You're in charge of the NHL, Part II: Fixing the Game

[IceMan]

How to we "fix" the game we love?

Bring Back The Canadian Teams
Hockey has it's roots in Canada, not South Carolina. Let's get teams back in Winnipeg, Quebec, and possibly find another worthy town or two.
Carolina -> Winnipeg
Atlanta -> Quebec

Put US Based Teams into "Hockey Towns"
Why on earth is there a hockey team in Phoenix ? Answer: to try and get a rivalry going with Dallas. That's a stupid reason. Let's re-shuffle the US landscape a bit to make more sense.
Phoenix -> Portland or Seattle
Florida -> St Louis

Respect your Elders
Leave it to a basketball guy (Bettman) to take the history out of hockey in an attempt to lure uneducated US fans to the game. Bring back the Patrick Division, Prince of Whales Conference, and the rest. Hockey has a rich history that should be heralded, not hidden.

Make it TV Friendly
More camera angles. Put cameras everywhere: in all 4 corners of each net. Attached to the tops of the glass around the rink in 8 or 9 spots. Mike up the benches so that we can hear the players talking and the coaches strategies. Spend intermissions explaining the strategy, not just showing highlights. Show puck speed (like they do pitch speed on baseball games). Hire BETTER analysts. Maybe instead of scores accross the bottom of the screen, put up "Offsides: the puck must be the first thing over the blue line" after a whistle, so that new fans know what the hell is going on out there.

Put it on TV
Get rid of Center Ice for a few years, and put every game on, free. There's a fox sports net in nearly every NHL city. Televise every game, no blackouts. National Games every Wed and Saturday, and not always Detroit/Colorodo, but random games. If it's not on TV, people can't watch it, and if it sucks on tv (see previous point), people won't watch it. The TV Contracts won't be for a gazillion dollars at first. So what. You need to build up momentum and interest before you can demand a premium for it.

Fix Overtime
I forgot where I read this, but instead of a shootout to decide ties, have 2 5 minute overtimes. The first being 4 on 4, the second being 3 on 3. Alternatively, have one 6 minute overtime where each team gets 3 one minute man advantages, home team goes first. Anything to let PLAY decide a winner, not a series of breakaways.

Change the point structure
3 Points for a regulation win (0 for a regulation loss)
1 Point to each team for a regulation tie.
1 Additional point for an overtime win.

Enlarge the Rink
Go to Olympic sized ice. It opens the game a lot.

Eliminate Interference, clutching, and grabbing
Allow players without the puck to actually skate to the puck. Call more holding the stick penalties. Keep the game in motion as much as possible.

New Rules
Institute tag-up offsides and no-touch icing. Either decrease the size of the neutral zone (by stretching the size of the offensive end, not widening the lines) or eliminate the red line. Goalies outside of the painted lines (see the AHL) are fair game.

Different Penalty Lengths
Right now, all we have are 2's and 5's (as far as penalties that affect manpower). Let's get more creative and make the punishment fit the crime. High sticking: 5 minute major every time. Same with boarding (call it "intent to injure"). Obstruction: 3 minutes. Cross Checking: 2 Minutes. Hooking, Tripping, Obstruction: 1 minute.

Encourage violence
Fans love big hits. And irregardless of what they say, they love the fights. Keep the game safe, but let the players play hard. 5 Each for fighting, and then back on the ice. 10 for one guy if it's his second fight... 10 real minutes, not even strength minutes.

Make the diving call legitimate
Diving sucks. What sucks even worse is that whenever it's called, it's a concurrent minor. One guy gets 2 minutes for tripping, the other one 2 minutes for a dive. Either he got tripped, or he flopped onto the ice, but not both. If it's a dive ... it's a dive and it's going to cost you 3 minutes, and the other guy gets nothing. That will discourage it, not 2 minutes of 4 on 4.

I'm sure that the're more good ideas out there ....

[Jew Panda]

It's hard to add any new information when you've thoroughly discussed it all. :]

I think tag-up offsides and eliminating the red line would benefit hockey. The instigating rule has to be gone and never discussed ever again. As for penalty lengths, I find that odd. I think it's fine how it is now. Television exposure? Wishful thinking, the Southern Republican states just won't buy into it. They love their college football and Nascar too much.

