Welcome to the Hotstove! As always, I'm your host, Travis Yost.

Earlier this off-season, the National Hockey League agreed to temporarily implement hybrid icing during the 2013-2014 preseason, with the hope being that if the test-period goes well, the league could formally adopt it as a permanent rule change.

The league has been concerned about the dangers of their current icing format, which forces a player to touch-up in his own-end to earn the icing call. Such rushes have led to a number of ugly collisions (incl. Carolina's Joni Pitkanen), as the opposition scrambles into the offensive-end to try and beat the call.

Hybrid icing comes in as a midpoint of sorts between touch-icing and no-touch icing. NHL.com explains it as follows:

Hybrid icing is a mixture of touch and no-touch icing. It gives a linesman the discretion to blow his whistle and stop the play if he believes a defending player will reach the puck first.

If the linesman believes the attacking player has a chance to reach the puck first, he keeps his whistle in his pocket and lets the race to the puck play out.

The linesman always will side with the defending player and blow his whistle if he feels the race is a tie by the time the players reach the faceoff dots.

The idea is that the new rule will not curtail teams from trying to beat icing calls, while still protecting defensemen from unnecessary and futile charges that could result in player injury.

Are you in favor of the change? Let us know in the comments below.

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