Shawn Gates: "What if…?" #9: The NHL Asked For Fan Ideas For Improving The Game?

Easy

Bettman would no longer have a job. All other problems would then resolve themselves.

Easy

Bettman would no longer have a job. All other problems would then resolve themselves.
- jarmstrong

You got that right. He'd have been gone yeeeears ago.

I have a feeling that since the NHL has been around for a fair amount longer than the CFL, a lot of people would just be opposing change.

How many people do you know who call themselves 'purists' and hate the shootout? If those people got their say I don't think it would have been implemented.

A few gripes, so i'll pick one of the minor ones that may not get brought up:

No more grey area with "Goals off a player's skate"

Get rid of the "kicking motion" stuff. . . either goals off a skate count, or they dont. . period. That should eliminate a lot of down-time while plays are being reviewed in the war-room.

It was actually an underlying theme when you were discussing the CFL but I'll flip a question back. Why is it that the NHL is always tinkering with everything about the game? I mean there are minor changes to baseball, some small changes to NFL football, but almost every week there is a grand scheme to change all things hockey.

Bigger nets, bigger ice, bigger trapezoids, no trapezoids, hitting or no hitting, 2 refs, 4 refs, 1 ref, no ref, bigger pads, smaller pads, better sticks, wooden sticks, bluelines, red lines, length of penalties, length of overtimes, number of skaters in overtime, number of skaters during regulation time, offsides, icing rule, shooting a puck over the glass, shootouts in general, Sean Avery, hits to the head, can openers, fighting or no fighting, instigators, late hits, early hits... seriously, the list goes on and on. To me, it is no wonder this game hasn't caught on outside of the markets it has always been in. The league itself doesn't even know what it's identity is supposed to be, it doesn't even know what the game is supposed to be. At some point, I hope that the NHL stops tinkering. 10 years from now I fear I won't even recognize it anymore.

To answer the real question at hand though, I think the NHL asking the fans for help will make the league look desperate. Thats what I got out of the CFL as well. I also think the CFL (the league itself) is one of the worst run sports organizations going. I don't disagree that they got good suggestions, but seriously, it is the CFL. Asking the fans in hockey won't fly. The "grassroots" fans you refer to in the CFL know what they want to see. Football has remained pretty much the same. No one talks about changing downs to 8 and you need 20 yards, or making the end zones 40 feet longer, or having a QB challenge in OT to determine who the winner is of a tie game. Football fans love thier game so the ridiculous won't occur. in hockey, there are so many different sides to every story because for the past 10 years, hockey keeps reinventing itself. What is a hardcore or "grassroots" fan in hockey anyways? Does he or she like fighting? Does he or she like open ice, no touchy hockey or does s/he like 90's style tackling? Does he or she love the Stay Puft goalie equipment like our current GM of the Islanders or do they want a stream lined package of equipment? I see no sign that the game is coming to a consensus and asking fans for help isn't going to help.

What I would like to see is that this game stops trying to fix itself. That's my Fan Suggestion.

What I would like to see is that this game stops trying to fix itself. That's my Fan Suggestion.
- Lohaus

Well put. I concur

Well put. I concur
- KickHisAssSeabass

And what a great suggestion for the league that would be! Although I would love to see them reverse on a few things, especially conference and division names! Go back to the Prince of Wales and Campbell conferences!! I understand why they changed it, but don't agree with the change if that makes any sense...

I would ask Bettman to remove the double runners and see if he notices. Serioulsy, though I would do the following:
1. get rid of the trapezoid area
2. reduce the goalie pads
3. Let Balsille buy a franchise and move it to Hamilton, rather than keep it on life support somewhere else

- Automatic and specific suspensions for hits from behind/cheap shots. Suspensions dramatically increase with each offense. i.e., 5 games, 20 games, 40 games, kicked out of NHL...something like that. Remove the random and completely baffling way they hand out suspensions now.

- Remove the instigator rule.

