Hotstove: Overtime Changes Coming?

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

On Tuesday at the National Hockey League's GM meetings, a wide variety of topics were addressed, including fighting, hybrid icing, bullying/hazing, and potential tweaks to the NHL's new playoff format.

The topic that apparently garnered the most attention and discussion, however, dealt with the current overtime format. The NHL's been toying with ways to mitigate the importance of the shootout over the last couple of years, and a number of executives have introduced alternatives that the league's apparently taking very seriously.

Darren Dreger added this after the meetings broke:

CBC elaborated on the discussion a bit, citing the following:

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland's idea to extend overtime to 10 minutes got serious discussion. He wants four-on-four for five minutes and then three-on-three for another five, while Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues and others want simply 10 minutes of four-on-four.

To my eye, it does appear that the league is, in some way, going to move away from the current setup (i.e. five minutes of four-on-four hockey; shootout) before the start of next season. And, we'll likely hear about an official change proposal during the next round of discussions in March.

The question that remains unanswered: what is the best way of approaching this? The two proposals that are apparently gaining the most steam include extending the length of overtime to seven - ten minutes, giving both sides a bit more time on the shot-clock to avoid the shootout and end the game at even-strength.

The other option is one brought forth by Ken Holland, calling for three-on-three hockey. If you recall, this option was tested in Traverse City during the prospects tournament, and received excellent reviews.

At the time of the Traverse City tournament, ESPN's Craig Custance wrote a bit about the movement behind three-on-three:

The comments from his fellow executives echo conversations Holland has had in private. There's an appetite among the decision-makers in the NHL to change the current overtime solution. The biggest reason is that parity has made things so tight around the NHL that one point can make or break a playoff berth. More GMs would prefer that the deciding playoff spots be earned by something more closely resembling hockey, rather than points gathered by winning shootouts.

It's safe to say he'll be making his proposal again this year at the GM meetings. Now there is momentum building for it...

It does appear that a change is coming. If you're a league executive with a say, would you prefer to extend the four-on-four option, or move to the more wide-open three-on-three brand of overtime prior to the shootout competition?

Poll below, and drop your opinion in the comments.

Thanks for reading!