How To Fix The NHL

I remember as a child growing up playing hockey on the local outdoor hockey rink. During the summer it was the basketball court and three tennis courts, come winter the city would put up the boards and flood the rink every few nights and supply the nets. If it snowed, we cleared off the rink ourselves and had games of "pick up."

It was simple, everyone throws a stink in the center, someone pulls their tuque over their eyes and splits the sticks into two piles, thus making two teams. We all played like we were in the NHL, everyone had their favorite player on a jersey and everyone just kind of got along.

That my friends was many moons ago. None the less, over the years I've always kept my eye on the sports section and read up on who's playing for what team and which team is doing well. I'm guilty of being one of those fans that tunes in during the playoffs, but there's a reason why!

I no longer live in Montreal, instead "home" is now Las Vegas. The NHL is not the league it used to be, and unless some serious changes are made, I don't think it ever will be. The only games I really get are either online radio, the random game on the NHL network, and the even more random games on Versus TV.

The closest thing to a "regular team" that I can find on tv is either the Ducks or the Kings, both of which really don't interest me unless they're playing against Montreal or a few other teams I can enjoy.

So the question begs to be asked; how does one fix the NHL. I could go into a long article with loads of reasoning, but instead here's my list of things to do...

1. Get rid of Gary Bettman.
2. Let the NHLPA vote on the job of commissioner every two to four years. Then put a cap on a two or three term limit.
   
3. Stop talking about goalie pad sizing and DO something already! then, enforce the rules you've put in place unlike the mockery of letting JS Gigguere or Hasek (in his day) get away with changing the rules. I miss the days of Roy in his old small brown pads.
4. Don't EVER talk about making the nets bigger. That's just insane and would screw with the goalies that have played for YEARS with the same sized nets. They've gotten good by knowing sub-consciously where they are in respect to their posts.
5. Allow teams to have variations on rink configurations, give a minimum and maximum size, corner radius and other tolerances and then let the teams decide. I might be wrong on my times and team, but I believe it was the '80s when Buffalo had some seriously quirky corners.
6. On the same idea, consider Olympic sized rinks. It's a faster more skilled game and is far more interesting.
7. Lose 10 teams (or lose some and relocate some others. can you say Winnipeg? Quebec City?).
   
8. Ditch a few teams during the relocation period also. The idea of more teams is just diluting the talent
9. Take whatever the hell ESPN, CBC, ABC, ABS, TSN, CTV, or whatever other combination of letters offers for some games. It's the old saying of something is better then nothing, get the game out there and people will tune in!
10. Move the games closer together, shorten the preseason and thus making the season shorter. The Stanley Cup in June is insane.
11. Get rid of Gary Bettman.
12. Contemplate making the first round of the playoffs a best of five instead of seven.
13. Keep doing the annual outdoor game. Make sure every team gets to do it at least once. This has been GREAT for the league and the sport in general
14. Contemplate doing an outdoor all-star game
15. Allow the teams to pick what company they want to make their jerseys. the RBK-Edge jerseys are nice and all, but the teams should have the power to brand themselves the way they wish.
16. Revisit the four on four overtimes. It was fast paced fun!
17. Get rid of the trapezoid. If a goalie wants to play the puck and he thinks he can, then let him. If he gets leveled for doing so, that's his fault!
18. Financially penalize players that have more than eight years NHL experience and wait a few months before starting to play unless it's due to legitimate injury.
    
    The idea that guys can sit around and rest up before having a run at the cup takes away from the allure of playing a full hard season and trying to find it in you to win another four rounds of playoffs. Not to mention, it bumps someone off the roster that was grinding it out during the first half of the season.
19. Lastly, ditch the fighting! it's only hurting the game. I got to a game to see goals, speed and a few random good hits. not to see goons. If I wanted to see goon hockey I'd go watch the minors.
    
    People who argue that they want to see fighting need to explain to me why there's no fighting in Football, Baseball or Basketball and why those leagues are doing just fine without the fighting. If i wanted to watch a fight, I'd tune in to UFC
20. Get rid of Gary Bettman (Hey, I couldn't leave without No. 20, nor without mentioning his removal one last time!).