Phigment

"Flyers and NHL follow me at http://twitter.com/BobHaynesJr"

United States, VA • United States •

New Rules

After a long hiatus I am back to writing. I know that the NHL added some new rules this year. I like some changes and dislike others. I like the removal of the spin move on the shootout. This move always had the puck going away from the goal which is not the design of the shootout. I also like the move to speed up face-offs after an icing. This will keep the intended disadvantage for the team causing the icing. Also bravo for allowing replay to better determine goals that may or may not have been good. Use the replay to get the calls right and I am happy.

The rules I do not like are the as follow. First is the trapezoid rule. I have always hated this rule from the start. It is bad to have a player that cannot play a puck in any area. It is slot hockey for crying out loud! The goalie should be able to play the puck anywhere in the zone, however limit the length of the pass to his side of the red line and you are protecting the defensemen that have to turn and go get the puck constantly. The second rule change that I do not like is the diving defenseman play. In the past if the defender left his feet and got the puck first, taking the player down was considered a legal check. Now you are encouraging ever offensive player when the defender is on the ice to go down – that means more diving! Boo to the NHL on this one.

So what do I think that they missed? My most detested rule is the puck over the glass. This is absolutely a bad rule from the start. Let the referees decide the players intent, just like all the other rules in the book. It is blatantly obvious when the puck is bouncing or rolling and it is lifted too high on accident compared to when a defender is simply shooting the puck over the glass to stop play. The other rule that needs to be created is the “staged fight” rule. I love a good hockey fight and I feel that the real hockey fights help police the stuff on the ice that the refs cannot see. But the staged fight at the puck drop is so boring. This type of action should be 5 for fighting and a game misconduct. Get this part of the game out of the game. It is actually boring and rarely produces anything useful in the game.