With the GM meetings having wrapped up, this week's NHL roundtable focuses on four changes we'd make to improve the NHL's on-ice product. Check 'em out below and vote in the poll at the bottom of the post.
Clean hits are allowed, you know
Justin Cuthbert: If I could tinker with the nervous systems of the several hundred players signed to NHL contracts right now, I'd cut the internal circuit that causes gloves to be flung off immediately in response to bone-rattling - but clean - hits.
Nothing raises the temperature between two opponents like whopping body-on-body contact, much in the same way nothing sucks the life out of a game like a sloppy, short-lived wrestling match between two, or often a group of skaters, who belong to different weight classes.
Hits lead to emotion. Emotion leads to mistakes. Mistakes lead to goals. Goals allow for exciting games.
Let's allow the momentum to build, not shut off the valve.
Speed up the challenge process, already
Craig Hagerman: Enough stalling.
This week, 31 NHL general managers failed to make any changes to the current review and challenge processes.
Offside reviews are excruciating to watch, with calls coming down to the slimmest of margins in a game played at incredibly high speeds. What makes these so painful is the fact coaches have found ways to stall the game between whistles, taking time to review plays on tablets behind the bench to determine whether a challenge is in order - for offside and goalie interference decisions.
The point of the review process was to crack down on the few instances in which it was clear that officials missed something. Now it's become little more than a nuisance to a league already starved for offense.
One solution to limit the amount of stoppages, especially those that appear too close to call, is to give coaches a strict window - let's say five seconds - to issue a challenge after play is blown dead. (Think of it similarly to a line change after a whistle when the home coach has a few seconds to decide what line he wants to send onto the ice after he sees who's out there for the opposition.)
A five-second window would hopefully force coaches to only challenge plays they are certain were missed, and cut down on the time spent reviewing calls frame by frame.
Ban goalies from playing puck behind goal line
Navin Vaswani: More pain for goaltenders, who have taken most of the blame for the drop in scoring over the years. But, really, goalies have only themselves to blame. They're too damn good.
While the trapezoid behind the net currently keeps goalies from playing the puck in the corners, it's time to take it a step further and outlaw puck-stoppers from playing the puck anywhere behind the goal line - period. Sorry, 'tenders, but this must be done.
As players only get bigger and faster, and NHL ice as a result only smaller, it's time to stop goalies from becoming a third defenseman on the ice. Right now, they're stopping dump-ins, serving as puck-movers, and starting breakouts.
I mean, have you seen Carey Price play the puck? He can make better breakout passes than most bottom-pairing defensemen.
While it's certainly unfair to penalize those goalies who are adept at playing the puck, dump-ins aren't going anywhere, obviously, so let's keep the players in charge of retrieving the puck and clearing the zone.
And, yes, I've thought of everything: Goalies would be allowed to cover a loose puck at the side of the net that happens to be behind the goal line, in order to stop play. They simply wouldn't be allowed to use their goal sticks to play the puck behind the line.
Fix the bloody standings
Sean O'Leary: Each and every season, the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs turns innocent hockey fans into hardcore schedule-lurkers and incessant standings page-refreshers. It's an exhilarating time of year, watching postseason hopefuls jockey for position all the way down to the wire, but in the end, it's a heavily flawed system.
The NHL needs to scrap its current playoff format and revert back to having the top eight seeds in each conference qualify for the postseason. Keep divisions for scheduling purposes, but let the best teams get in - simple as that.
Look no further than the current Eastern Conference standings to pinpoint the problem. The Rangers have the fourth-highest point total, yet technically are the seventh seed, due for a first-round series on the road if the playoffs started tomorrow.
This isn't new, either. Last season, Philadelphia had 96 points, Detroit had 93, yet the Flyers were the wild-card team. That qualifies as backwards, right?
Since the NHL re-aligned after the 2013 season, the same problem has resurfaced every year, and will continue to until the NHL finally gets it right.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)
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