So here’s my take on the recent NHL General Managers meetings in Florida this year that wrapped up on March 19 (subject to Board of Governors approval), more reviews, less action on the ice, and potential penalty’s for just playing goalie.
Yes you read that right, the General Managers of the league are proposing that a goalie can receive a penalty for knocking the net off the pegs intentionally. Now comes the sticky stuff, what if that goaltender is under a lot of pressure and flying around his crease and the net comes dislodged by him pushing off the post, would that be interpreted as intentional even though he’s only trying to make the next save? While I agree that if the goalie lifts the post and shoves it aside it should be, but I haven’t seen that in a very long time in the NHL, most times it’s just what I said earlier, pushing off the post. Again I haven’t seen that in a while either. So my question for the GM’s is, why did this come up in the first place when it seems like a non issue?
Next up, more reviews. I want to be clear, I don’t mind the reviews. Getting the right call is always important, (see 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6) however recently I have noticed the time it takes once the review begins, or even better, the time it takes for the decision to review or not from the bench. It’s too long, if it’s too close to tell after a minute go with the call on the ice. Now they’re proposing puck over glass to be reviewed, and let me tell you even on replays sometimes it is hard to see if the puck clips the glass on the way out, and the on ice officials don’t get enough credit for how often they get it right to begin with. So this is another one where I question, why did this come up.
One change I can get on board with in this is, if a player refuses to play the puck off a high stick or glove pass, the non offending team gets a faceoff a zone better than where the play occurs. I personally would have gone a step further than that and call it a delay of game penalty, but that’s just my opinion and quite frankly my opinion on this doesn’t really matter. That being said I agree with this as too many times have I seen a player not touch the puck and wait around it, that’s not hockey to me, that’s wasting time.
A rule change that hasn’t come up that I fully believe should come up is the trapezoid rule behind the net. That rule came into play because of a true competitive advantage for specifically two goaltenders, Marty Turco and Martin Brodeur, who were elite at moving the puck and acting as a third defenseman. These days I believe that the advantage is gone with so many goaltenders in the league able to move the puck with accuracy, stretch passes up the ice tape-to-tape. I would bring that risk factor back, it would add excitement to the game as a goaltender like Jacob Markstrom skates to the corner and fires a long stretch pass up the ice on a line change, or a stick gets in the way and there’s a scramble back to the net.
All these points are strictly my opinion and are no way affiliated with the NHL.