K1984
Registered User
- Feb 7, 2008
- 13,810
- 13,251
I don't think it would be that dramatic. Coaches wouldn't allow players to stay out of position in hopes of getting an easy breakaway.
The same arguments were made when the NHL took out the two line pass yet today we still rarely see any breakaways from long stretch passes. You don't see Taylor Hall or Alex Ovechkin sitting in the neutral zone waiting for a pass from a team mate. Coaches find ways to defend, that's what they get paid to do. With no offsides you eliminate unnecessary stoppages of play and allow attacking players to create more offensive opportunities without any real radical change to the overall game.
The blueline is a fundamental part of the game. To the point where if you took it out the type of players that you need would instantly change and the tactics that players and coaches have spent their lives studying would become redundant. The game has been more than fine over multiple eras with offsides in place, that isn't the problem.
I absolutely hate radical rule change suggestions that are designed to "grow the game, make it more exciting." Making the nets bigger, taking out offsides, changing PP rules, etc. The game has been fine for a long time with these rules in place, you don't need to change the entire sport to rectify a momentary blip in offensive profuction.