In January of 2008, the Hockey News put out a challenge to its readers—what would you do if you were the Commissioner of the National Hockey League?
The following is my response:
LEAGUE STRUCTURE
- Contraction: say good-bye to Nashville and Florida. 28 teams are still too many, but it's a start.
- Dissolve divisions altogether, leaving two conferences only. The top eight teams would still make the playoffs.
- Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg and join the Western Conference.
- Detroit Red Wings move to the Eastern Conference.
- Regular season begins in mid-September, ends in early April.
- Five pre-season games per team, with each team playing one game in a neutral-site city (ie. Seattle, Houston, Hamilton etc.).
- Am 82-game regular-season schedule—each team plays their 13 conference opponents four times each, and a home-and-home series with the 15 other teams in the other conference.
- Zero points for losing! Two points for a regulation win, and one point for a win in either overtime or a shootout.
- B/R Ticket Guide
- Don Cherry is fired, and Ron MacLean becomes a fan of hockey—not just the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Games televised on ESPN, Versus, and NBC.
- Blackout policy abolished, so that, for example, an Oilers fan in Ontario can watch an Edmonton game on Sportsnet West.
- A hanging-wire camera system over the ice, similar to what the NFL has for their field.
- Put a microphone on every player, and play the good stuff (read: family-friendly AND entertaining) at the end of each commercial break.
- Bring back the goaltender camera.
- A radar gun to clock how fast the puck is shot from the point.
RULE CHANGES
- No-touch icing rule adopted.
- Visors made mandatory via grandfathering process.
- Shootouts extended to five shooters a side. All skaters must take off helmet before shooting. A camera man will be on ice level, skating nearby for the up-close shots.
- Goalie equipment shrunk by 20 percent, and/or custom-fitted in every area except skates and helmet.
- Players must stay in the penalty box for the full length of the penalty, even if the other team scores.
- "No-trade/movement" clauses can no longer be written into contracts—effective immediately!
DISCIPLINE
- Random drug testing throughout the calendar year, not just during the season.
- Hits-to-the head policy adopted, mirroring the OHL.
- Any player guilty of applying two dangerous hits from behind is automatically suspended five games. Each additional incident caused by a player tacks on 10 more games to subsequent suspensions.
- Teams are held accountable for their players' suspensions by losing draft picks in the upcoming draft. A 5-10 game suspension loses a sixth-round pick, a 10-15 game suspension loses a fifth-round pick, a 15-20 game suspension loses a fourth-round pick, and so on.
- Establish a three-man independent committee—including Colin Campbell—responsible for handing out suspensions.
- The Player's Association, for once, has someone represent players injured by one of their peers.
MISCELLANEOUS
- White jerseys for all home teams
- No rotation of team captains. Just pick one already!
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2 months ago
I pretty much agree with all of the grievances - but a lot of these arent' things that the commissioner can accomplish. For example, you can't arbitrarly move teams - they are owned by someone, not the NHL. Otherwise not bad.
2 months ago
The idea of having a player serve a penalty even if the other team scored is ridiculous. Don Cherry is a Canadian institution. The idea of ending the "no trade clause" is just dumb, your players would be on strike faster than you could say "Brendan Shanahan". But I do like the points system....other than that.....
2 months ago
If a player is suspended that team can not call someone up to replace him. Seems to me the team should carry part of the blame for the players actions on the ice.
2 months ago
Some changes are ineveitable. The graybeards remember the WHA and know that it led to expansion of the NHL. Same thing going on with the Kontinental (?) League. The NHL will soon have European franchises. If you look at a team budget you will see what a small component travel cost is. This will also force the NHL to adopt a balanced-travel format for scheduling.
The no-trade situation does need review. Brian Burkes' suggestion that a portion of a traded player's salary be paid by his former team has a lot of merit, too. The CBA was a flawed document from the beginning and must still be tweeked.
The schedule is too long. Sixty-five or seventy games should adequately decide the play-off entries.
Shoot outs should extend into the play-offs.If they are good enough for the regular season they should be good enough for the whole year!
2 months ago
What about putting Bettman in net without any pads???
http://www.FireBettman.com
2 months ago
I still like the old points system...When you really think about it,how dumb is it to play 65 minutes and then decide it with a skills competition. 10 minutes 4 0n 4 ot would be awesome. I do agree with the conference top 8 from the east and west,it's pretty pointless to have divisions
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