[IceMan]

Which is exactly why I'm moving all of those teams (except Dallas) up north.

[HAF]

(quote)
Put US Based Teams into "Hockey Towns"
Why on earth is there a hockey team in Phoenix ? Answer: to try and get a rivalry going with Dallas. That's a stupid reason. Let's re-shuffle the US landscape a bit to make more sense.
Phoenix -> Portland or Seattle
Florida -> St Louis (quote)

Do you have any statistics on ticket sales in these venues compared to other NHL venues?

(quote)
Respect your Elders
Leave it to a basketball guy (Bettman) to take the history out of hockey in an attempt to lure uneducated US fans to the game. Bring back the Patrick Division, Prince of Whales Conference, and the rest. Hockey has a rich history that should be herFix Overtime
I forgot where I read this, but instead of a shootout to decide ties, have 2 5 minute overtimes. The first being 4 on 4, the second being 3 on 3. Alternatively, have one 6 minute overtime where each team gets 3 one minute man advantages, home team goes first. Anything to let PLAY decide a winner, not a series of breakaways

Change the point structure
3 Points for a regulation win (0 for a regulation loss)
1 Point to each team for a regulation tie.
1 Additional point for an overtime win.

Enlarge the Rink
Go to Olympic sized ice. It opens the game a lot.

Eliminate Interference, clutching, and grabbing
Allow players without the puck to actually skate to the puck. Call more holding the stick penalties. Keep the game in motion as much as possible.

New Rules
Institute tag-up offsides and no-touch icing. Either decrease the size of the neutral zone (by stretching the size of the offensive end, not widening the lines) or eliminate the red line. Goalies outside of the painted lines (see the AHL) are fair game.

Different Penalty Lengths
Right now, all we have are 2's and 5's (as far as penalties that affect manpower). Let's get more creative and make the punishment fit the crime. High sticking: 5 minute major every time. Same with boarding (call it "intent to injure"). Obstruction: 3 minutes. Cross Checking: 2 Minutes. Hooking, Tripping, Obstruction: 1 minute.

Encourage violence
Fans love big hits. And irregardless of what they say, they love the fights. Keep the game safe, but let the players play hard. 5 Each for fighting, and then back on the ice. 10 for one guy if it's his second fight... 10 real minutes, not even strength minutes.

Make the diving call legitimate
Diving sucks. What sucks even worse is that whenever it's called, it's a concurrent minor. One guy gets 2 minutes for tripping, the other one 2 minutes for a dive. Either he got tripped, or he flopped onto the ice, but not both. If it's a dive ... it's a dive and it's going to cost you 3 minutes, and the other guy gets nothing. That will discourage it, not 2 minutes of 4 on 4. alded, not hidden.(quote)

For a person so hung up on tradition you sure are wanting to change the game a lot.

I'm not saying you dont make some good points because you do. Hockey does need to be a little more spectator friendly before it can be on a level to compete with MLB or the NFL for American dollers.
As far as keeping hockey teams in hockey towns I guess as long as these towns have the fan base to fill seats and sell jerseys they are hockey towns.
I could be wrong, this is just my opinion. An uneducated US fan that spends his money supporting a US hockey team and buying jerseys and trinkets and tickets.

[speedkills]

How to we "fix" the game we love?

Bring Back The Canadian Teams
Hockey has it's roots in Canada, not South Carolina. Let's get teams back in Winnipeg, Quebec, and possibly find another worthy town or two.
Carolina -> Winnipeg
Atlanta -> Quebec

Put US Based Teams into "Hockey Towns"
Why on earth is there a hockey team in Phoenix ? Answer: to try and get a rivalry going with Dallas. That's a stupid reason. Let's re-shuffle the US landscape a bit to make more sense.
Phoenix -> Portland or Seattle
Florida -> St Louis

Respect your Elders
Leave it to a basketball guy (Bettman) to take the history out of hockey in an attempt to lure uneducated US fans to the game. Bring back the Patrick Division, Prince of Whales Conference, and the rest. Hockey has a rich history that should be heralded, not hidden.

