How would you “fix” the NHL

[Pavels Dog]

Nostalgia is your issue, not everyone else's.

No, everything was just better in the past.

I blame rock music and video games for the decline of the NHL.

 

[Chrisinroch]

Ice Guardians??

We don’t want to go back to those days.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

The game is pretty good. I mean, I'm pretty sure this is well known but everything is not going to be perfect.
The more it's "fixed", the more problems that enter into the situation and you don't improve the "problem" you were trying to fix in the first place.

 

[sparxx87]

Stop catering to all the snowflake fans who whine about everything. If you’re one of those whose constantly crying about the referees/penalties/suspensions just go watch another sport.

Hockey is fine the way it is.

 

[AvroArrow]

I wonder why a Leafs fan would be an advocate of removing the salary cap.

Not like the current champs were 18M over the cap + extra savings due to state tax, comparatively putting them close to 30M over vs other teams

It doesn't serve the purpose it was intended to serve, teams just find ways around it. Actual net money, Point/Kuch/Stamkos all make more than the leafs big 3 contracts but is about 4m lower in actual cap hit. The cap and cap circumvention is a major issue.

 

[HarryLime]

the game became too over coached/strategized, starting around the mid 90s. Idk how you fix that. The sport is played more conservatively now.

 

[Doctyl]

Fire every referee and completely start over. Same goes for DOPS.

 

[molon labe]

Make the goals smaller - and focus a lot more on 3rd and 4th deflections for goals.

Sunday morning billiards isn't enough for me.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

1) 74 game season (give or take)
2) widen rink by roughly 6 feet
3) No ipads, screens or video review devices on the bench. The game is overcoached as it is.
4) Total overhaul of officiating. Invest heavily in development programs and training. More review of game performance of referees. The goal being to reduce game management and have them set a more consistent tone of what is a penalty.
5) Total overhaul of Department of Player Safety. No more having a goon run the department. Create a panel that includes former players and also non-players (who are knowledgable about hockey). And Bettman or whoever is commissioner needs to do a better job protecting them from the complaining of owners/GMs about rulings.

I'm sure there's more but that's off the top of my head.

 

[Butch 19]

I loved hockey back in the 90’s and early 2000’s and as I got older, the game is definitely not as much fun to watch and I have more excitement for the NFL. After watching movies like Ice Guardians, you can see the game isn’t the same.

That's your NHL reference point? LOL

 

[DatDude44]

Make goalies wear their actual size equipment, not 5XL so they cover the entire net

Remove the salary cap since teams are just abusing it anyways

What do you think would happen if they removed it lmao, it'd only get worse. Goalie equipment has been shrinking for years too......

 

[miscs75]

Get rid of the shootout, 4v4 then 3v3 for OT and make it a 3/2/1/0 point structure for regulation win/OT win/ OT loss or tie/ regulation loss

 

[Canadienna]

Referee oversight and accountability

3v3 OT for ten minutes in regular season

Create awards for best defensive forward and defenseman. Selke and Norris are best two way awards

Get rid of or move teams that consistently bleed money from the rest of the league

Get rid of automatic delay of game penalties.

Overhaul marketing to advertise and highlight the violence in the game. Fights, big hits, etc.

Move the HHOF from Toronto to Montreal

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

the game became too over coached/strategized, starting around the mid 90s. Idk how you fix that. The sport is played more conservatively now.

Exactly.

Too much coaching, systems play. It's all too regulated. A big part of the fun in the 70s and 80s was the chaos factor. Players doesn't need to think or be all that creative on the ice anymore, because their plays are set so tight, there's no room for spontaneous plays. Coaches want to win every game 1-2 or 2-1, and it ruins a lot of the fun out there.

And there's definitely a need to make the playing surface bigger. More ice means more room for creative players. But this one is really hard, as most arenas aren't set up to expand...and even if they are, the minor league and amateur arenas aren't.

 

[EdJovanovski]

- Abolish the cap
- Completely randomly generated draft order
- PP's don't end when goals scored, they go until times up
- If team has a penalty remaining at the end of the game, it carries over to your next game

 

[Erikfromfin]

- Send the players to olympics every time and host PROPER world cup in between
- Get some freaking european headcoaches and GMs the current system is a joke
- Cancel the all star game nobody likes or cares about it
- make it hybrid rink size
- fix the nhl awards
- player safety needs complete overhaul and spanking
- adobt the 3 point system
- get the european golden helmets in for leading scorers
- harder punishments for repeat offenders like wilson
- fix the inbalance of officiating between regular and playoff season
- proper and compleat preseason coverage including prospect matches
- get Quebec in
- allow players and coaches to speak openly in press conferences without fining them
- make the games start on time. if the game starts on 7pm it should start at 7pm not 7.15
- allow adds on jerseys so owners are happy
- leaner buyout cap hits
- stop teams like arizona and montreal from drafting criminals

argh I could come up with million things to change.

