What is your perfect NHL?

[Grifter3511]

750 teams, so that each player can have their own team.
-9 ads on the front of the jersey, with the team logo small and on the side of the jersey under the arm.
-Video replay for everything. ex- Linesman dropped the puck 1mm to the wrong side, 11 minute replay to get it right.
-If you hit minus 5 in any game, you get a 1 game suspension, but a $250,000 bonus for the special achievement.
-Flat cap of $300 million, just to make it fair.
-Gary Bettman handles all league news for every team with a press conference for any and all news.
-1 goalie can have equipment as big as they want, but if a team does this, the other goalie has to play with 1950s equipment. (including lack of helmet)
-Any players that are dumb as a stump, have to wear a special dunce helmet with massive padding to protect their noggin.
-Every time the whistle goes, there is a 1 minute ad for a gambling site. Must be the same ad used each time.
-Teams can have 10 players that can approach the ref when calls are made. 10 from each team should be enough to tell the ref what he did wrong or right.
-Each and every goal shall be reviewed no less than 5 minutes, and since we are waiting, five 1 minute gambling ads shall play. (again same ad each time)(no need for fans to see replay of goal, that is unimportant)
-Every big hit, incurs a forced fight. Loser gets kicked out of game.
-Stanley Cup winner, rides a team bus to each losing city to rub it in. They don't get summer break until each city has been visited.

and only the team of the player who loses the fight gets penalized, ala Blades of Steel/Ice Hockey.

 

[Salsero1]

The current number of teams doesn’t bother me, but in an absolutely ideal situation it would be lower. A 16-team league would be pretty perfect from the standpoint of concentrating talent so that every team has a star and most teams have multiple stars.

Given that setup:

- 16 teams, 2 conferences, 4 divisions
- 64 game schedule - 6x divisional rivals, 4x conference rivals, 2x other conference
- Top 2 teams in each division play off for the division title. Division winners play off for the conference title, then the conferences play for the Stanley Cup
- Regular season starts in early November, ends in late March. Playoffs start in early April, end in mid-May.

- Standings are a W-L format, straight up.
- 5-round shootouts, like god intended
- Review only to determine whether the puck fully crossed the line, and whether time was on the clock. All other review GTFO
- All Star Game and Winter Classic are a single combined event
- Every team plays 4 games in “neutral” markets, 2 of them overseas. Each team has a domestic market where it plays as the home team every year (e.g. Habs always in Quebec City).
- Maybe not cut off entirely, but distance gambling from league operations including advertising
- Participate in the Olympics. In non-Olympic years, the World Cup is played in October.

If every team had multiple stars, wouldn't that just average the level of skill out to a point where no team would really stand out? If everyone is great, then nobody is?

 

[snag]

If the NHL expands beyond North America their privilege of being able to award the Stanley Cup should be revoked.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

One where game management doesn't exist.

 

[snag]

NATIONAl Hockey League, there absolutely should Not ve any Canadian Teams.

Wouldn't be the same without the Stanley Cup, would it?

 

[Golden_Jet]

The current number of teams doesn’t bother me, but in an absolutely ideal situation it would be lower. A 16-team league would be pretty perfect from the standpoint of concentrating talent so that every team has a star and most teams have multiple stars.

Given that setup:

- 16 teams, 2 conferences, 4 divisions
- 64 game schedule - 6x divisional rivals, 4x conference rivals, 2x other conference
- Top 2 teams in each division play off for the division title. Division winners play off for the conference title, then the conferences play for the Stanley Cup
- Regular season starts in early November, ends in late March. Playoffs start in early April, end in mid-May.

- Standings are a W-L format, straight up.
- 5-round shootouts, like god intended
- Review only to determine whether the puck fully crossed the line, and whether time was on the clock. All other review GTFO
- All Star Game and Winter Classic are a single combined event
- Every team plays 4 games in “neutral” markets, 2 of them overseas. Each team has a domestic market where it plays as the home team every year (e.g. Habs always in Quebec City).
- Maybe not cut off entirely, but distance gambling from league operations including advertising
- Participate in the Olympics. In non-Olympic years, the World Cup is played in October.

Looks like a 50 game schedule to me on your hypothetical not 64,

3 x 6 games
4 x 4 games
8 x 2 games

 

[SirPaste]

Switch to the 3 point system and go back to the 1-8 playoff seeding and it will be perfect. No need to change anything else.

Edit: Almost forgot, bring back the white sweaters at home.

 

[tarheelhockey]

If every team had multiple stars, wouldn't that just average the level of skill out to a point where no team would really stand out? If everyone is great, then nobody is?

That definitely would happen, and games would probably be tighter and lower scoring as a result.

That said, we can all tell that players like McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Kucherov, etc are a significant step above all the forwards in the league, and similar with the top D and goalies. Even in a smaller league they will still be standout players. What we won’t have is a team led by Mikael Granlund. The worst team in the league would have, let’s say, Mark Scheifele as their 1C which means there wouldn’t be any 1C getting their wheels blown off, even if they are a clear step below the typical 1C in that league. But hopefully that same team would have Hedman at D or something.

 

[elmaco]

Just give me a good product, it's their job to figure that out.

 

[SladeWilson23]

76 Games
- 28 games against division.
- 48 games against rest of the league.

3-2-1 point system

10 minutes of 3 on 3

 

[JPT]

My team always wins by 4 goals

 

[1989]

- Don't really care about # of teams - if the game is expected to grow, then more skilled players are expected to be developed. If the development curve trends down, then contract teams as necessary.
- ~40% of teams make the playoffs; no Wild Cards, top to bottom seeding preferable.
- 64-76 games, starting in November and ends in April-May.
- 3v3 OT with illegal zone re-entry rules. 5 round shootout with unique shooters for the first 5; then any player can be reselected afterwards but not twice in a row.
- Trapezoid change: invert the illegal area, forcing goalies who want to play the puck to have to skate further out to the corners to intercept.
- No more moving digital ads; only static images.
- Change referee system to 3 on ice and 1 video review ref in-house per game.