How would you “fix” the NHL

[Chungo2]

I loved hockey back in the 90’s and early 2000’s and as I got older, the game is definitely not as much fun to watch and I have more excitement for the NFL. After watching movies like Ice Guardians, you can see the game isn’t the same.

Just curious, if given control over the NHL what would be your priorities?

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[Patrik Barkov]

"Fix" as in go back to legal head hunting hits and staged fights?

 

[Nut Upstrom]

Fire every executive and start over. Hire a diverse collection of hockey people who will not hire and rehire the same "ole boys" who have been running this sport for so long.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I'd just not change anything for at least a decade. Give teams, players, refs and fans a chance to settle into some kind of routine that can be relied on and become somewhat predictable. Half of the issues every year I feel like arise from the league constantly tinkering with the rules and so nobody has a chance to adapt as nobody ever knows what to expect.

 

[dukeofjive]

Salary tax, rich teams are already bankrolling the league, why not add more money

New crop of refs

Playoffs penalty calling from pre season to Stanley cup finals.

 

[SI90]

Let Eichle have his surgery

 

[cleanfront]

Running of the Bears every intermission. Get 2 polar bears and 10 lucky fans out on the ice and let the hilarity ensue. Fans that make it to the penalty box win.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Widen the rinks by 6ft

 

[Chipdagger]

Go back to playing your division teams 6-8 times. Each team allowed to have 1or 2 franchise players they don’t count against the salary cap.

 

[AvroArrow]

Make goalies wear their actual size equipment, not 5XL so they cover the entire net

Remove the salary cap since teams are just abusing it anyways

 

[Dolemite]

Market. Players. In. All. Markets.

 

[Reaser]

There's nothing wrong with the NHL. Which has long been the problem. Since I've been watching, late 80s to current, every year it's "how to fix the NHL" and constant changes, most unnecessary or gimmicky, over-expansion (in my opinion) which generally make the sport and league worse, but overall I'd just prefer they stop trying to "fix" things and let it be since it's decent enough, as is. Not going to go backwards (make it better) and any future changes are almost guaranteed to make things worse so ... let it be.

I do always think about how the 1992-93 season was the best in my lifetime and arguably the best in NHL history, and it was the ONLY season as a 24-team league, four divisions of six, etc. Perfect amount of teams. Playoff format made sense. Conferences made sense. Divisions and division names made sense (though hypothetically would move Jets to Norris and TB would have been Colorado and in the Smythe in an alternate universe), rules made sense. If there was a point in my lifetime where I could have just paused the league and league structure/format, it would have been then. Twas perfect.

Even the following season, despite unnecessary expansion to a 26-team league, was great. NHL/hockey had all the momentum, so naturally was time for a lockout ...

 

[Machinehead]

I would do some kind of salary cap but not this f***ing one!

 

[holy]

I’d pay the referees to let my team win every year. This is about fixing games right?

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Luxury tax.

Let teams go over the hard cap to sign any player that was on their roster BEFORE the trade deadline. For the privilege, they pay luxury tax based on the amount they've gone over.

Any other player (UFAs) or trade deadline acquisitions have to remain under the hard cap. This ensures rich teams don't go crazy signing everyone from the free agency pool cause they're owned by billionaires.

Right now, teams are literally putting in the hard work, building up players, and then losing them because they get priced out. It's happening to all teams including the "poor" ones that are being protected by a hard cap.

It takes away the idea of building a homegrown team and turns it into a game of counting pennies.

I 100% agree teams shouldn't start accumulating players left, right, and center. But there has to be more leeway to retain your own players and the "8-year term" is not good enough because most players want more money faster.

 

[Varan]

I've always thought that the game has become way too congested to the point where there is no room to work with on the ice, and the game turns into a contest of who can deflect their shots the best from the point. The players are too big, the equipment is too large, the nets are too small, and the rink is too small. It's hard to watch at times.

I'd say make it 4v4 (not counting the goalie):

• 1 center
• 1 winger (central winger, can play either side of the ice)
• 2 defensemen

Widen the rinks to IIHF size AND increase net size.

That way, this helps the more skilled players dominate and showcase why they are who they are, and you will take out a significant amount of "luck" attached to the sport. It will shift more towards skill/talent vs. variance/parity. The best teams will usually win in this case.

 

[Rich Nixon]

nix Bettman

 

[dahrougem2]

Call the game using the actual rulebook and force the refs to stop pretending it doesn't exist half the time.

 

[Sniper99]

Season starts 1st or 2nd week of September, Finals end in May.
Arizona moves to Quebec City Sorry Coyotes fans, all 10 of you, its just not working out in the desert
Outdoor games are still a thing, just not in ridiculous locations i.e. Dodgers Stadium
Trapezoid comes out, goalies can come out, dont be afraid to give and take a hit.

 

[Jugitsu]

Make goalies wear their actual size equipment, not 5XL so they cover the entire net

Remove the salary cap since teams are just abusing it anyways

I wonder why a Leafs fan would be an advocate of removing the salary cap.

 

[Chungo2]

First priority would be to fix the salary cap to reflect state and provincial taxes to make it fair.

Second priority would be to either allow players to self-police with fighters but more likely to add refs in the stands that call penalties. The game is way to quick for two refs at a 5 ft view and prevents consistency in my opinion. It’s become a rat-league.

Third priority would be to change the 8 team conferences to 4 team divisions, which is what I suspect they are doing. Have the 1st place team from each 8 divisions go through with 8 wildcard spots total.

 

[Eisen]

All teams have 3 lines only, expand the team to adjust for it
No conferences, each team plays all the others twice, one home, one away
One less PO round
Higher goals
Call the game by the letter!
Worst team drafts first

 

[RC51]

unified salary tax, or in other words, same tax rates for ALL nhl teams. if governments dont agree then NHL can adjust all teams to a a standard nhl transfer system. AS in a rich Canadian team pays a big payment to the nhl to help poor teams. lower that amount to even out the different salary tax for different states and countries. the entire idea is to have a total even playing field for ALL Teams. Yes you cant fix the sunny palm trees vs the cold frozen winter but heck can the money be even at least.

 

[IceColdBear]

If something is a penalty in the regular season, it should be a penalty in the playoffs - arbitrarily calling things differently is ridiculous.

 

[Bedards Dad]

I loved hockey back in the 90’s and early 2000’s and as I got older, the game is definitely not as much fun to watch and I have more excitement for the NFL. After watching movies like Ice Guardians, you can see the game isn’t the same.

Just curious, if given control over the NHL what would be your priorities?

Nostalgia is your issue, not everyone else's.