The NHL continues to skate around the issues!

 Recently an all star cast of the who’s who, in the NHL met to take on the task of improving its game. Discussions ranged from the size of goalie pads to were the net is located on ice. Once again the NHL will fail its goal of skating out of the ice ages! While they have Nascars for athletes they play at sprint car speeds. These so-called fixes are just Band-Aids on a gaping wound of lost interest and revenue! Here are the stitches.  The two line pass rule. My personal favorite. The most outdated, archaic rule in all of sports. This pointless waste of a whistle does nothing but slow down the game. Giving lesser talented teams an advantage; along with lesser talented players more opportunity to clutch and grab. This rule must go and should be marked non-negotiable.

  Allow your most skilled players time, speed, and space.  This will lead to more scoring chances. It’s not always the score that dictates the flow of the game. I’ve seen 1 to nothing games that kept me gasping for air, because the scoring chances were there. Shots on goal and good opportunities to score can be very exciting. Defenseman diving forwards swarming, and goalies flopping, is edge of your seat exciting! In those barrage’s you don’t dare blink or breathe! Non of which is possible if you’re still trying to get through the neutral zone.

  Expand the size of the rink. Add 10 feet to both the length and width and the possibilities are endless! Keep in mind that today’s player’s are bigger, faster, and stronger. This by its very nature slows down the game. Consider this also; players have longer arms and legs, which leads to both longer strides, sticks, and reach. Ergo they are able to cover much more ice than ever before.

 The benefits of more ice surface can no longer be ignored. A scrum along the boards is just not fun to watch. The broken plays and poke checks aren’t easy on the eyes. Sometimes it appears as though there’s just to many players on the ice. That’s not the case. Simply put, today’s players have just outgrown the size of the ice surface.  We have enough traffic jams driving to work we certainly don’t need to watch one.The flow of the game is whats most important here.Imagine a NBA without fastbreaks,or an NFL without the forward pass.Hockey is at its best when its played at a breakneck speed.More room would lend itself to more passing lanes, wich inturn would lead to more odd man rushes and breakaways!Players are at their most dangerous when attacking with speed.It becomes much more difficult to hook or grab a player traveling at 15 M.P.H as compared to 5 to 10.

  Power plays might actually serve its purpose.With such limited space it has become far to simple to defend.Most teams are no longer afraid to take penalties,consiquently holding,hooking,obstruction, and cheap shots have a much to unbalanced risk-reward formula.A byproduct of a power play becoming an actuall threat would swing that balance back in favor of the offense.Once again, translating into more speed and fluid action.