Your ideal NHL

[leafaholix*]

What would make up your ideal NHL?

State:

- Rule changes
- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)
- Contraction (if any)
- Teams (Conferences/division)
- Number of games
- Playoff layout
- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA

Click to read more...

 

[Mountain Dude]

-Rules Changes
Not much here, the game is pretty good as is. But here goes: Goalie pads gotta get somewhat smaller. No touch icing has to be considered, and goalie movement has to be cut down.

-CBA
Hard cap at 38 million, low cap at 27 about, anything past there will be worked out after that.

-Contraction
Cali has to lose at least 1 team, maybe more, same with Florida. And a few southern states could stand to lose their teams.

-Conferences
Meh, as long as they have equal amounts of teams, and approximately same amount of travel for both conferences its good.

-Number of games
Hmmmm... 74 or 76, somewhere around there.

-Playoffs
Never, ever change the playoffs, nothing could be better than the way they are now.

-Commisoner & PA boss
Don't know, but the current guys gotta go after this.

EDIT:
Most important rule change, the ****ing instigator rule, that thing has gotta go. It doesn't prevent violence, it creates more.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

- Rule changes

* Really enforce rules regarding holding
* smaller goalie pads, move net back
* eliminate the Redline
(ie, what the league is likely to do)

- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)
hard tax linked to revenues, players get just under 60% or revenues. Meaningful revenue sharing and a floor and ceiling withing 25% of one another.

- Contraction (if any)
None unless a team fails under the above system. We will never be a major sport if we look short term and throw up a white flag on being a national rather than regional sport.

- Teams (Conferences/division)

- Number of games
80

- Playoff layout
As it is now.

- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA
Bettman and anyone but Goodenow.

 

[Riddarn]

- Rule changes
Pre 1990 rules & ice regulations (lines and such). Smaller goalie pads. No composite sticks allowed. 6 feet wider ice surface and possibly no red line (not sure there).

- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)
Linked hard cap, UFA at 30y, maximum salary of one player linked to hard cap size. If size of cap is linked to be $35 mill then the maximum salary for one player should be no more than 20% of that.

- Contraction (if any)
I'd take out 10 teams and move 2 to Canada. Hockey teams should be in hockey markets except for a few very big markets wich have substantial nation-wide media present.

- Number of games
64-70 games.

- Playoff layout
16 teams makes the playoffs, first round should be a 5 game series (the playoffs are too long) and there should be no East/West conferance finals. 1st placed team in the NHL should face #16th placed team and so on.

- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA
Anyone but the clowns currently holding those positions.

 

[futurcorerock]

Great topic

Rule Changes: I would limit the size of goal pads to something reasonable. Allow two line passes, instigation and make goalies free game outside of the crease.

CBA Stuff - Hard cap at 45 million with a graduated luxury tax beginning at 35 million starting with dollar for dollar and increasing 15% for each million above the 35. Arbitration goes both ways but should be limited to extreme cases. UFA at 30. And for the love of god, move the trade deadline back.

No Contraction - I'd rather encourage the individual owners to market their players a bit better. Begin a marketing campaign featuring the NHL's brightest stars on tv. I honestly havent seen an NHL commercial in a number of years.

-70 Games - expand the playoffs to a more divisonal system where the top 3 teams from each division would face off with the winner of the division taking a bye in the first round. I know it's a minor expansion on the format, but to me the NHL looks way too much like the NBA. The divisonal pairity makes rivalries more attainable without expanding the schedule to accomodate for such.

Commisioner would be an As-of-yet to be named person. The person would have to have a proven love for the game. Preferably a former owner or someone who has major credentials as an office goon at a major sports league.

NHLPA leader hands-down is Mike Gartner.