Make it TV Friendly
More camera angles. Put cameras everywhere: in all 4 corners of each net. Attached to the tops of the glass around the rink in 8 or 9 spots. Mike up the benches so that we can hear the players talking and the coaches strategies. Spend intermissions explaining the strategy, not just showing highlights. Show puck speed (like they do pitch speed on baseball games). Hire BETTER analysts. Maybe instead of scores accross the bottom of the screen, put up "Offsides: the puck must be the first thing over the blue line" after a whistle, so that new fans know what the hell is going on out there.

Put it on TV
Get rid of Center Ice for a few years, and put every game on, free. There's a fox sports net in nearly every NHL city. Televise every game, no blackouts. National Games every Wed and Saturday, and not always Detroit/Colorodo, but random games. If it's not on TV, people can't watch it, and if it sucks on tv (see previous point), people won't watch it. The TV Contracts won't be for a gazillion dollars at first. So what. You need to build up momentum and interest before you can demand a premium for it.

Fix Overtime
I forgot where I read this, but instead of a shootout to decide ties, have 2 5 minute overtimes. The first being 4 on 4, the second being 3 on 3. Alternatively, have one 6 minute overtime where each team gets 3 one minute man advantages, home team goes first. Anything to let PLAY decide a winner, not a series of breakaways.

Change the point structure
3 Points for a regulation win (0 for a regulation loss)
1 Point to each team for a regulation tie.
1 Additional point for an overtime win.

Enlarge the Rink
Go to Olympic sized ice. It opens the game a lot.

Eliminate Interference, clutching, and grabbing
Allow players without the puck to actually skate to the puck. Call more holding the stick penalties. Keep the game in motion as much as possible.

New Rules
Institute tag-up offsides and no-touch icing. Either decrease the size of the neutral zone (by stretching the size of the offensive end, not widening the lines) or eliminate the red line. Goalies outside of the painted lines (see the AHL) are fair game.

Different Penalty Lengths
Right now, all we have are 2's and 5's (as far as penalties that affect manpower). Let's get more creative and make the punishment fit the crime. High sticking: 5 minute major every time. Same with boarding (call it "intent to injure"). Obstruction: 3 minutes. Cross Checking: 2 Minutes. Hooking, Tripping, Obstruction: 1 minute.

Encourage violence
Fans love big hits. And irregardless of what they say, they love the fights. Keep the game safe, but let the players play hard. 5 Each for fighting, and then back on the ice. 10 for one guy if it's his second fight... 10 real minutes, not even strength minutes.

Make the diving call legitimate
Diving sucks. What sucks even worse is that whenever it's called, it's a concurrent minor. One guy gets 2 minutes for tripping, the other one 2 minutes for a dive. Either he got tripped, or he flopped onto the ice, but not both. If it's a dive ... it's a dive and it's going to cost you 3 minutes, and the other guy gets nothing. That will discourage it, not 2 minutes of 4 on 4.

I'm sure that the're more good ideas out there ....

you covered A LOT here...I know this is a fantasy and as much as I'd LOVE to see it, enlarging the ice is economically a MESS (very expensive and a LOT of arenas wouldn't be able to accomodate the larger surface without MAJOR structural modifications). Besides, I believe that eliminating the redline will open up the neutral zone reducing a teams ability to clog. This along with calling the 'f-in' clutch'n'grab that is VERY prevalent now should get this great game back to where it was years back. It does seem odd to me that if you look at old 'tapes' of games and what's going on now that the NHL would figure out that their officiating allowing all of this 'velcro hockey' is a MAJOR contributor to the lack of offence they're all worried about.

Agree with a lot of what you've said here though. TOTALLY agree with getting this thing on T.V. so the fan base will expand. Look at the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs....HUGE fan bases for those teams and a major factor in that has been WTBS and WGN are carried by just about all the major cable companies. When people are exposed, see a LOT of a certain team/sport, they tend to become fans.

[IceMan]

I don't have exact numbers on the Tix Sales of the 4 teams that I recommend to move, but none of them are selling out every game, and due to their limited universe of fans, have probably nearly maxed out on merchandising as well.

I want to restore the game to it's roots (by naming back the divisions, and putting more teams in Canada where they belong), but also move the game forward a bit to reflect the modern fan, by making it a bit more open, excititing, and TV Friendly so that it will be able to draw fans into it via the tube.

