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Sava
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GO GO GO!
Mar 2001
time: 23:28
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quote:
1. Get rid of the two-line pass
2. Restrict goalie pad sizes
3. Get rid of the instigator penalty
4. Stop calling goaltender interference outside of the crease (if he goes out IMO, he's fair game)
5. Contract the league to 24 or 28 teams
6. Remove the restrictions on stick curves
7. More divisional games |
I posted this short list in the NHL Playoffs thread, but I felt these issues deserved a thread of their own so I could explain myself.
1. Get rid of the two line pass -- Most would consider this to be an invitation to cherry-pick... but I disagree. This would open up the ice much more because it would make playing the trap much more difficult. I thought a game was supposed to showcase the players' skills, not the systems'. There would be more odd-man rushes, more breakaways, and a definite increase in goals. All of this = more excitement. And defenses can always adjust to try and defend against this.
2. Restrict goalie pad sizes -- There are restrictions now, but they aren't good enough, IMO. Compared to the 60's, 70's, 80's, and even early 90's, pads have grown in size.
3. Get rid of the instigator penalty -- This isn't a proposal that would affect the offense. This would be better for the game. Before the instigator penalty, there were less injuries do to carelessness and dirty play. You were held accountable for your actions. The players policed themselves. But now, there is too much dirty play. In the old days, if you were playing dirty, your opponent's enforcer would be allowed to stick up for his team. Now guys get game misconducts if their jerseys come off. The game has become pussified.
4. Stop calling goalie interference outside the crease -- Again... this goes back to how the game used to be played. Goalies get to wear a suit of armor and have the freedom to skate out to grab the puck. IMO, if a goalie goes outside of his crease to play the puck, he should be treated like any other player and be subject to getting hit.
5. Contract the league to 24 or 28 teams -- This really is about the talent pool in the league. So many terrible players are in this league because the talent pool has been diluted. There's nothing I dislike more than to see a system winning a Stanley Cup rather than a skilled team. Well, maybe I hate seeing a team that can't sell out their home playoff games going to the Cup Finals: Carolina. That market doesn't care about hockey. They care about Nascar, College Basketball and being on the Jerry Springer show.
6. Remove the restrictions on stick curves -- This would give goal scorers more of an advantage. And perhaps striking a little fear into the hearts of goalies. This rule was created when goalies used to have cheap little pieces of plastic for masks. It's unnecessary now.
7. More divisional games -- I miss the old Chicago/St.Louis, Chicago/Toronto, Chicago/Detroit rivalries. And what about the Edmonton/Calgary/Los Angeles rivalries of the late 80's/early 90's. Now, teams don't develop that inherent hatred of each other that used to make hockey fun to watch. As a Chicago fan, I don't care about Chicago playing Carolina... or some other pud team that we wouldn't face except for the Stanley Cup Finals (and with the Blackhawks, that won't happen anyways). Make the games matter. More divisional games will do this.
Feel free to add your own reform ideas or comment on my own. Discuss.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Sava
5. Contract the league to 24 or 28 teams -- This really is about the talent pool in the league. So many terrible players are in this league because the talent pool has been diluted. There's nothing I dislike more than to see a system winning a Stanley Cup rather than a skilled team. Well, maybe I hate seeing a team that can't sell out their home playoff games going to the Cup Finals: Carolina. That market doesn't care about hockey. They care about Nascar, College Basketball and being on the Jerry Springer show.
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What you say about the talent shortage was true in the 80s when the NHL relied mainly on Canadian players for its talent pool, but not any more.
With more Europeans playing there's more than enough talent to go around.
Besides, talent is just one part of winning team. Look at the Rangers. They're loaded with talent, but they couldn't make the playoffs and they shouldn't be in the playoffs.
The teams that have made it to the final four have superstars. They also have a system, but that's an important part about winning.
