Speculation: Game-fiddlin' (rule changes that would help the Oilers)

[BoldNewLettuce]

I heard a piece by Scotty Bowman about how point scoring has been coached out of the game. How you have 5 "shot-blockers" on the ice now-a-days making play-making more difficult and the collapsing shot blockers are really getting so good that new rules might need to come in to get goal scoring up.

I'm probably of the mind that there have been too many changes to the game in the recent memory, but I'd also suggest the current "product" is the worst it's ever been.

Anyway ol'scotty was pretty obsessed with the idea of shrinking the offensive zone, I think. So bringing the blue lines back to where they were (i think) and/or moving the net into the rink a foot or two. I think his main idea was how to make sure guys who block a shot or win a battle in their own zone are closer to the opponents net so they can spring a transition goal more easily/quickly/wingers who have collapsed in to block shots might be able to beat a defender on a breakaway.

More popular ideas; smaller goalie equipment, bigger nets, robot refs, ref-shaming etc.

Would any of these rules or the current NHL be good/bad for our group for the next few years?

Click to read more...

 

[AUAIOMRN]

One thing I never see discussed regarding the Oilers failed rebuild is that the rules were changed halfway through it. I believe it was during the 2011/2012 season that the league suddenly stopped calling obstruction-related penalties. The theory is that this was done to slow down the game and reduce concussions. It used to be common to get 4-5 power plays per game, now it's more like 2-3.

What would help the Oilers? Go back to calling obstruction like they did after the 2005 lockout.

 

[Stoneman89]

A 50 point head start.

 

[Lacaar]

I agree the game of hockey in the NHL is about as boring as I've ever seen it.
I agree with what everyone says about the ultra defensive systems in place. Defensive mentality. Ref's don't ref they game manage.

I just don't know what the answer is.
I still think the goalie equipment should be reduced. It fails the eye test to begin with.
I'm not convinced it's the size it is for any safety reasons. I can't see how reducing it can have any negative impact.

I do know as the goalie equipment got bigger over the years the game got less and less exciting. I think it may be coaches adapting systems to leverage amount of space goalies take up now days. Give them the outside shots. Between the shot blockers and the massive goalie gear the odds of scoring are minuscule. With smaller equipment for the goalies (hell the players too). these odds would go up. It may bring back a more aggressive defensive system that's more exciting to watch.

 

[SPIRIT]

Watching international events recently, I find myself thinking that hybrid ice is the simplest answer to the NHL's current product problem.

McDavid and Hall on that ice, hah!

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

One thing I never see discussed regarding the Oilers failed rebuild is that the rules were changed halfway through it. I believe it was during the 2011/2012 season that the league suddenly stopped calling obstruction-related penalties. The theory is that this was done to slow down the game and reduce concussions. It used to be common to get 4-5 power plays per game, now it's more like 2-3.

What would help the Oilers? Go back to calling obstruction like they did after the 2005 lockout.

If only the PP helped us.

 

[Rafters]

A really big change that will never happen.......

Once you gain the blueline , the puck has to go back over centre before you would have to gain it again, will create less forced offsides and more room to create for players to attack with speed , less ability of standing up the play at the blueline for the defence , should spread out the defenders allowing more passing lanes and dump and chase opportunities

Could go back to the full 2 min pp....and really punish a PK by not allowing icing as well...score as much as you can...much like a 5 min major now

 

[Gone]

1) ANY contact with the head is a penalty, accidental or not; and
2) Any time more than 5 skaters are on the ice, it is a penalty ... no more changing on the fly. A player has to completely leave the ice before another can get on. That would serve to open up the amount of ice, which would benefit a skating team like the Oilers.

 

[Tarus]

Making the offensive zone smaller would just push teams to clog up the neutral zone more, much like back in the dead puck era where Bowman himself turned one of the most offensively talented teams of the era into a trap team. The mentality in the league has changed as well, players are expected to shot block now(before it was a few players on each team, not all of them). Making the offensive zone smaller will just give them less space for the offensive team to work with than they already have, while simultaneously giving defenders an easier time of clogging up passing lanes and closing on puck carriers, all while still blocking shooting lanes. When in doubt about how the league will react to changes intended towards creating offense, always expect teams and coaches to just double down on conservative defensive systems.

The league needs to crack down on the real problems, not skirt around the issue anyways. The goaltending gear is too big and the nets are too small, both need to be changed to adapt to the new era of bigger and significantly more athletic players. It should help with the shotblocking plague afflicting the NHL as well as it would give offensive players more angles to shoot at, but that is an issue that needs it's own solutions as well.

Expecting the referees to sustain obstruction crackdowns(not that it actually worked or anything), fiddling with rink dimensions, powerplay rules, faceoff rules, offside rules have all been attempted, and most have failed. The game just keeps getting slower and more defensive, and will only continue to do so in an era where coaching, gear, rules, player conditioning, and overall league talent levels are significantly more advanced than they were two and three decades ago.

 

[EpSoNiight]

Big one I wanna see is the elimination of pkers simply getting pick in their zone and fire it down the ice. Make them at least get out of their zone.

 

[Replacement*]

No rule changes are necessary. Changes in imagination and poise of shooters is required.

Right now there is an imbalance of instruction. Goalies have their own coaches, teams preach system play and defending all day and its generally assumed that pro players that got this far know how to score and handle scoring opportunities all on their own.

Every game I watch dispels this latter notion. So few players will even know what to do in real time when faced with a block. So few shooters seem aware that all that is required is moving one foot either way. Or completely faking out the blocker and using him as a decoy or stepping around.

