They Took My Advice!

The NHL is now officially back. The new CBA has been ratified. The draft lottery was held, with the number 1 pick going to Pittsburgh. And the Rule Changes were announced. Much to my delight, they adopted the rule change that I suggested in my July 14 blog entry - they eliminated the centre red line for offsides, and also brought the blue lines closer to the centre. I recommended moving each blue line five feet, but the NHL decided to move them two feet. As a result, the neutral zone has been reduced to fifty feet, and each offensive zone is seventy-five feet from end board to blue line. Let the free-wheeling begin.

The league also adopted a few other rules. They brought back the tag-up offside rule, which should never have left. They restricted the area in which a goaltender can handle the puck behind the goal line, and I'm not sure about that one. I guess the idea is that it will create more offence by diminishing the opportunities a goalie might have to come out of the net and clear the puck from his zone, but I think it penalizes goaltenders who have exceptional puck handling skills. They reduced the size of the goalie's pads, so there won't be any more Michelin men blocking the nets. And they kept "touch" icing, but gave linesmen more discretion to wave icing off if it came as a result of an attempted pass.

The biggest change, from the league's perspective, is the introduction of a shootout to decide games that are tied after a five minute overtime. As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't really see how this enhances the game. Yes, there will no longer be those tie games which seemed to bother some people. But because you give the losing team in overtime/shootout a point, there is no incentive for teams to play to win late in a close game. If there were no ties, and no points awarded for losses of any kind (and standings were kept just like in baseball, with a GBL column instead of points), that would be incentive to play to win. Three points for a regulation win would be incentive. Extending the game to a shootout and giving the losing team a point is just a gimmick.

Many people are curious to see how long it will take the fans to get back into hockey. It will be an interesting offseason, with hundreds of free agents out there that the teams will try to fit into their salary cap. Hopefully the game itself will be improved. I'm sure people in Canada will get back into it relatively soon, not so much in Phoenix and Nashville. Heck, I might even catch a game on TV some time this year. The only predictable thing is that Leafs won't win the Cup.