A special thanks to PuckDaddy hockey blog on Yahoo! I wasn't home while it happened so I'll be using their article for the ideas that the NHL came up with. The ideas that I'm expressing, however, are my own.
The NHL R&D is a place where our sport can be cleansed of dirty hits or be made more exciting for the fans. This year's spokesmen, NHL discipline head Brendan Shanahan, came up with several great ideas that will hopefully be integrated into our league to make it a better sport. So let's get to the ideas.
A Curved Glass at the End of Benches In Lieu of the padding.
We all remember last year when Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins injured Montreal forward Max Pacioretty by driving his head into the turnbuckles at the end of the bench (the same padding that supports that part of the boards in every NHL arena.)
So the new idea is that instead of having a padding there that would absorb all of the contact and push it right back into you, they are now experimenting with curved glass who's purpose is to deflect all of the force back into the playing surface to prevent injuries such as the one to Pacioretty.
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| to deflect all of the force of the player back into the playing surface |
I think this is a great idea and it should be instituted into the league. It will prevent many injuries but it will still be cool to see a player get hellicopter'd.
GOOD IDEA
No Touch Icing...Sometimes
Let's face it. No touch icing is for hosers. The idea is that the race for the puck in a delayed icing situation can lead to some series injuries. Which it does. But let's be real here. Nothing gives the fans more satisfaction than a scrappy player beating out an icing call. So they experimented with allowing the referee to judge who will win the race or if the turnout of the race will end up with an injured player. It might not work too well though considering that the fans and players will often be confused about the call right in the middle of an action packed play.
BAD IDEA
No Shorthanded Icing
Just a flat out bad idea. The best part of watching your team on the penalty kill is when they are able to clear the puck down the ice and able to get a good line change after a long play. The idea here is to give the team with the powerplay more opportunity to score because if the penalty kill team ices the puck, the faceoff comes right back to their zone and they can't change lines. This will keep the killers tired and give more offensive zone time for the powerplay. The problem is that the killing team will ice the puck anyway for the 10 seconds of resting they can get and every time they ice the puck there'll be a whistle, thus slowing down the game entirely.
BAD IDEA
Defining Possession
When there's a delayed penalty, the penalized team has to gain possession the puck in order for play to stop. Or as written in the NHL rule book: "When the team to be penalized gains control of the puck, the Referee will blow his whistle to stop play and impose the penalty on the offending player or goalkeeper." But a problem that's been seen in the NHL is the inconsistency of the referee's opinion of what "gains control" means. Sometimes it will mean some stick handling or sometimes it will mean if it touches the player. Either way, they experimented with the idea that the penalized team has to skate the puck out of the zone or at least clear the puck in order for the play to stop. I think this is a horrible idea. I think the rule was already good enough. Most of the time, the refs would hold that all the player has to do is stick handle a little bit to prove he has possession of the puck. It'd be a bit too complicated and difficult to clear the puck.
BAD IDEA
Double Goal Line
An idea that I liked a lot was the goal verification line. This extra line would help during controversial video replays to determine if the puck crossed the goal line or not. Let's say that a player is blocking the view of the primary goal line and you can't tell if it's completely crossed or not. Well this second line will help. If the puck is touching the second line, it means that it has 100% cleared the regular goal line. So this is an idea that should definitely be implemented into the league.
GOOD IDEA
Clear Plank On Top of Net
A solid idea. Not completely necessary but may help the birds eye view in video replay.
It's not too hard to see through the netting anyway but the transparent view may help once in a while and it doesn't necessarily hurt either.
GOOD IDEA
New Offside Faceoff
The idea here is that after an offside, the faceoff should go all the way back to their own zone. A pretty brutal call if you ask me. Not all offsides are on purpose or avoidable. Maybe if it's a blatantly on purpose offsides they can make it a little worse on the offending team but other than that it'd be too much.
BAD IDEA
Set Faceoff
A lot of times, you'll see players taking false starts on faceoffs. A way to cancel these out, the referee would place the puck in the faceoff dot, blow the whistle, and only when both centremen are set, the referee picks up the puck and drops it. I thought it sounded like a pretty good idea but PuckDaddy said that the centremen were complaining that it was a different type of drop and they weren't used to it. I think it would've worked but if it bothered the players THAT much then it's not worth it.
GOOD-ISH IDEA
Faceoff Penalty Line
As explained here: "If a player is deemed to have committed a face-off violation, he will be required to move back and keep his skates behind a "penalty line" (1' foot further back) which will cause a loss of leverage and therefore loss of strength for the ensuing face-off." Not a terrible idea but I don't think it'd work. It's pretty much an automatic penalty loss and just for an accidental false start. It sounds a little promising but it'd be too weird to watch during a game.
BAD IDEA
Remove the Trapezoid
Yes yes yes yes yes. A silly rule implemented after the lockout to try to create more forechecking by preventing the goaltender to play the puck all the time (mainly targeted at Martin Brodeur because of his talented puck playing. Known by the Devils as the "third defenseman".) It's a foolish rule and it creates injuries. I wrote a very good piece on trapezoids a few months ago and I truly invite you to read through it. It's about goalies playing the puck and I truly recommend that you read it. So ya. Get rid of the damn shape.
GREAT IDEA
Shallow Nets
A harmless idea with tremendous upside.
It adds a lot of room behind the net and could create more offensive chances.
GOOD IDEA
Alternative to Boarding a Player
If a player has the puck along the boards with his back towards the play, he is in a vulnerable position to be hit hard into the boards. But the player trying to get the puck has no other option. So this idea was to be able to grab the player and literally throw him or push him away from the puck. It's a cute idea but there'd be too much controversy because it's pretty much a holding penalty anyway.
BAD IDEA
Long Change In Overtime
A pretty good idea. The teams benches would be further away from the defensive zone thus creating more odd man rushes from bad changes and it could give us more exciting overtime sudden death finishes.
GOOD IDEA
Five Player Shootout
Not a bad idea shootout wise. I hate the shootout but for people who like the shootout it's a good idea. More skill is required per team.
GOOD IDEA
Another Overtime
If the 4 on 4 overtime ended tied, it would go to a 3 minute 3 on 3 overtime period. It's extremely cool watching it especially with the talent in the NHL. A video (courtesy of PuckDaddy...again) shows how cool it can be. For someone who hates the shootout, I think it's a great idea.
GOOD IDEA
So that's it for me. Leave a comment saying which idea you love or hate or if you have any ideas of your own.
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