As to the earlier question about the varying penalty minute lengths. I think that some infractions (High sticking, boarding) are dangerous, and should have a higher value than others. Varying the length of penalty times will hopefully clean up some of the garbage play. I'd like to see all High Sticking penalties get the max, instead of now, where you have guys biting their tongues to get blood to force the major. That's BS .... but so is getting a stick in the face, so let's just make it an automatic 3 Minutes, every time.

[grumphy]

As to the earlier question about the varying penalty minute lengths. I think that some infractions (High sticking, boarding) are dangerous, and should have a higher value than others. Varying the length of penalty times will hopefully clean up some of the garbage play. I'd like to see all High Sticking penalties get the max, instead of now, where you have guys biting their tongues to get blood to force the major. That's BS .... but so is getting a stick in the face, so let's just make it an automatic 3 Minutes, every time.
With the current caliber of our officiating I would not think them capable of futher decisions-------Just think of Savage tryin to figure out this system :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[ScottyWazz]

There's some points I agree with, like getting more Canadian teams in the fold, but a few I disagree with:


Put US Based Teams into "Hockey Towns"
Why on earth is there a hockey team in Phoenix ? Answer: to try and get a rivalry going with Dallas. That's a stupid reason. Let's re-shuffle the US landscape a bit to make more sense.
Phoenix -> Portland or Seattle
Florida -> St Louis

Phoenix, and Arizona as a whole, is a decent hockey city/state. They have great club hockey teams out there, an amazing Jr. B program, and they're getting an ECHL team there next season. I think it's a matter of pricing when it comes to certain cities. The fact they charge obscene prices for a team that can't win and for a game that's in a steady decline on the ice; it's not worth it.



Put it on TV
Get rid of Center Ice for a few years, and put every game on, free. There's a fox sports net in nearly every NHL city. Televise every game, no blackouts. National Games every Wed and Saturday, and not always Detroit/Colorodo, but random games. If it's not on TV, people can't watch it, and if it sucks on tv (see previous point), people won't watch it. The TV Contracts won't be for a gazillion dollars at first. So what. You need to build up momentum and interest before you can demand a premium for it.

For Joe Schmo in Des Moines, Iowa-- he's not going to watch a game between the Penguins and the Blackhawks. Sure in 1992 it would have been the hottest thing since I shocked myself when I stuck a penny in the light socket when I was 18 months, but now it's just boring hockey. The only reason that ESPN and ABC put on Colorado and Detroit is because (1) it was a big rivalry and (2) people recognize the team names and the players on the teams.


Enlarge the Rink
Go to Olympic sized ice. It opens the game a lot.

I don't think going 200x100 will be a cheap thing for many of the owners. It takes out seating, which is revenue. I could see them going with a happy medium of 200x92, but not by 100 ft. Plus, in a dump-and-chase NHL, it could be a replay of the 2000 WJC where Russia and the Czechs had a dumpfest.



Encourage violence
Fans love big hits. And irregardless of what they say, they love the fights. Keep the game safe, but let the players play hard. 5 Each for fighting, and then back on the ice. 10 for one guy if it's his second fight... 10 real minutes, not even strength minutes.

As much as many people in the hockey niche group like it, the causal fan and TV viewer could cry foul. Hell, some even want fights abolished. People are too touchy nowadays, which is odd because you see worse violence than a hockey fight on TV everyday; but heaven forbid people drop the mitts at a game.

Outside of that, I think you pretty much touched on everything.

One other thing is give broadcast rights holders more access. You can get so much out of the game if more access was given to those in the TV business.