 

[leafaholix*]

Rule changes:

- no touch icing (AHL)
- no red line
- restrict goaltenders from wandering (AHL)
- smaller equipment
- touch up offsides

CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...):

- soft cap at $40M
- hard cap at $42.5M
- floor at $25M
- UFA at 28 y/o

Contraction:

Florida
Carolina
Atlanta
Anaheim
Nashville
Phoenix

Teams (Conferences/division):

East:

Tampa Bay (***)
Boston (***)
Philadelphia (**)
Toronto (*)
Ottawa (*)
New Jersey (**)
Montreal (*)
NY Isle. (**)
Buffalo (*)
NY Rang. (**)
Washington (***)
Pittsburgh (***)

West:

Detroit (*)
San Jose (***)
Vancouver (***)
Colorado (**)
Dallas (***)
Calgary (**)
St. Louis (**)
Edmonton (**)
Minnesota (*)
Los Angeles (***)
Columbus (*)
Chicago (*)

Number of games: 70
Playoff layout: No changes

Commissioner & Head of NHLPA:

NHL: Bill Daly
NHLPA: Trevor Linden

I stayed away from the Wayne Gretzky pick.

 

[PantherBlood6*]

Rule changes -
-No touch icing
-No red line
-bigger rinks
-bigger blue lines
-smaller goalie equipment(not drastically, though)
-Touch up offsides
-Longer overtime(10 minutes)

- CBA stuff-
Hard cap linked to revenues.

- Contraction (if any)
None. Most if not all markets can be successful -- as the Lightning have proved the last few years. They were a franchise in desperate trouble (I think they averaged barely over 10,000 a game at one point). The product on the ice improved and so did the fan support. The majority of sports fans are bandwagoners by nature -- so improved parity should see fan support increase drastically in smaller markets.
- Teams (Conferences/division)
Same
- Number of games
Same
- Playoff layout
Same
- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA
Anna Nicole Smith and Jessica Simpson.

In seriousness -- no idea -- but definatley not Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow

 

[Anthony*]

- Rule changes

not a whole lot besides the instigator rule. that definitely has to go. MAYBE shootouts and no redline too.

- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)

30something hard cap linked to revenues. ufa age at 29 or 30.

- Contraction (if any)

no contraction. id probably move the canes, a florida team, pittsburgh, and the ducks though. maybe nashville too.

- Teams (Conferences/division)

theyre perfect as is

- Number of games

drastically reduced. id say 62 or so

- Playoff layout

perfect as is

- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA

who knows. daly and gartner were good picks.

 

[alecfromtherock]

-Rules Changes
Not much here, the game is pretty good as is. But here goes: Goalie pads gotta get somewhat smaller. No touch icing has to be considered, and goalie movement has to be cut down.

-CBA
Hard cap at 38 million, low cap at 27 about, anything past there will be worked out after that.

-Contraction
Cali has to lose at least 1 team, maybe more, same with Florida. And a few southern states could stand to lose their teams.

-Conferences
Meh, as long as they have equal amounts of teams, and approximately same amount of travel for both conferences its good.

-Number of games
Hmmmm... 74 or 76, somewhere around there.

-Playoffs
Never, ever change the playoffs, nothing could be better than the way they are now.

-Commisoner & PA boss
Don't know, but the current guys gotta go after this.

EDIT:
Most important rule change, the ****ing instigator rule, that thing has gotta go. It doesn't prevent violence, it creates more.

Additional Changes:

Rules:

Nullification of Offsides (usually cuts off a rush and slows down the game, if your team is stupid enough to let an opposing player in your D zone without protection then pay the price)

Actually enforcing all of the rules for scurfiness(hooking jabbing high-sticking behind-hits slashing...)

Call plenties based on the rules, not on the situation(EX team is already shorthanded therefor the ref should ‘look the other way’)

CBA: Rookie cap at 850K for 4 years, Hard Cap Under $40 million with a $10-$15 million ceiling/floor difference.

Contraction: Not before borderline franchises move back to hockey cities such as Winnipeg and Quebec City, Hamilton should also be considered as a relocation city.

NHL teams have a unique spinoff effect, Americans are seeing hundreds of new rinks be built; more Americans are playing and being introduced to hockey at early ages, talent pool will increase from the US(monitory cost can not compete with hockey spreading throughout the US)

NHL/PA heads: For the union someone who is respected by the fans and will do what is best for hockey and not the $$$. For the league someone who was previously involved in the management side of hockey at the NHL level with proven results(positive) who is personable and is a figure of respect and integrity.