- No-touch icing. 99% of the time the defending team gets the puck first anyway, so remove the dangerous race that leads to meaningless injuries.

- I personally don't like the shootout, but I understand many fans do. I would make the number of shooters 5 rather than 3 - if I had to keep it.

- Automatic and specific suspensions for hits from behind/cheap shots. Suspensions dramatically increase with each offense. i.e., 5 games, 20 games, 40 games, kicked out of NHL...something like that. Remove the random and completely baffling way they hand out suspensions now.

- Remove the instigator rule.

- No-touch icing. 99% of the time the defending team gets the puck first anyway, so remove the dangerous race that leads to meaningless injuries.

- I personally don't like the shootout, but I understand many fans do. I would make the number of shooters 5 rather than 3 - if I had to keep it.
- RinkLighter

Agree with all of these!!

Excellent blog.

1. Make every game worth the same amount of points. Either get rid of the loser point or make a regulation win a 3 point win.

2. Contract. The NHL overexpanded into places that don`t give a whip about hockey. Stay in hockey markets with less teams and the league will be much healthier and more about hockey.

a) players protective equipment, specifically elbowand shoulder pads should be made out of a soft foam. Enough to protect you from pucks and sticks but not hard enough to break someones face.

b) Shooting the puck over the glass - should be penalty only when a player does with intent. If he does it with out intent, faceoff in the player zone.

c) Send out a memo with a video explaining the " Instigator rule " I think i finally figured out what it is but I don't think the player nor the fans a figured it out.

d) I don't mind "show fights" but if you get rid of them lower the 5 minute major so that real players can fight and they aren't hurting their team for 5mins.

e) Touch icing unless it is certain that the opposing player will beat the defensmen to the puck.

f) This one a little iffy - get rid of the trapezoid and paint a larger goalie crease and if the goalie goes out of the crease he is considered a defensmen.

Get rid of the Trapazoid
Reduce goalie pads (doesn't ahve to be like the 70's but they got to be smaller)
Get rid of all this sissy hooking and holding penalties and let people actually play defence

In response to what some of you guy sput, I like the touch up on icing because it gives the team a chance to go down there and save it
Secondly the reason why you can't have goals of skates count is because there's no way to defend that, you want to stop a player from shooting the puck in you lift his stick, you want to stop a player from kicking a goal in you take out his legs and get a 2 min penalty, so you have to keep that how it is as well

AND GET OUT OF PHONEIX, there is no reason to be there, why because its teh fastest growing population in the US.....any one want to tell me what the second highest populated city in the US is (#1 is NYC)....thats right Los Angeles, and anyone want to tell me the name of the NFL team in LA.... thats right, there is none, you don't go somewhere because there are people, you go somewhere because there are FANS!!!!, thats what the NHL doesn't realize... and I don't want to hear anything about the fans in Phoenix, no one cried for the Nordiques fans, or the Whalers fans, or for that matter the Jets fans, who had there team shipped off to a the middle of ARIZONA.

I don't know if I like a team moving to Hamilton and I think if they moved they should move to central Canada, but or the Northwest US but GET OUT OF PHOENIX

a) players protective equipment, specifically elbowand shoulder pads should be made out of a soft foam. Enough to protect you from pucks and sticks but not hard enough to break someones face.

b) Shooting the puck over the glass - should be penalty only when a player does with intent. If he does it with out intent, faceoff in the player zone.

c) Send out a memo with a video explaining the " Instigator rule " I think i finally figured out what it is but I don't think the player nor the fans a figured it out.

d) I don't mind "show fights" but if you get rid of them lower the 5 minute major so that real players can fight and they aren't hurting their team for 5mins.

e) Touch icing unless it is certain that the opposing player will beat the defensmen to the puck.

f) This one a little iffy - get rid of the trapezoid and paint a larger goalie crease and if the goalie goes out of the crease he is considered a defensmen.
- Synergy98

What do you mean??