Teams that do make it to the finals, like Carolina last year, often do so because of team chemistry, luck and other stuff can't be manufactured.
quote:
Originally posted by Sava
6. Remove the restrictions on stick curves -- This would give goal scorers more of an advantage. And perhaps striking a little fear into the hearts of goalies. This rule was created when goalies used to have cheap little pieces of plastic for masks. It's unnecessary now.
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Yeah, but back then they didn't have the composite sticks which add a hell of a lot of power to players' shots.
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yavoon
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I find ur idea that "the system" should never win and merely some conglomeration of skill players should carry the day as some kind of moral value in sports personally offensive.
in other words. OMG U SUCK.=D
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optimus2861
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Halifax, NS
Nov 2000
time: 01:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Sava
2. Restrict goalie pad sizes -- There are restrictions now, but they aren't good enough, IMO. Compared to the 60's, 70's, 80's, and even early 90's, pads have grown in size. |
This rule's already on the books, rule 21:
(b)The leg guards worn by goalkeepers shall not exceed twelve inches (12") in extreme width when on the leg of the player. No attachments such as plastic puck foils are permitted. Calf protectors must follow the contuor of the calf and ankle and can have a thickness of no greater than one-and-a-half inches (1 1/2").
I agree that they need to introduce restrictions on the pad height, though, to prevent any more Garth Snow stunts.
It's the chest protectors that need to be reined in next; JS Giguere looks about 3 feet wide with that thing he's wearing (I don't mean to imply he hasn't been fantastic this post-season, but look at the ratio of his chest width to his leg width when he's standing up straight. It's ridiculous.) Many other goalies are doing this as well.
quote:
4. Stop calling goalie interference outside the crease |
No, no, no, 1000x no. Goaltender equipment is not designed to protect the goalie from the impact of a 220-lb forechecker barreling into him from the side, it's designed to protect him from a puck travelling at high velocities toward his front. Goalies also have reduced maneuverability and peripheral vision as a result of their equipment. NHL clubs can only carry two goalies for a game, and one of those goalies is often being paid $5 million or more these days, making them an especially valuable commodity, not easily replaced.
This change will not happen, ever. I'd expect it to be rejected in less than 10 seconds if ever raised at a GM's meeting.
quote:
5. Contract the league to 24 or 28 teams |
I wish. But they won't even contract bankrupt teams that nobody wants to buy until several months later (the Sabres; I really thought they were done for).
quote:
7. More divisional games |
I'd go for this. Get back to the 8-times-per-year days, get some real hatred brewing again between clubs.
One change that I once outright rejected but have warmed up to, is simply increasing the size of the net, by about 6 inches in width and 4 inches in height. The goaltenders are just so damn good these days that teams can get away with playing rope-a-dope styles and win 1-0 or 2-1 games all the time, and it's no coincidence that 3 of the 4 conference finalists could barely muster 2.5 goals per game of offense in the regular season (Minnesota couldn't even crack 200 goals). Going into last night, Anaheim was averaging a paltry 2.25 goals per game in the postseason, and now they're one win away from the Cup final. Give the shooters a bit more room to beat the great goaltending, and it may start to break the hold of the all-defense-all-the-time styles that are so dominant right now, and strike a better balance between the teams that go for offense and those that emphasize defense.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:28
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quote:
Originally posted by optimus2861
Give the shooters a bit more room to beat the great goaltending, and it may start to break the hold of the all-defense-all-the-time styles that are so dominant right now, and strike a better balance between the teams that go for offense and those that emphasize defense. |
Great goaltending has always been the key to winning the Stanley Cup, except for the 80s when the league expanded so fast there weren't enough good goaltenders.
I love games where the goaltender is flying around and making incredible saves.
The problem is the lack of movement up around centre ice. When things get clogged there, you end up with a boring game.
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Guynemer
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Dammit Sava... I know we tend to be on the same side of issues, but I still hate agreeing with you. And I refuse to believe that your girlfriend actually looks like that. 