 

[Balej20*]

Really Good Topic, and fun.

Rule changes:

- May sound crazy, but ban Visors. This will make players be more careful with high sticks.
- Get rid of instigator.
- Outside of the crease, if the goalie plays the puck, he becomes a regular skater, so he is allowed to get hit as if he was a skater.
- No clutching or grabbing of any sort. Somehow this must be enforced. Sticks cannot touch an opponents body.
- Goalies must have majority of their body in the crease in order to cover a puck.
- 10 inch pads, stream line all equipment for goalies.

CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...):

- 200% Luxury Tax at $35M (Share this tax amongst owners)
- hard cap at $38M
- floor at $25M
- UFA at 30 y/o
- One home grown player on each team, does not count against Cap.

Contraction/Movement...:

Subtract:
Florida
Carolina
Anaheim
Nashville
Phoenix
New Jersey

Add:
Vegas
Hartford
Quebec
Winnipeg



Number of games: 72
Playoff layout: No changes

Commissioner & Head of NHLPA:

NHL: Wayne Gretzky
NHLPA: Mike Gartner

 

[Phanuthier*]

What would make up your ideal NHL?

State:

- Rule changes
- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)
- Contraction (if any)
- Teams (Conferences/division)
- Number of games
- Playoff layout
- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA

Rule Changes
- Touch-up off-side
- No-touch icing
- Take out instagator rule
- reward more penelty shots to infractions pertaining to defensive teams taking away the other teams offensive chance.
- (not exaclty a rule) crack down on cheap shots

- change entry draft order to the NHL regular season standing at the trading deadline

CBA
- Cap at 38 million, owners to open their books to the PA and include EVERYTHING that made them money PERTAINING to the on-ice product and the team.
- UFA age at 28
- Same rookie max caps as now
-complete revenue sharing
(Extra: Make all player contracts confidential. Let the talk about the game be what happens on the ice, not off.)

Contraction: None

Teams/Conferences: Same

Number of games: Regular season, same. Cut down training camp to 1 week and 2 pre-season games.

Playoffs: Expand to 22 teams, top team gets the option of a by (if they choose to forfeit it, pass it along). Same deal for Round 3.

Commioner: Same
NHLPA: Don't give a deamn. Break em

 

[Munchausen]

Rule changes

Tag-up offsides and no-touch icing are a no brainer for me. Cuts on injuries and gives the game some flow back.

Aside from that, I'd say cracking down on any form of obstruction that takes away the speed of the game is an absolute must.

I am definitelly NOT for the no red line rule. Anyone who watched European hockey knows this doesn't open the game more, quite the contrary. It would only lead to more trapping.

Drafting at 19yo.

Get rid of the stupid instigator rule.

As for a more controversial idea, I'd say cutting the rosters to 19-20 guys and rolling 3 lines instead of 4 would be something I'd like to see. Helps getting rid of the watered down product problem without the need for contractions. Directly raises the on-ce quality of the product, hopefully bringing in more fans.

I know shootouts are not a popular idea for everybody out there, I'm not sure I like it much, but this league needs to grow and put a more exciting product on the ice in order to attract new fans. Well, this is a pretty exciting rule change that for the sake of the league's health, I'd be willing to consider, only for regular season though. And even though I'm not sure I'd be thrilled about winning or losing a game in a shootout, that would still be better than ending in a disapointing draw, which to me has always been a non-sense in any sport.

Finally, take away the point for a tie or an overtime loss. This is a Pejorative Slured rule. Winner takes all, it's more dramatic.

CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)

Well unlike some, I don't have the pretention to say I know the gain/loss numbers for each franchise, so it would be moot for me to throw a random cap number out there. However, I feel pretty strongly that linkage is just common sense for a struggling league like the NHL.

I'd bring the UFA age to 28yo. Makes it possible to ink UFAs right at the begining of their primes.

The QO is definitelly something that needs to be adjusted. Not being able to bring down the salary of an under-acheiver is ludicrous.

Salary arbitration should stay as is. This is a bone the owners should be prepared to throw to the players to ease the cap pill swallowing.