1) Good-bye to Bettman and Daly
2) No more trapezoid
3) Call the diving penalty without calling a tripping penalty at the same time. It's one or the other, not both
4) NO star treatment. period. If Crosby hits someone from behind, give him the same suspension you'd give Avery. BS star treatment (ie. Pronger) only makes the league look like more of a joke than it already is
5) Lose the enforcers. If someone's only job is to fight, they don't have a place in hockey
6) Cut the dead-weight teams out of the league. This doesn't necessarily mean contraction, but at least move them to markets where they will make money. If they still don't make money, contract them. There's no point keeping a team for 10 years when it does nothing but bleed money....
7) Admit that the league, under the control of Bettman's circus, has made many mistakes and work towards fixing them
8) Abolish the old boys club of crooks in the BoG
9) Implement touch icing
10) Like was mentioned earlier, get rid of all the hard plastic shoulder pads, elbow pads, etc. There's plenty of softer and better equipment on the market
11) No more loser point. You either win or you lose, and losers shouldn't be rewarded

Agree with all of these!!
- burn

I'm glad someone does.

What do you mean??
- burn

If a player gets into a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game the automatically get an instigator but what a lot of people don't reaize is that the NHL will reverse that call the day after as long as the player instigating the rule isn't doing it to "get back" at the other team. You can fight in the last minute of a game and not get punished with instigator rule. you know what I mean?

a) players protective equipment, specifically elbowand shoulder pads should be made out of a soft foam. Enough to protect you from pucks and sticks but not hard enough to break someones face.

b) Shooting the puck over the glass - should be penalty only when a player does with intent. If he does it with out intent, faceoff in the player zone.

c) Send out a memo with a video explaining the " Instigator rule " I think i finally figured out what it is but I don't think the player nor the fans a figured it out.

d) I don't mind "show fights" but if you get rid of them lower the 5 minute major so that real players can fight and they aren't hurting their team for 5mins.

e) Touch icing unless it is certain that the opposing player will beat the defensmen to the puck.

f) This one a little iffy - get rid of the trapezoid and paint a larger goalie crease and if the goalie goes out of the crease he is considered a defensmen.
- Synergy98

Equipment is also a big thing for me.

Intent on shooting it over the glass is impossible to prove, hence why it was never called. That was one where I think the league talked to the refs and that's what they wanted.

I think the instigator rule should be cut completely.

Also, with regards to the goalie being fair game, I've thought the same, but if you do that and your goalie gets creamed, there's gonna be a line brawl, and that'll happen every game, and that's not good for the game.

Cut ticket prices in Canada! Significantly! As a student I can't afford to go to more than one or 2 games a year and that's getting them cheaper from other sources.

No goals off feet, ever.

I'll probably think of more later.

1) Good-bye to Bettman and Daly
2) No more trapezoid
3) Call the diving penalty without calling a tripping penalty at the same time. It's one or the other, not both
4) NO star treatment. period. If Crosby hits someone from behind, give him the same suspension you'd give Avery. BS star treatment (ie. Pronger) only makes the league look like more of a joke than it already is
5) Lose the enforcers. If someone's only job is to fight, they don't have a place in hockey
6) Cut the dead-weight teams out of the league. This doesn't necessarily mean contraction, but at least move them to markets where they will make money. If they still don't make money, contract them. There's no point keeping a team for 10 years when it does nothing but bleed money....
7) Admit that the league, under the control of Bettman's circus, has made many mistakes and work towards fixing them
8) Abolish the old boys club of crooks in the BoG
9) Implement touch icing
10) Like was mentioned earlier, get rid of all the hard plastic shoulder pads, elbow pads, etc. There's plenty of softer and better equipment on the market
11) No more loser point. You either win or you lose, and losers shouldn't be rewarded
- Nipps_4

I forgot to say that one too.

Equipment is also a big thing for me.

Intent on shooting it over the glass is impossible to prove, hence why it was never called. That was one where I think the league talked to the refs and that's what they wanted.

I think the instigator rule should be cut completely.

