Paul Stewart: NHL Rule Changes: Short-Sighted and Reactive

The rule changes, the shootouts, the lack of great rivalries, it’s already ruined. IMO, the game peaked in the 80s. The hockey was fast and exciting. We had tons of supremely skilled players strutting their stuff, but we also had hard fought physical play and if a fight broke out now and then, even better.

Edmonton vs Calgary, Philly vs New York, and of course Montreal vs Quebec: the rivalries were epic! Add to that Gretzky, Lemieux, Bourque, Coffey, Stastny, Kurri, Mark Howe, Messier, plus you still had great vets like Potvin, Lanny McDonald and Larry Robinson and exciting kids like Steve Yzerman breaking in.

The era from the early 80s thru the early 90s was as good as hockey gets. I miss those days.

Ageed, Paul!!

Well said, BiggE!!👍

Yep, every year it’s tweak, tweak, tweak the rules, but most of the time it’s been to speed up the game or create more offense.

I guess we’ll have to see how this goes. They may need to enforce the ‘quick faceoff’ rule again to counter all the delays.

The rule changes, the shootouts, the lack of great rivalries, it’s already ruined. IMO, the game peaked in the 80s. The hockey was fast and exciting. We had tons of supremely skilled players strutting their stuff, but we also had hard fought physical play and if a fight broke out now and then, even better.

Edmonton vs Calgary, Philly vs New York, and of course Montreal vs Quebec: the rivalries were epic! Add to that Gretzky, Lemieux, Bourque, Coffey, Stastny, Kurri, Mark Howe, Messier, plus you still had great vets like Potvin, Lanny McDonald and Larry Robinson and exciting kids like Steve Yzerman breaking in.

The era from the early 80s thru the early 90s was as good as hockey gets. I miss those days.
- BiggE

Agreed.

Bring back the red line and make 2 line passes illegal again, and get rid of the instigator penalty.

Those 2 rule changes began the downfall.

Wasn't the original rule on icing to allow for attempted passes to NOT be called icing? If the refs were allowed to call the play as I remember it from the 70's that would eliminate more stoppages and keep the flow going. Why was this part changed, again slowing the games down.

Agreed.

Bring back the red line and make 2 line passes illegal again, and get rid of the instigator penalty.

Those 2 rule changes began the downfall.
- Shrike

I like it!!

It would also bring down the number of open ice concussions, as there would be less speed through the neutral zone.

If they are going to do so much review, there really ought to be some sort of video review judge. An off-ice person could start looking as soon something occurs - you might not even have to stop play some of the time. A player thinks he scored, everyone in the building thinks he scored - but the ref waves no goal, play continues. The video judge could look verify the call on the ice, tell the refs play should continue or tell them blow the play dead we missed one here. If there is a major the video judge, could look, while the on-ice officals are signaling for a delayed penalty.

If they are going to do so much review, there really ought to be some sort of video review judge. An off-ice person could start looking as soon something occurs - you might not even have to stop play some of the time. A player thinks he scored, everyone in the building thinks he scored - but the ref waves no goal, play continues. The video judge could look verify the call on the ice, tell the refs play should continue or tell them blow the play dead we missed one here. If there is a major the video judge, could look, while the on-ice officals are signaling for a delayed penalty.
- CaptainInsano77

Nice blog.

My thoughts on video review of goals. You get four or six off-ice officials that have video access to all games. They are not in contact with one another. Two are randomly chosen to review a goal with replays that extend a maximum of 10 seconds prior to the goal. They have a maximum of 60 seconds to vote to agree/disagree with the on ice ruling. If one of the two votes to agree, the on-ice ruling stands. Goals in the last two minutes of games with a 2 goal or less advantage and OT are automatically reviewed,
otherwise it is a coach's challenge. The intent is to correct obvious mistakes, not microscopic ones.

The problem is not just rules, it's media and fans. Everyone wants perfection, at least as they see it for their team, and we expect refs to be perfect. We don't demand perfection from players, but we do from officials who are just human too. And since officials have power and authority on the ice they are targets from media and fans.
.

So, supposedly the solution is to use the great God named Technology to fix the imperfections, but it can't do it either, and it takes time to try and find answers. So you write rules to minutely cover every siutation, but you can't do that successfully either.

Life isn't perfect, neither are sports. People need to stop looking for perfection that never happens and enjoy what they see. And not bet so much $$$$ on the outcome of games a missed call ruins their enjoyment of sport.

The rule changes, the shootouts, the lack of great rivalries, it’s already ruined. IMO, the game peaked in the 80s. The hockey was fast and exciting. We had tons of supremely skilled players strutting their stuff, but we also had hard fought physical play and if a fight broke out now and then, even better.

Edmonton vs Calgary, Philly vs New York, and of course Montreal vs Quebec: the rivalries were epic! Add to that Gretzky, Lemieux, Bourque, Coffey, Stastny, Kurri, Mark Howe, Messier, plus you still had great vets like Potvin, Lanny McDonald and Larry Robinson and exciting kids like Steve Yzerman breaking in.

The era from the early 80s thru the early 90s was as good as hockey gets. I miss those days.
- BiggE

I agree and I always love watching those games on replay nowadays. People that say how much faster the game is now and better; I don't agree with. That is what is so awesome about our sport; the option placed on each player to use their brains, beyond physical ability differences

Agreed.

Bring back the red line and make 2 line passes illegal again, and get rid of the instigator penalty.

Those 2 rule changes began the downfall.
- Shrike

OMG no. Bring back the slog through the neutral zone? It would drastically slow the speed of the game.

OMG no. Bring back the slog through the neutral zone? It would drastically slow the speed of the game.
- scottak

Disagree!

Guys speed through the neutral zone, and once they get hit, their head snaps back, and viola, a magor penalty, and the guy gets hurt! You can’t even hit anyone anymore! I’ll take the Scott Stevens and Eric Lindros hits over this crap any day! The game was much more exciting when a player had to pay for shenanigans. Today’s game is sterile. The hate and the passion are gone!

What type of review period does the NHL have on rulea changes? I assume none based on how consistently they screw up. If they really wanted to do it right they should list a series of proposed changes, have an open comment period for real hockey people (current and form refs, coaches, players, and even media members etc) to raise exactly these type of issues, then make a fully informed decision.

Or, as a Plan B, hire Paul Stewart to do it for them.

What type of review period does the NHL have on rulea changes? I assume none based on how consistently they screw up. If they really wanted to do it right they should list a series of proposed changes, have an open comment period for real hockey people (current and form refs, coaches, players, and even media members etc) to raise exactly these type of issues, then make a fully informed decision.

Or, as a Plan B, hire Paul Stewart to do it for them.
- cjp2112

Don’t come here and offer common sense. It won’t be tolerated!!