I must say that although I can see why a cap alone can indeed act as a magnet and put pressure on teams to spend in order to keep their fans and the media guys happy (I know how it works, I live in Habs town), I think a hard cap and a luxury tax is a good combo (again, not stating any random number I'd pull out of my ass). What would likely happen IMO is small markets would spend up to the tax threshold and big markets would spend up to the hard cap threshold. Then, tax money is redistributed to the bottom teams.

Contraction (if any)
none. With a hard cap, linkage and revenue sharing, every team can be viable, just need to hire some competent hockey staff.

Teams (Conferences/division)

same

Number of games

70, at least half of them being played against division rivals. a shorter schedule would be less demanding on the players, meaning less flat/meaningless showings throughout the season. Also, it gives more time to coaches to teach their players and work on their systems. Less injuries. Less demanding for small players.

Playoff layout

no change

Commissioner & Head of NHLPA

I'm not the one to make that call, but I must say Bettman and Goodenow are two guys I never want to see ever again once this conflict is over.

 

[OpinionatedMike]

It's late, I'm bored. I'll bite.

Rule Changes:
- Wooden Sticks ONLY
- Goalie Equitment is restricted to pre 1994 sizes
- Tag up offsides
- Scrap the instigator
- Blood (intentional or not [fighting blood not included]) would equal 5 minutes and game
- Interference wouldn't be called as single 2 Minute penalties due to taking up too much time, whistle, calling the penalty, they'd be recorded and told to the fans through the speakers, after a predetermind amount a player would get a 10 minute misconduct and a 2 minute PP to the other team, this would NOT refresh per period
- Goalies are free to roam but are fiar game once leaving their crease (which would be extend JUST slightly


CBA stuff:
- Hard cap of 55 Million a team
- Luxery Tax kicks in a 45 Million (100% to $50M, 200% to 55M)
- Franchise player tag (much like the NFL rule, wouldn't be included with the salary cap)
- UFA Age 31, draft age 19.
- Salary arbitration is 2way (one time in career for player, 3 times over the course of 2 years for NHL teams) and is done in a baseball style format
- Team Limited signing bonuses and incentives limited to 6 Million in total
- Single contracts cannot be larger the $6 Million a year, no team can exceed more then 4 players having between $4.5 M and $6 Million in a season.

Contraction:
- Relocation of 3 teams, Winnipeg, Hartford, Seattle
- Teams lost Flordia, Anaheim, Carolina
- Teams contracted (PIT or ATL and PHX)

Teams (Conferences/division):
- 4 Divisions, 2 Conferences
- Division A (TOR, MTL, OTT, BUF, BOS, HAR, DET)
- Division B (NYR, NYI, NJ, WAS, PHI, (PIT or ATL), TB)
- Division C (VAN, EDM, CGY, WIN, MIN, SEA, COL)
- Divison D (LA, DAL, SJ, NAS, CHI, STL, CBJ)

Number of games:
- Smaller Training Camp and Games (season starts Oct 1st)
- 80 Regular Season Games (Season ends first week of April or earlier)
- Each team plays their own division 5 times
- Each team plays their own Conference (A-B, C-D) 3 times
- Each team plays every other team twice
- One bonus game to be played with a team in the opposite conference
- All-Star game is East v West (Campbell vs Wales)

Playoff layout:
- Games maintain best of 7 throughout
- Divisional Playoffs, 1 to 4 makes it in each conference, no crossing over for the first round
- Once 4 teams are left they are re-ranked within their own conference, 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3
- No more re-ranking after round 2


Commissioner & Head of NHLPA:
- Who cares


(Edit: I mentioned it in another thread I must be tired - Rosters would go from 23 to 21....I'd go into greater details but it's pretty simple)

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Rule Changes
- Tag up offsides
- Smaller goaltender gear
- Push net back to make neutral zone bigger
- Instigator Rule has to go
- Call obstruction
- Obstruction penalties to be served full 2 minutes