Anyway, your ideas:
1. Yes.
2. Yes. Vigorously enforced.
3. No way, no how, nuh-uh. Fighting should be automatic suspension. Everyone always says that you'll see more attempts to injure with high-sticks and whatnot--hooey. Look at college and international hockey.
4. No. See Optimus.
5. Maybe. If so, then "yes" on 7.
6. Yes, yes, yes, sweet lord yes.
7. Maybe. If so, then "yes" on 5.
I also agree that the net should be a smidgen bigger.
However, everyone has missed two of the biggest improvements that could be made--not to the game itself, but the business of it. And I say these realizing that they would hurt no team more than my own Red Wings.
1. Salary cap.
2. Revenue sharing.
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optimus2861
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Halifax, NS
Nov 2000
time: 01:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Tingkai
The problem is the lack of movement up around centre ice. When things get clogged there, you end up with a boring game. |
I think the two situations are related. When a team has a great goaltender behind it, but not much for offensive ability, it becomes very very easy to fall into a trapping system, because even if the system breaks down on occasion and gives up the good scoring chance, the goaltender can bail it out. Thus the two complement each other. Break the hold of one component (either great goaltending or trapping), and the trapping teams won't enjoy as much success, thus hopefully leading to an increased emphasis on generating offense.
I don't see any rule change you could make to break the trap's success in a 30-team league (*), thus the goaltending supremacy needs to be dialled back a shade.
(*) - Throw 6-10 teams out of the league to concentrate the talent better and the trap's prevalence might recede on its own, but that's not in the cards for the short to medium term. Perhaps if we ever do see a complete NHL economic meltdown and the league has to withdraw from its weaker centres. The 2004 CBA fight will be bad, but I don't see it leading to team contractions.
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cinch
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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jul 2002
time: 22:28
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Fighting is most definitely not the best part of the game. I don't favour auto-suspensions, but I don't think it should happen more often, either. I say leave the system how it is right now.
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optimus2861
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Halifax, NS
Nov 2000
time: 01:28
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quote:
Originally posted by obiwan18
I don't agree with the cherrypicking because this has an unintended effect. Suppose a team left one player by the opposing blueline and the rest in a trap? Look at how effective Minnesota's trap has been; removing the red line will increase the effectiveness of this form of defense. |
I think that the "cherry-picking" problem is vastly overstated. If you hang a player up by the opposing blue line waiting for the long bomb, then that player's not contributing to the team defence, effectively leading to a 'mini' power-play situation. I've watched a lot of international, college, and junior games without the two-line pass rule, and you just don't see the cherry-picking. It's one more weapon in the offensive arsenal, one more thing the defense has to watch for. No more, no less.
But, I will add, that if the NHL were to take the two-line pass rule out, at the same time it should add no-touch icing to instantly penalize the missed long-bombs with a faceoff back in the defensive zone.
quote:
Don't increase the size of the net. |
If clamping down on goalie equipment sizes (a necessary first step) doesn't break the hold of the ultra-defensive styles, what else is there to do? I was steadfastly opposed to this as well when I first read it on Usenet. But I simply don't know what else you can do. Scoring's down to the point that teams look to squeak out 2-1 victories because they know damn well they can hold their opposition to 0/1/2 goals every night. The ultra-defensive styles have crushed the life out of this post-season; I for one have no intention of watching one bloody minute of an Anaheim/New Jersey final  .
If you look at it from a GM's perspective: what's the point any more in acquiring players who can score goals? Anaheim & New Jersey each had just 3 20-goal scorers this year (Minnesota just 2), and only 1 60-point man between them. Clearly all you need to succeed any more, is a great goaltender, and a bunch of plumbers who can clog up the neutral zone all night  . I fear that's exactly the type of team we'll see more of in the next few years as the lower echelon teams copy-cat this year's finalists  .
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MRT144
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Seattle Washington
Oct 2002
time: 21:28
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id like ot see more scoring opportunities, not more scoring.
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15-05-2003 02:29
In this way, we could at last have all the best players at the World Championship, and we could finally find out which national team is REALLY the strongest in the world.
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