NHL Changes: Remove Touch-Icing and Trapezoid; Add Coaches Challenge; Re-Align

During the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the league decided to make a couple of changes to the game for the upcoming 2005-06 regular season.

Since the lockout, the game has improved in many ways. Some of these changes include:

• Removal of the "two-line pass" rule.
• Team that "iced" the puck is not allowed to change players. The players on the ice during the call must remain on the ice.
• Addition of the trapezoid behind the goaltenders' nets. Goalies are not allowed to play the puck outside of the trapezoid when behind the goal line.
• Other minor changes.

On an overall basis, today's game is a lot faster and players have honed their skills more than ever.

Hockey is a great game to watch, especially when it comes to the NHL. But like anything, there is always a way to improve.

Check out four changes the NHL should really consider for the future of the game.

Remove Touch Icing.

Don Cherry from CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, has been the spokesperson for removing touch-icing from the NHL for years.

After all of these years, touch-icing has yet to be removed.

Touch-icing has caused many injuries in the NHL that could be fully avoided if the rule was removed.

The most memorable injury occurred due to touch-icing took place on March 19th, 2008 during a game between the Minnesota Wild and the San Jose Sharks.

Wild defenseman, Kurtis Foster was in a foot race against Sharks' forward, Torrey Mitchell to beat out an ensuing icing call. Both players had no choice but to put their bodies at risk to touch the puck for the icing call.

As a result, Mitchell tapped the back of Foster just enough for him to fall awkwardly into the end boards. Foster would suffer a broken femur in three different places, requiring him to be taken off the ice on a stretcher to the nearest hospital.

The Minnesota Wild defenseman would have to under-go a nine hour emergency surgery to help heal the broken femur.

The above video explains Foster's story of the hit, and how it has changed his life.

Don Cherry's point of view of the hit, and his views on touch icing can be seen here.

Other injuries have occurred due to the touch icing rule, and now it's time for the NHL to remove it. Touch-icing is dangerous and is a play in hockey that would not be missed if the rule was removed.

No touch-icing is a lot safer for the players, and it would not take away any aspects of the game. It also reduces any dangerous injuries that would have occurred with the touch icing rule.

It just makes sense. Remove touch-icing for next season.

Remove the Trapezoid.

The NHL adopted the trapezoid behind the goaltenders' net during the 2004-05 lockout. The trapezoid limits the goaltenders puck playing ability, by giving them a limited amount of space behind the goal line.

Since the 2004-05 lockout, NHL goaltenders have not been able to show their skills with the puck as frequently because of this rule.

Defensemen also have to go back more often to grab the puck behind their goal line, because their goaltenders are unable to.

This limits the amount of offense generated from the back end, which is completely opposite of the league's main goal coming out of the lockout. That main goal was to generate more offense, so that NHL fans could get more excitement when watching games in their living rooms, or at the arena.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) does not use the trapezoid.

This allows goaltenders to play the puck at any spot on the ice. This generates offense. When a goaltender can play the puck, it also helps out their fellow defensemen to get the puck moving.

It also allows for some exciting plays.

This was seen at the 2012 IIHF World Juniors during a round robin game between Team Canada and the Czech Republic.

Canadian goaltender Scott Wedgewood, was playing the puck behind his goal line. While both teams were making a line change, Wedgewood spotted forward Freddie Hamilton who was cutting across the blue line. Making an unbelievable stretch pass, Hamilton would eventually get the assist on a Ryan Strome goal.

If the NHL took out the trapezoid, maybe some of these exciting offensive plays would happen more often than not.

Coaches Challenge.

Usually, NHL referees are pretty good at making the right calls.

However, from time to time they will make mistakes by missing a call, or making the wrong call. We are all human, and we will make mistakes. Referees are not robots, and won't get everything right.

Sometimes these missed calls can cause a team to lose in tight or important games. Unfortunately it happens.

A great way to avoid this from happening more often is a coaches challenge.

In the NFL, coaches are allowed to use one challenge each to try and argue a certain call or play.

If the NHL adopted this rule, it would only be used in certain situations.

Here is a possible break down of how the rule would work:

• Coaches are allowed one challenge per game.
• Possibly illegal goals (high sticking, kicked in goals, etc.) will be reviewed by the referees, causing the coaches to save their challenge.
• Plays that could be argued with the help of video review include icing, offsides, and restricted zone puck playing from goaltenders.
• Penalties that claim to be missed can be reviewed with video review.
• Penalties that were called can also be reviewed with video review.
• Boundary violations such as the puck touching the net can also be reviewed.
• Clock issues.

If the NHL were to adopt the coaches challenge, they would obviously go a lot more in depth with the rule to deem what is acceptable and what is not.

If the NHL did adopt the coaches challenge, games would be decided by the referee's mistakes less often.

It also helps the referees to get the calls right more often, which is a bonus for the NHL.

Re-Alignment: Jets Feeling the Pinch.

The Winnipeg Jets are feeling the pinch in their first season NHL season since relocating to Phoenix in 1996.

The western-based hockey team is currently playing in the Eastern Conference due to the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers last spring.

Because of this, the Winnipeg Jets are feeling the effects of travel. The Jets have to do the most travelling out of all the NHL teams because of their geographical location, and their spot in the Eastern Conference.

The NHL needs to realign, so the Jets will not have to suffer in the 2011-12 season.

The NHL and team General Managers voted on a new re-alignment plan during the winter GM meetings, only to be turned down by the NHLPA.

If the new re-alignment was accepted, the NHL would have been broken into four conferences next season, that would have consisted of:

Conference A - Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, and Vancouver.

Conference B - Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg.

Conference C - Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto.

Conference D - Carolina, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.

So what does the NHL do for next season? They need to make minor tweaks to the alignment they already have in place.

There's no doubt that the Winnipeg Jets have to get moved over to the Western Conference.

However, a Western Conference team would have to move over to the Eastern Conference. The best team that would fit that move would be the Detroit Red Wings.

It is something the NHL needs to consider to be high on their priority list.

This should be one of the NHL's main goal for the upcoming 2011-12 season, for the sake of the Winnipeg Jets.