New NHL Rules

The NHL is back! I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am. Although I am uncertain how well the Dallas Stars (or any NHL team) will do with all of the player transactions, it is exciting to have hockey being talked about in July.

It's time to discuss the new NHL rules...some I like, some I don't. Let's go:

NEW RINK DIMENSIONS

The neutral zone is four feet narrower with the goal lines pushed two feet closer to the end boards. This adds four feet of length to each attacking zone. The theory is that more room will encourage offense, especially on power plays. With less room behind the net, there is also greater potential for deflections or bad passes to come right in front of the net. I can't argue with this one. WEDGIE'S TAKE: UPGRADE

ELIMINATION OF RED LINE FOR TWO LINE PASSES

There is no doubt that most teams have mastered the "neutral-zone trap," limiting breakaways. This new rule should open up the door for longer passes. Critics say that teams will now trap at their own blue line instead of the red line. This may be true, but the attacking team should get a couple more strides of speed to break through. As long as the referees enforce the obstuction rules, I see no problem with the new rule. WEDGIE'S TAKE: UPGRADE

ICING THE PUCK

The red line is still in play for icing, but there have been some modifications. Icing is still "touch icing" which is debatable with the injury factor of players flying down the ice to crash the boards. The best part is that the defensive team CANNOT change make a line change. They could have made this better and had icing illegal WHEN SHORTHANDED. A tired shorthanded team would more likely give up more power play goals. Also, linesmen are given more leeway if they judge that an iced puck was an "attempted pass" in which they would wave it off. This may increase the flow of the game, but I feel these judgment calls would lead to more on-ice arguments with the officials. WEDGIE'S TAKE: NEEDS ADJUSTING

TAG-UP OFFSIDES

This one will be hard to describe if you are not familiar enough with the rule. To simplify, an attacking player who is already in the attacking zone can come back to the blue line and "tag" it as long as he does not touch the puck (which is already in the attacking zone) or take part in the offensive play. Before, the puck pretty much had to be the first thing in the attacking zone. WEDGIE'S TAKE: UPGRADE

INSTIGATOR RULE

A player who starts a fight in the last five minutes of a game will be given an automatic game misconduct and a 1-game suspension. The suspension doubles with each incident. Not only that, the COACH gets fined $10000 with the fine doubling with each incident. I enjoy a good fight and fighting is no doubt part of the game, but if this doesn't clean up unnecessary scrums at the end, I don't know what will. WEDGIE'S TAKE: UPGRADE

GOALTENDER CHANGES

The NHL has finally reduced the size of the goalie pads. As you may have seen on SportsCenter, if you don't believe that pads have grown, check on Patrick Roy's rookie pictures and compare them to his last years. That rule is fine.

We now have an interesting trapezoidal box behind each goal now. Behind the goal line, the goaltender can only play the puck in this area. I have a great modification to this. Sure he can play the puck in this area and have "goaltender protection," but if he goes into the corners, he becomes a "defenseman." This means he should be able to be clobbered and checked into the boards just like any other player. You would think that the way the rule is now, scoring would DECREASE as there would not be as many "open net" chances. WEDGIE'S TAKE: DOWNGRADE

SHOOTOUT

Traditionalists are probably killing themselves over the shootout, but the casual fan never has understood the tie. Today's casual fan wants to see a winner. It is safe to say that TV has destroyed the tie. This is a tricky one for me as I never had an issue with tie games, but have witnessed numerous shootouts at the various minor league levels I have been a part of.

The NHL is using only a 3-on-3 shootout, while every minor league shootout I have witnessed is 5-on-5. 3-on-3 is too short...you have five guys on the ice, I say shoot five guys.

The problem I have is not the shootout itself, but the way the "point system" is now. I will discuss that later. On the shootout in the NHL: WEDGIE'S TAKE: LET'S GIVE IT A YEAR.

RULES CHANGES TESTED, BUT NOT APPROVED

BLUE ICE/NEON LINES

This looked pretty cool. I would have like to have seen this. Anything that would help TV ratings.

WIDER BLUE LINES/RED LINES.

This may happen next year if they decide they need more offensive room, but I don't see this as being necessary.

LARGER NET SIZES

No way. All of the other changes should help scoring. They didn't need to get drastic.

SERVE ENTIRE MINOR PENALTY

Why not? I've wanted this for a long time. You get two minutes, you serve two minutes. This should be added.

POINT SYSTEM

Before "overtime losses" came around, there were always two points given out in the standings for each game...either two points win, no points loss or one point for each team in a tie. There was no issue at all. With the new overtime rules, you now get two points win (regulation or overtime), one point overtime loss, no points regulation loss. I hate it and here is why.

When a game ends in regulation, two total points are given out. If a game goes overtime, THREE total points are given out. Why should there be a bonus point for losing in overtime? You don't get half a win in baseball for going extra innings. You don't get half a win in football for going overtime.

If you look at most minor leagues at the end of the season, you see about 3/4 of the teams have "winning" records when it should be closer to 1/2 in any league. That is because an overtime loss is the same as a "tie" in the current point setup. What really is frustrating is that you can LOSE your way up the standings. You lose in overtime for three straight games, you just got yourself three points.

If the NHL is making all these rule changes, how about change the point system? My suggestion: THREE points given out EVERY game. Here we go:

Regulation/Overtime win: THREE points
Shootout win: TWO points
Shootout loss: ONE point
Regulation/Overtime loss: NO points.

Notice how I said "shootout win" and "shootout loss." If you win in the five-minute overtime, you get the full three. The 4-on-4 overtime did not decide a winner all that much more than 5-on-5 overtime did.

Thankfully, playoff overtime is not changing and NEVER should. Playing the ultimate sudden death match long into the night sets hockey apart from all other sports.

GO STARS!!!