[Fight Guy]

Bring Back The Canadian Teams
Hockey has it's roots in Canada, not South Carolina. Let's get teams back in Winnipeg, Quebec, and possibly find another worthy town or two.
Carolina -> Winnipeg
Atlanta -> Quebec


Put US Based Teams into "Hockey Towns"
Why on earth is there a hockey team in Phoenix ? Answer: to try and get a rivalry going with Dallas. That's a stupid reason. Let's re-shuffle the US landscape a bit to make more sense.
Phoenix -> Portland or Seattle
Florida -> St Louis

Average Attendances

Team - Arena - Capacity

Carolina - RBC Center - 18,763
Phoenix - Glendale Arena(2003/2004) - 17,500
- America West Arena(1996/2003) - 16,210
Florida - Office Depot Center - 19,452
Atlanta - Philips Arena - 18,750

League Ranking Team - Attendance

2003/2004

29th Carolina - 12,171
21st Atlanta - 15,121
19th Phoenix - 15,592
17th Florida - 15,904

2002/2003

29th Phoenix - 13,229
28th Atlanta - 13,476
20th Florida - 15,428
19th Carolina - 15,682

2001/2002

29th Phoenix - 13,165
28th Atlanta - 13,668
24th Carolina - 15,508
18th Florida - 16,083

2000/2001

29th Carolina - 13,355
27th Phoenix - 14,224
26th Florida - 14,557
23rd Atlanta - 15,262

These came from http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2004

I am defiently for the return Canadian teams, and it's pretty much a given that the attendance for the teams would be great, but the other ones I don't see. It would be alright to see NHL in Portland or Seattle, but are you suggesting St. Louis have a second team? I don't think it work. First of all, I don't think the city is big enough to support two NHL teams. The city would just stick to their one team that the fans have cheered for for years. Plus, no other city has two NHL clubs and should stay that way. I don't liek the idea of a city having two teams, escpecially in the US where football and baseball are more supported.


Make it TV Friendly
More camera angles. Put cameras everywhere: in all 4 corners of each net. Attached to the tops of the glass around the rink in 8 or 9 spots. Mike up the benches so that we can hear the players talking and the coaches strategies. Spend intermissions explaining the strategy, not just showing highlights. Show puck speed (like they do pitch speed on baseball games). Hire BETTER analysts. Maybe instead of scores accross the bottom of the screen, put up "Offsides: the puck must be the first thing over the blue line" after a whistle, so that new fans know what the hell is going on out there.

I'm not for that. Sure, some extra cameras would be alright, but the mics and the amount of cameras I don't like. With four cameras in the net, that wouldn't work so well I dont think. On camera in the net is fine. And I'm not a fan of the rules scrolling across the bottom of the screen. You'll watch the hockey if your a hockey fan and if you need to know the rules, you should learn by watching or find them out for yourself. I never liked how on FOX they explanations for all things like penalties and some ther stuff I cant remember in the score and time ticker thing.


Put it on TV
Get rid of Center Ice for a few years, and put every game on, free. There's a fox sports net in nearly every NHL city. Televise every game, no blackouts. National Games every Wed and Saturday, and not always Detroit/Colorodo, but random games. If it's not on TV, people can't watch it, and if it sucks on tv (see previous point), people won't watch it. The TV Contracts won't be for a gazillion dollars at first. So what. You need to build up momentum and interest before you can demand a premium for it.

I don't see this working at all. There are too many games many nights for this to work. It's all fine and good for the cities to show their games, but there are also fans that cheer for teams that aren't int heir city and they would get stuck without seeing their team play. Center Ice shows every game and the people that pay for it pay to see the games they want. Now, if the kept center ice, but made it free for a year, it may help the fans come back after the lock-out. Getting rid of Center Ice and showing games otherwise just wouldn't work.


Fix Overtime
I forgot where I read this, but instead of a shootout to decide ties, have 2 5 minute overtimes. The first being 4 on 4, the second being 3 on 3. Alternatively, have one 6 minute overtime where each team gets 3 one minute man advantages, home team goes first. Anything to let PLAY decide a winner, not a series of breakaways.

I think OT is fine how it is. I'm not a fan of the shoot outs. The game should finish by being played. But we all know shoot outs and penalty shots are exciting, so if anything, if they want to bring that type of thing to the game, they should just increase the amount of penalty shots.


Change the point structure
3 Points for a regulation win (0 for a regulation loss)
1 Point to each team for a regulation tie.
1 Additional point for an overtime win.

I think we are on the same page here.

3 points regulation win...0points regulation loss
2 points OT win...1 point OT loss
1 point for tie
That would make it a total of 3 points per game, except in the event of a tie...which may cause problems, but not totally sure on how much.


Enlarge the Rink
Go to Olympic sized ice. It opens the game a lot.