CBA Agreement
- Linked Soft cap at 35 million, luxery tax set at 100%
- Linked Hard cap at 42.5 million
- Linked Lower level cap at 25 million
- A softer revenue sharing system
- Arbitration is the same
- Unrestricted Free Agents age moved to 29
- Entry level rookie contract at 800 000 with limited bonuses
- Entry draft changed to 12 rounds (I bet you can see whats next)

Contraction
- Anaheim is contracted
- Florida is contracted
- Carolina is contracted
- Atlanta is contracted
(this is the reason the draft is back to 12 rounds)

Number of games
- The season is played in 76 games
- It starts at the same time and ends late May
- Schedule is spread out a little bit

Playoffs
- 8 teams from both conference make the playoffs
- Seedings are based on regular season point totals only.
- 1st game is home, 2nd and 3rd are away, 4th and 5th home, 6th away, 7th home
- Roster size continues to be unlimited

Teams Divisions

North East:
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Montreal Canadiens
- Buffalo Sabres
- Ottawa Senators
- Boston Bruins
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Chicago Black Hawks

Atlantic:
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- New Jersey Devils
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Washington Capitals
- Tampa Bay Lightning

North West:
- Vancouver Canucks
- Calgary Flames
- Edmonton Oilers
- Phoenix Coyotes
- Minnesota Wild
- Detroit Red Wings
- St Louis Blues

South West:
- Los Angeles Kings
- San Jose Sharks
- Nashville Predators
- Dallas Stars
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets

NHL and NHLPA Leaders
- NHLPA: Mike Gartner
- NHL: Ken Dryden

 

[salty justice]

- Rule changes
Lose instigator rule
- CBA stuff
Hard cap at 20 mil. UFA age = 32. Seats = 50% lower, all sellouts
- Contraction (if any)
Anaheim, Carolina, Atlanta, Florida
- Teams (Conferences/division)
26, Cambell,Wales Conferences / Adams, Patrick, Norris, Smyth Divisions (DUH!)
- Number of games
80 games
- Playoff layout
same
- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA
Commish = Brian Burke
Head of PA = Steve Yzerman in a couple years

AND FOR GODSAKE BRING BACK THE ORGAN MUSIC AND ORGAN MUSIC ONLY!!!

 

[salty justice]

- Contraction (if any)
I'd take out 10 teams and move 2 to Canada. Hockey teams should be in hockey markets except for a few very big markets wich have substantial nation-wide media pres

- Playoff layout
16 teams makes the playoffs, first round should be a 5 game series (the playoffs are too long) and there should be no East/West conferance finals. 1st placed team in the NHL should face #16th placed team and so on.

So only 4 teams DONT make the playoffs? Sounds like a marketing scam!

Whats with all you guys against composite sticks? They help goal scorers score more goals! Imagine how much less scoring there would be without these.

 

[OpinionatedMike]

So only 4 teams DONT make the playoffs? Sounds like a marketing scam!

Whats with all you guys against composite sticks? They help goal scorers score more goals! Imagine how much less scoring there would be without these.

The goalies like to complain that the NHLers can shoot the puck MUCH faster with a composite stick....So to get them to shut up, you make it WOOD sticks only, then you don't have to deal with larger pads, because you shrink them back to protecting the GOALIE and not the net.

I don't think I saw Gretzky have a whole lot of trouble scoring with his wood stick.
Man, Gordie Howe would of had over 1000pts if only it wasn't for his wood stick!
Think about what a great career Mike Bossy would of had if only he didn't have to use that darn wood stick....

 

[Luongownage]

Rule Changes:
No touch-up icing, eliminate 2 line pass, serve the full penalty regardless of goals scored, elimination of instigator rule, 5 minute OT then shootout, severe restrictions and shrinkage of goaltender equipment, more enforcement of obstructions.

season length:
70 games

Contraction:
Anahiem, Nashville, Florida, San Jose, Pheonix, Carolina go bye bye, dispersal draft to divide up players that are desired by other clubs.

Team Moves:
Atlanta ---> Winnepeg
Tampa Bay ---> Quebec City

CBA:

Who really gives a ****, just as long as we dont have to talk about numbers and dollars to talk about the NHL....

