How about the double edged sword that was removing the two line pass rule? Sure it increased offense some, but the decline in physical play afterwards is still present.
I don't want the mega trapping days of the Devils, but I would like to see a return to a more physical game. Oh and obviously no U.S.S. Hal Gill clutch and grab hockey.
With all the data available on brain damage, the NHL may not want to delve into potential liability on that front. I don't think they go back to two-line passing unless offense really gets out of hand.
The league has been trying to balance offense and defense for a century now. I'm too tired to check the specifics so this is a mega-sloppy outline rather than a real history; and I don't fully remember when each line was introduced, or what it was for in relation to passing. Fun fact, there was a time when defending teams couldn't play the puck off a rebound from their goalie because it was considered a forward pass; then eventually they were allowed to play it within a few feet of the goal because otherwise that was a huge offensive advantage, and there was a line on the ice marking that. Hockey loves lines as solutions!
So from what I can recall, hockey initially had 7 men on the ice including goalies. As skates and skating technique improved, the presence of the rover clogged the ice too much and games were a slog. So, the rover position was done away with (Imagine the battle with the NHLPA over something like that today). But skates and skating kept getting better and eventually with no forward passing, defense was too favored again. So forward passing was allowed, but (
I think) only in particular situations that I can't recall; not on offense. This helped for a little, but then teams adapted and scoring plummeted. So, they allowed forward passing in all situations. This led to a massive offensive explosion; so massive, that I think they added the blue lines (with no red line) in the middle of the season? You weren't allowed to pass across the blue lines. You could pass on either side of them or between them, but otherwise I think the puck had to be carried across; they were speedbumps. This slashed offense. And again, eventually defense took hold. So then the red line was created. It's weird to think about, but the red line actually increased offense. Players could now pass across their own blue line up to the red line, but the puck had to be carried in across the opposing blue line. So offense opened again. Eventually teams started slowing things down, and teams started icing the puck to delay with the lead which was dreadful to watch...so we get icing, again, to increase action. At some point you could start passing past the red line too, so long as you didn't ice it; I assume this is when offside comes into play as we know it.. That led to cherrypicking and an offensive boost. So then we got the two-line pass to balance it out. That was fine until the trap. So it got removed and rules were more enforced, and here we are today. I look forward to seeing if teams start pushing so hard against defenses that they seek to take it back a notch. Would the return of two line passing be the solution, or would they think of something else?
I figure at least someone would like to read that. I bet some of it is accurate and in order, too.