Wouldn't work. Would cost way too much money to modify the arenas that are made to fit an NHL ice surface. They are going to be modifying GM Place to accomidate the Olympics, and that from what I heard is going to be a very high price.


New Rules
Institute tag-up offsides and no-touch icing. Either decrease the size of the neutral zone (by stretching the size of the offensive end, not widening the lines) or eliminate the red line. Goalies outside of the painted lines (see the AHL) are fair game.

I like tag-up offsides and no-touch icing. I also like the idea of getting rid of the red line, but I say leave the size fo the zones the way they are. And i'm for the goalie rule. But I think how it is in the AHL is that if the goalie touches the puck outside of that line, they get penalized.


Different Penalty Lengths
Right now, all we have are 2's and 5's (as far as penalties that affect manpower). Let's get more creative and make the punishment fit the crime. High sticking: 5 minute major every time. Same with boarding (call it "intent to injure"). Obstruction: 3 minutes. Cross Checking: 2 Minutes. Hooking, Tripping, Obstruction: 1 minute.

Penalties are fine how they are. Some high sticking penalties can be out of the players control whether it be he is falling or his stick was knocked up into the players head. It wouldn't be fair for a player who gets hit then his stick hits someone while he's falling to get 5 minutes. Just what I think.


Encourage violence
Fans love big hits. And irregardless of what they say, they love the fights. Keep the game safe, but let the players play hard. 5 Each for fighting, and then back on the ice. 10 for one guy if it's his second fight... 10 real minutes, not even strength minutes.

All I have to say is scrap the instigator rule then leave it. Fighting has always been apart of the game. If your saying the fans like the rough stuff, then why would they give a player 10 mins for their second fight? That would begin to eliminate fighting. 5 mins each fight is fine.


Make the diving call legitimate
Diving sucks. What sucks even worse is that whenever it's called, it's a concurrent minor. One guy gets 2 minutes for tripping, the other one 2 minutes for a dive. Either he got tripped, or he flopped onto the ice, but not both. If it's a dive ... it's a dive and it's going to cost you 3 minutes, and the other guy gets nothing. That will discourage it, not 2 minutes of 4 on 4.

I agree...except just leave it at 2 mins. Im not a fan of changing the penalty mins for minor penalties.

That's my 2 cents. If I have miss read something, and something I said doesn't make sence, let me know.

[IceMan]

St. Louis ... can't believe that I re-read this post 5 times before I made it and still missed that. I meant to suggest Cleveland or Indy ... somewhere else in the Midwest where you have natural rivalries and kids playing hockey as a way of growing up (not like Phoenix where their major enterntainment is picking off the illegals as they cross the border). My mind was in that part of the country and I typed St. Louis (Duh).

On the cameras .. you, me, and everyone else here probably likes it as is, and "gets it" as is, too. But if we have a serious goal of increasing fan support accross the US, which is imperative if there's ever going to be a national TV deal that makes the league some money, they have to improve coverage to make it more fan friendly. Look at an NFL football game. Fans love the replays and all the various angles that you get. It would have been cool as hell to see that goal that Cheechoo from San Jose Scored last year in the playoffs from some other angles to really appreciate what a phenominal play that was. I don't think that you broadcast using all of those cameras, but to be able to switch back and forth every once in a while, and use them on replays and to explain stuff would add a lot. Microphones (selectively used) would be very cool ;)

Penalties, we all have to agree, happen and occur in degrees, which is why I proposed some different lengths based on severity. Frankly a boarding penalty, where you could break a guys neck is the same 2:00 as it is if you hook someone, even accidentally. Perhaps knowing that the crosscheck I'm about to put on this guy with his face to the boards is going to cost me 5 ... you might see guys actually engaging the puck instead, and save the big hits for legitimate times. Violent hits are great, but only when used "properly"

Frankly, I don't think that my little list of things is the be all and end all to fix the game. Personally, I like it (a lot) just the way it is. I fear, however, that in a 21st century economy and with so many other very profitable (and exciting) sports out there for fans to choose from, the NHL as a premier sports league could fall down even further behind Football, Baseball, Basketball and Nascar, and even (perish the though) give way to Soccer which is completely unwatchable on TV ... but at least it's on TV.