To improve a house, you don’t always have to rip out the kitchen; sometimes painting the living room will do.
The NHL, which for years has been considered glacier-like in it’s ability to evolve, has done its best to change that image since the lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season.
When the game resumed, it was chalk-full of new rules designed to make it more interesting and exciting to revive the high-flying ’80s.
The problem was many of the changes were untested by the NHL. The result has lead to an unexpected jump in serious injuries related to the unbridled play.
Starting last year, under the watchful eye of competition committee chairman and former NHL all-star Brendan Shanahan, the league started a camp to test potential rules.
They’ve given themselves a wall in the basement to see if that Harvest Yellow will look just as good spread across a large area as it does on the paint chip.
A big focus of the research and development camp this year has been looking at how to rein in the players without going back to the days of the trap.
Red Deer Rebels coach and general manager Jesse Wallin sees this as a proper approach to making the game safer.
“I think there have been times throughout the years where new rules do come in and once they’re put into play you come to realize ‘this isn’t looking the way we expected it to.’ I think this gives them an opportunity to test and look at things without changing the game on the fly.
“It’s evolution. It’s trying to make things better. They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, and nor should they, but they’re always looking for a way to tweak. Life changes, the world evolves and hockey’s no different. Looking for ways to stay on top and make the game better, that’s a good thing.”
Two rules the camp looked at closely that really caught Wallin’s eye were taking away the trapezoid behind the net that restricted the goalie’s ability to handle the puck and a “bear hug” rule. Essentially, that rule would allow a player in the chase position to hold up and brace the player he is following as they get close to the boards instead of just driving him into the boards or taking an interference penalty.
“A lot of it comes down to player attitude — there’s always going to be injuries in the sport and it’s supposed to be a tough physical sport — but there’s definitely liberties being taken on the ice that I think some of the rules almost enable,” he said.
“I think defenceman nowadays are really in a vulnerable position going back for the puck, especially when you have a guy on the ice whose job it is to go and run him through the glass.”
Wallin should be interested in what the NHL does for rule changes. The Western Hockey League is one of the premiere development leagues in the world for pushing out top young talent to the professional level — including the first overall pick in this year’s draft, Rebels centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Often the ’Dub takes its cue from the NHL, and there are some changes he thinks his league should take a peek at.
“We follow their rules for the most part,” he said. “Some of the rules that I think are good (for the WHL) are the elimination of the trapezoid. I really like the idea of the bear hug rule — growing up that’s something we were taught to do, going into the boards you pinned your man and you could hang on to him a little bit. If you want to avoid the obstruction you could have a one second rule or something but I really think there would be an elimination of a lot of bad hits by implementing that again.”
Wallin also liked the idea of switching to shallower nets to give defencemen more space behind the net and a change to delayed penalties where the offending team would have to skate the puck out of their own end to stop the play instead of just touching it.
But this is not to say all of the rules they are trotting out are great ideas.
Taking a face off all the way back to the offending team’s zone on an off-side, Wallin says, is too harsh a penalty and would slow the game down, “There’s no advantage to a team going off side . . . and we have a rule now where if it is blatantly intentional we bring that back to the zone already.”
He also wasn’t a fan of the idea of allowing teams only to make line changes on the fly or after a goal and before a penalty. It is an idea that surely would lead to more goals, but through mistakes and sloppy play, and bad hockey is just plain bad hockey.
Another curious idea tested out was not allowing a penalty killing team to ice the puck. Certainly an idea with merit, Wallin said, but one that would take away from an exciting part of the game.
“I can see the thought process behind it but one of the exciting parts of the penalty kill is the forecheck . . . and getting some up ice pressure and forcing the other team to come out.”
And of course there was the annual look into the overtime format with the camp examining swapping ends for overtime, extending the shootout to five rounds instead of three, or a move to a four-on-four period followed by a three-on-three period as utilized by the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“I’m not a huge fan of the shootout, but I prefer that over a tie game. But sometimes it’s tough to swallow losing that extra point in that shootout regardless,” said Wallin. “If there is a way to end a game in a more hockey-like fashion . . . I think I’d be in favour of that.”
I give full credit to the league for giving these rules a serious look. The important thing for them to remember is they just did a massive renovation of the rule book not too long ago. It’s not time to throw out the kitchen sink again just yet.
If anything maybe a lighter shade of yellow would be the safer, better way to go.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com
twitter.com/Ridingthepine03