Changes to NHL gameplay/Teams moving to Canada

[U2Fan101]

The NHL Research and Development is in day three of their gameplay changes. Junior, college and 1 minor player are practicing them out to see if the changes will take place.

These are the changes being worked on :

Obstruction (strong enforcement).
Tag up offside rule.
Hurry-up faceoff.
No touch icing with the following exceptions: an attempted pass or a pinching defenseman.
No line changes for team that has just iced the puck.
Smaller goalie equipment.
Offensive team sets up second (instead of defensive team) on faceoffs.
No subs on off-setting penalties.
Each game will have three, 15-minute periods. Once concluded, there will be an additional five minutes of 4-on-4 followed by five more minutes of 3-on-3, which is then concluded by a five-man shootout.


Also, according to last week's Kiplinger letter which if you don't know is a financial market analysis that comes out of DC every week, predicts that that when the NHL comes back on, some teams will move or move back to Canada because the Canadian dollar is much stronger than here in the states. Kiplinger is very very very rarely wrong with their predictions. They predict how bills will pass before they really do.

 

[Achtung Joshua!]

I hope Winnipeg and Quebec get teams again.
And I really hope Pittsburgh stays in Pittsburgh.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Each game will have three, 15-minute periods. Once concluded, there will be an additional five minutes of 4-on-4 followed by five more minutes of 3-on-3, which is then concluded by a five-man shootout.

Meh. Sounds bloody stupid to me.

But great news on teams moving back to Canada! If only the Avalanche would disband and come back as the Nordiques. It wouldn't happen, but it would still be cool to have another team in Quebec again. AND BRING BACK THE JETS!

 

[U2Fan101]

Amen to that! People here in the US think that Canada ruined hockey and all teams should move to the US. People in Canada think that America ruined hockey. Me, as an american, I think our country has ruined the sport. I think it would be very helpful for the league especially with it starting up this fall, to move some teams back to Canada and help promote the league more.

 

[trevster2k]

I think that the NHL has ruined the sport, not any particular country. The executives in the NHL and the owners with support from the NHLPA have been trying to tap the huge US market for revenue. Unfortunately, there attempts have been at the expense of the game.

In general, most Americans have grown up with a love for baseball and football, (jeez, fridays-high school football, saturday-college football, sunday- professional football) while here in Canada we have generally grown up with a love for hockey. Although there are fans of baseball and football in Canada, we are not even close to the level of support for these sports in the US just as the support for hockey in the US is not close to the level in Canada. It is a cultural difference. To simplify it, most North Americans don't give a crap about the World Cup except for citizens with ties to other countries in the world despite the fact that soccer is the most popular game in the world except for North America. Why, because it isn't something we have cherished and embraced as a part of our lives and identity. Hockey is a key facet of Canada's identity just as baseball and football are the face of American sports.
Go out and try to convert cat lovers and dog lovers and see how successful you are. You might get a few takers but most have one true love.

One exception to getting attention in the US or Canada is winning. When the Jays won their World Series' in 92 and 93, baseball was popular in Canada. Just as popularity of hockey increases in cities which have Stanley Cup winning teams in the US.

Based on previous attempts to clean up the game in past years, I expect a month of crackdowns followed by progressive leniency until it's back to the old ways again. Especially with the obstruction and hurry up faceoff which have been tried already to no avail. That last line about 15min periods, 4-4, 3-3 is the most dumbass concept I have ever heard yet.

As far as I'm concerned the NHL has been displaced by NASCAR as the fourth Major League Sport in North America. I probably will watch eventually but I will boycott them for a while because they don't deserve my time or money due to the recent and continuing debacle. The only thing they understand is money and you know who pays their bills, we do. If we hesitate to run back to their arenas, maybe they will get the message that we don't need hockey as badly as they think we do.