Also, with regards to the goalie being fair game, I've thought the same, but if you do that and your goalie gets creamed, there's gonna be a line brawl, and that'll happen every game, and that's not good for the game.

Cut ticket prices in Canada! Significantly! As a student I can't afford to go to more than one or 2 games a year and that's getting them cheaper from other sources.

No goals off feet, ever.

I'll probably think of more later.
- kingminers

Not if the goalie stays in his crease.

Get rid of the Trapazoid
Reduce goalie pads (doesn't ahve to be like the 70's but they got to be smaller)
Get rid of all this sissy hooking and holding penalties and let people actually play defence

In response to what some of you guy sput, I like the touch up on icing because it gives the team a chance to go down there and save it
Secondly the reason why you can't have goals of skates count is because there's no way to defend that, you want to stop a player from shooting the puck in you lift his stick, you want to stop a player from kicking a goal in you take out his legs and get a 2 min penalty, so you have to keep that how it is as well

AND GET OUT OF PHONEIX, there is no reason to be there, why because its teh fastest growing population in the US.....any one want to tell me what the second highest populated city in the US is (#1 is NYC)....thats right Los Angeles, and anyone want to tell me the name of the NFL team in LA.... thats right, there is none, you don't go somewhere because there are people, you go somewhere because there are FANS!!!!, thats what the NHL doesn't realize... and I don't want to hear anything about the fans in Phoenix, no one cried for the Nordiques fans, or the Whalers fans, or for that matter the Jets fans, who had there team shipped off to a the middle of ARIZONA.

I don't know if I like a team moving to Hamilton and I think if they moved they should move to central Canada, but or the Northwest US but GET OUT OF PHOENIX
- fatb0b156

Firstly, regarding the no-touch/touch icing there is a way to make it a hybird. If the race is "close" then there has to be touch icing, but if it's not close then it's no touch. How do you do this?? Well if the players are even at the top of the faceoff circle then they continue to play and try to touch the puck to make it icing/negate the icing. If they aren't even at the top of the circle, then it becomes no touch icing. There are leagues out there that have this rule, and it's been working for a couple years. Most injuries occur when the "chaser" is a couple steps behind and tries to catch up. That would be eliminated with the hybrid rule.

Secondly, the reason the off the skate rule exists is because of safety and not because it's too hard to defend. You cannot make a kicking motion because they are wearing sharpened blades on their feet and cannot go around kicking everything. It's a safety issue.

I'm glad someone does.
- RinkLighter

Back to good old hockey!!

If a player gets into a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game the automatically get an instigator but what a lot of people don't reaize is that the NHL will reverse that call the day after as long as the player instigating the rule isn't doing it to "get back" at the other team. You can fight in the last minute of a game and not get punished with instigator rule. you know what I mean?
- Synergy98

OK.. But how about just remove the instigator rule all together.

Not if the goalie stays in his crease.
- Synergy98

So you're willing to have half of the end zones be the crease? With butterfly positioning you'd need about the whole area below the hash marks to be the crease to make it work, and that's not fair to skaters.

Firstly, regarding the no-touch/touch icing there is a way to make it a hybird. If the race is "close" then there has to be touch icing, but if it's not close then it's no touch. How do you do this?? Well if the players are even at the top of the faceoff circle then they continue to play and try to touch the puck to make it icing/negate the icing. If they aren't even at the top of the circle, then it becomes no touch icing. There are leagues out there that have this rule, and it's been working for a couple years. Most injuries occur when the "chaser" is a couple steps behind and tries to catch up. That would be eliminated with the hybrid rule.

Secondly, the reason the off the skate rule exists is because of safety and not because it's too hard to defend. You cannot make a kicking motion because they are wearing sharpened blades on their feet and cannot go around kicking everything. It's a safety issue.
- burn

The no touch icing should be hybrid. I hate it when I'm chasing down a puck and I get to it right when it goes over the icing line! It's like common, I obviously going to win the race with no defensmen around me.