 

[Eisen]

unified salary tax, or in other words, same tax rates for ALL nhl teams. if governments dont agree then NHL can adjust all teams to a a standard nhl transfer system. AS in a rich Canadian team pays a big payment to the nhl to help poor teams. lower that amount to even out the different salary tax for different states and countries. the entire idea is to have a total even playing field for ALL Teams. Yes you cant fix the sunny palm trees vs the cold frozen winter but heck can the money be even at least.

No, the idea was cost certainty.

 

[thekernel]

1. Get rid of "game management" from referees. No more penalties because "I wanted to give em a penalty". No more game 7s with zero powerplays. The rules are the rules, they are set in stone.

2. Make injured players count against the salary cap for 50% of their hit. The fact that teams are perennially trading actual, tangible assets for players who cannot play hockey games -- precisely because they cannot play hockey games -- just feels like it's against the spirit of the cap. This also helps solve the issue of LTIRetirements. Unfortunately teams are too entrenched in these strategies to consider such a radical shift, but it would rid the game of systematic CBA abuses

 

[Dirk316]

"Fix" as in go back to legal head hunting hits and staged fights?

Would definitely remove the instigator penalty

 

[Ryan52]

actually call instigators

if a replay hasnt been overturned after 30 seconds of review, shut it off and stick with call on the ice

10 min 3 on 3 to hopefully reduce shootouts

3 points regulation win, 2 for ot/shootout win, 1 for ot/shootout loss

 

[Rebels57]

Get rid of the hard cap and guaranteed contracts.

 

[BrokenFace]

The NHL is great. They should shrink the goalie gear, but that's about all other than regular incremental advances in all areas (player tracking, injury prevention, etc.)

 

[Legionnaire11]

I loved hockey back in the 90’s and early 2000’s and as I got older, the game is definitely not as much fun to watch and I have more excitement for the NFL. After watching movies like Ice Guardians, you can see the game isn’t the same.

Just curious, if given control over the NHL what would be your priorities?

There's nothing wrong with the NHL. Which has long been the problem. Since I've been watching, late 80s to current, every year it's "how to fix the NHL" and constant changes, most unnecessary or gimmicky, over-expansion (in my opinion) which generally make the sport and league worse, but overall I'd just prefer they stop trying to "fix" things and let it be since it's decent enough, as is. Not going to go backwards (make it better) and any future changes are almost guaranteed to make things worse so ... let it be.

I do always think about how the 1992-93 season was the best in my lifetime and arguably the best in NHL history, and it was the ONLY season as a 24-team league, four divisions of six, etc. Perfect amount of teams. Playoff format made sense. Conferences made sense. Divisions and division names made sense (though hypothetically would move Jets to Norris and TB would have been Colorado and in the Smythe in an alternate universe), rules made sense. If there was a point in my lifetime where I could have just paused the league and league structure/format, it would have been then. Twas perfect.

Even the following season, despite unnecessary expansion to a 26-team league, was great. NHL/hockey had all the momentum, so naturally was time for a lockout ...

You guys are going to take a lot of crap from the younger crowd here for pining for the 90's game. But you're not alone and you're not wrong. Those who criticize your views simply have no frame of reference outside of the past 10-15 years at best, you can't fault them for not knowing what they can't know.

There's this prevailing narrative that today's players are faster and more skilled (not even sure why they believe this), therefore today's game must be better and/or more entertaining. Yet nearly everyone who has watched multiple eras say that today's game is not as entertaining, even if it's better hockey from a technical standpoint. This isn't nostalgia speaking when so many people feel that way.

 

[mondo3]

Drop the ability to have a No Movement Clause in contracts.
Remove the review of offsides.

 

[Sports2]

Offsides is stupid- adopt a backcourt violation like basketball. Not allowing teams to get set up before you carry the puck in is dumb. No more dump-ins and putting pucks on net right after zone entry just to crowd the goalie for a faceoff so you can run an actual play- both are a waste of time. Solves the widening the ice issue as well because teams won't crowd the blue line and leave their goal exposed.

HM: Sharks under the ice