most exciting play in the game and if you award pts as I said in my post (3 for Win/OT win, 2 for Shootout Win, 1 for OT/Shootout loss), then I think you eliminate the "gimmickness" to a great extent.

[LBJackal]

I hate shootouts from an integrity standpoint. Hockey is a team sport and I would hate to see it come down to who has the best few 1-on-1 players. I think that Clarke said that it wouldn't be good for the games to end on a gimmick. A lot like ending a tie in the NFL by having the QB's throw passes through tires.

This may be true, but it is the most exciting play in the game and if you award pts as I said in my post (3 for Win/OT win, 2 for Shootout Win, 1 for OT/Shootout loss), then I think you eliminate the "gimmickness" to a great extent.

I think I'm torn on this. I'd really like to see it, as it would end a tie which is the worst way to end a game. But, it's not fair to the losing team. Even though the points would awarded be lower for a shootout win, it's still more than they'd get for a tie. Like Lofunzo said, Hockey is a team sport. To give a team a bonus point for having better one-on-one players is not fair. Think of team like New Jersey who doen't really have snipers, but rely on good defensive hockey. Philadelphia is similar, to a lesser extent.

As for the expansion of the red/blue lines, I hate it. It would turn away casual hockey fans, and make non-hockey fans laugh at the appearance. It's not the way hockey is meant to be played. Same goes for goalies not being able to play the puck. A better solution is that if the goalie is out of his crease, he is fair game to be hit. Some might say that goalies are out of the crease so often that the injuries they'd receive would be too great, and retribution would be rampant as well. But if this rule were in place, goalies wouldn't leave the crease unless there was nobody around. It sounds harsh, but I don't like the force-field goalies seem to have.

[Lofunzo]

Blank brought up some good points that I forgot. I would have no problem if the 2-line pass was eliminated. Why is it there?? To stop cherry picking. The way that I see it is there is always someone back now to defend it and if you want to cherry pick, then you are taking yourself out of the defensive end. You will probably hurt your team more than help. More importantly, I would like to see obstruction and all of the other penalties, called consistently. If the rules were enforced, there would be no problem. You wanna finish a check?? Fine. You wanna finish a check and then drag the guy down and sit on him for 10 seconds?? That's a penalty.

[matmat]

Shootouts would be great. I think that the number of points per game should be constant though, so keeping the 4 on 4 5min OT the points probably should be awarded something like

win in regulation 5pts
loss in regulation 0pts
win in OT 4pts
loss in OT 1pt
win in shootout 3 points
loss in shootout 2 points

not sure how well those would work in practice, but on paper they seem reasonable.

I'd also love to see the two-line pass go away.

Another rule which I wouldn't mind seeing go away is one aspect of the off-side rule. I think that once the offending team clears the zone (if say, someone was over the line on a dump in) and the defending team posesses the puck there should be no offside if an offensive player reenters the zone.

[blankman]

Another rule which I wouldn't mind seeing go away is one aspect of the off-side rule. I think that once the offending team clears the zone (if say, someone was over the line on a dump in) and the defending team posesses the puck there should be no offside if an offensive player reenters the zone.

In other words, touch-up offsides. I've played with it in HS and I can tell you that as a defenseman, I absolutely hate the rule. Travel, which didn't have touch-up was much better IMO. Perhaps its only because I'm a defenseman though.