 

[Anthony*]

yea those sharks have been nothing but a disappointment since 91

 

[leafaholix*]

I wouldn't touch the Sharks. They've been respectable for a long time.

 

[Riddarn]

The goalies like to complain that the NHLers can shoot the puck MUCH faster with a composite stick....So to get them to shut up, you make it WOOD sticks only, then you don't have to deal with larger pads, because you shrink them back to protecting the GOALIE and not the net.

I don't think I saw Gretzky have a whole lot of trouble scoring with his wood stick.
Man, Gordie Howe would of had over 1000pts if only it wasn't for his wood stick!
Think about what a great career Mike Bossy would of had if only he didn't have to use that darn wood stick....

What he said. Markus Näslund also has no trouble scoring goals in the modern NHL with a wooden stick.

Additionally I think the composite sticks are worthless pieces of (expensive) crap that breaks all the time. It's too high tech. Also it's better to go with 100% wood so that kids can feel that they have roughly the same things their heros have.

 

[OilKiller]

Also it's better to go with 100% wood so that kids can feel that they have roughly the same things their heros have.

I'm not sure the kids are thinking of them as heroes right now...

 

[regehr]

1. CBA ---> see http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=130884

2.CONTRACTION/DIVISIONS

---> see http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=130917&page=5

EASTERN CONFERENCE
NORTHEAST $438m revenues
Boston $95m
Toronto $117m
Ottawa $70m
Montreal $90m
Columbus $66m

ATLANTIC $437m
Tampa Bay $88m
Philadelphia $106m
New Jersey $61m
NY Islanders $64m
NY Rangers $118m

WESTERN CONFERENCE
CENTRAL $408m
Detroit $97m
Dallas $103m
St.Louis $66m
Minnesota $71m
Chicago $71m

PACIFIC $397m
San Jose $74m
Vancouver $74m
Colorado $99m
Calgary $70m
Los Angeles $80m

3. GAME CHANGES
Remove red line.
4-on-4 play with offsetting minors.
Reduced goalie equipment size.
Limited goalie play outside of crease.
No-touch icing (speeds flow of game, prevents injury)
Remove instigation penalty.
Serve full penalties.
Allow hand-pass in offensive zone.
Five-minute OT + shootout (if necessary)
(General goal is to create more flow and offense)

4. GAMES/SCHEDULE
More regional focus during regular season.
Home-and-Home intra-divisional games on Saturdays and Sundays only.
Home-and-Home intra-conference games on Saturdays and Sundays only.
(every fifth weekend and in final month of season)
Inter-conference play on Wednesdays only.
i.e. Predictable game times = more concentrated TV viewership.

5.SEASON
72-game regular season
Season: Oct 15-Apr 2 (26 weeks)
Same Division: 8 games (4 SAT/SUN home-and-home) per team x 4 teams = 32 games
Same Conference: 4 games (2 SAT/SUN home-and-home) per team x 5 teams = 20 games
Inter-Conference: 2 games (2 WED) per team x 10 teams = 20 games

16-team playoff
top 8 per division. Begins Apr 8.
Round 1: 1vs8, 2vs7, 3vs6, 4vs5 x 2 conferences; best-of-five
Round 2: 1vs4, 2vs3 (of remaining) x 2 conferences; best-of-five
Round 3: conference championship; best-of-seven
Round 4: Stanley Cup champsionship; best-of-seven
SAT/SUN/WED schedule throughout playoffs

 

[regehr]

Contraction:
Anahiem, Nashville, Florida, San Jose, Pheonix, Carolina go bye bye, dispersal draft to divide up players that are desired by other clubs.

San Jose is a good hockey market. The city is growing and the Sharks have built a strong base of support.

 

[Fredrik]

- Rule changes
No red line

- CBA stuff (luxury tax, hard cap, UFA age, etc...)

No cap. All players free to sign with any club. UFA at contract expiry.

- Contraction (if any)

Remove at least two teams. Don't care which teams.

- Teams (Conferences/division)
Make it logical.

- Number of games
About the same as now.

- Playoff layout
16 teams

- Commissioner & Head of NHLPA
Don't care