You look at a player like Gaudreau, and I hate saying this but he has grade A poise in traffic. Seeing a block/ No prob, Step around and get an even better chance to let one fly.

I'll add that present day coaching advice to shoot from anywhere isn't helping. Less and less players are hanging onto the puck and really challenging the D. We're seeing a lot of shots in the NHL but more peripheral stuff.

Final comment is that most coaches are generally more adept at defensive play than having sound offensive advice. How many star scorers go onto become successful coaches?

Right now the D side of the game is getting all the instructional focus. Offensive players really need to revisit their livelihood and start getting shooter tutor/offensive coaches as well.

 

[thadd]

Change the equipment so that it's smaller and softer.
Forwards and d-men's pads shouldn't be so hard that they're deadly weapons. Shrink them down so that they stop blocking the shots so much and at the same time forwards won't fear zone entries as much if the defending teams isn't wearing deadly weapons on their limbs.

Actually call interference
Whenever a player moves in a direction to impede the movement of a neutral player, give him a penalty. If you want to hit the puck carrier, go for it. But if you use anything other than your shoulder to his chest to slow him down, get your ass in the penalty box.

*Boom*
Magically we have goals again.

NHL doesn't want to do it, though.

Fast flowing game = harder hits = head injuries = more players pretend to forget that head injuries happen and you have issues with getting older sooner in life = players decide to sue the hell out of the NHL because being able to get paid to play out the prime years of their life as a hockey player suddenly doesn't look so awesome in the long run = NHL no money = NHL doesn't care what is fun = **** Betman!

 

[Young Lions*]

Crack down on obstruction/interference.

Eliminate the free icing for teams defending the PK.

PP doesn't end when the advantaged team scores.

Change the offside rule to allow players to precede the puck carrier into the o-zone (puck can be carried in, but not passed to the player in the zone until after it crosses the blueline)

Increase the size of the nets and decrease the size of the goalie equipment.

 

[McDraekke]

Change the equipment so that it's smaller and softer.
Forwards and d-men's pads shouldn't be so hard that they're deadly weapons. Shrink them down so that they stop blocking the shots so much and at the same time forwards won't fear zone entries as much if the defending teams isn't wearing deadly weapons on their limbs.

Reduce the protective gear so that players don't get hurt? That is a rather backwards thought process.

Not sure why people don't like shot blocking.. but if you reduced gear to stop them from blocking a shot, then unintentional shot blocking becomes a danger for injury - more so than it already is.

 

[Mowzie]

The game isn't perfect but why are people always pretending there's some type of scoring epidemic? Look at last night's scoreboard, with the exception of the Ducks vs Flames, that was a scoreboard straight out of 1985.

5-2
7-2
6-3
3-2
6-3
3-1
4-3
4-1
7-5

 

[Lacaar]

Reduce the protective gear so that players don't get hurt? That is a rather backwards thought process.

Not sure why people don't like shot blocking.. but if you reduced gear to stop them from blocking a shot, then unintentional shot blocking becomes a danger for injury - more so than it already is.

The argument is that one of the deadliest things on the ice for a player is the opposing players equipment.

I'd love to see it reduced and soften'd. But god they shoot the puck so hard now.
Make them use wooden sticks again?

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Make it a non contact sport and the Oilers would excel.

 

[Replacement*]

Reduce the protective gear so that players don't get hurt? That is a rather backwards thought process.

Not sure why people don't like shot blocking.. but if you reduced gear to stop them from blocking a shot, then unintentional shot blocking becomes a danger for injury - more so than it already is.

It isn't at all. One of the main causes of injury and that induces injury on contact is todays high epoxy resin rock hard equipment. So much harder and with no give to it than yesteryears much more flimsy equipment. Getting hit with this stuff is basically like somebody coming at you with a Ball peen hammer.

You know that a league is a stupid league that doesn't properly evaluate when it allows the use of equipment that cause more injuries than it prevents.


Another way to look at this. Rugby is the most violent sport on Earth. Not even close. With the type of play featured in the sport and the degree of physical contact you would think players drop like flies. They don't, because they don't allow any hard equipment to be used. The modicum of equipment that is used is meant to dampen blows.

 

[Tarus]

The game isn't perfect but why are people always pretending there's some type of scoring epidemic? Look at last night's scoreboard, with the exception of the Ducks vs Flames, that was a scoreboard straight out of 1985.

5-2
7-2
6-3
3-2
6-3
3-1
4-3
4-1
7-5

That's like saying the overall trend of climate change is false because it was cold outside yesterday.

Overall goalscoring has been at deadpuck era/1950s levels for a few years. The short, powerplay induced bump in scoring from the failed obstruction crackdown is now a distant 10 years ago.

 

[Young Lions*]

The game isn't perfect but why are people always pretending there's some type of scoring epidemic? Look at last night's scoreboard, with the exception of the Ducks vs Flames, that was a scoreboard straight out of 1985.

No one is pretending anything: the facts are, scoring is the lowest it's been in more than a decade regardless of one nine game sample. The average goals per game this season is 2.66. Last time it was that low was 2003-04 in the dead puck era when it was 2.57.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Ban offsides.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Ban offsides.

Bam offsides, ban physical contact, and double the size of nets.

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

Make it a non contact sport and the Oilers would excel.

Yup, they would be a pretty good shinny team. It's the physical play and intimidation that pretty much neutralizes them.

 

[TheRebuild]

Not to pile on the refs (I firmly believe they call the game the way the league tells them to), but on-ice officiating has absolutely gutted the game. It's a ****ing shame too, because there are some great players in the league.

 

[BlackDogg]

Points for moral victories.