Eliminate The Red Line!
...changes, without removing the red-line, could be made to help the game become more enjoyable. Many say the NHL should increase the rink size from what the teams are playing on now to the Olympic-sized sheet of ice. On an Olympic rink, there is more room behind the nets and in the corners, and the rink is much wider across. Changing to this size would allow for more creative playmaking. With the players as big as they are now, with 6-feet 4-inches no longer being considered "huge", opening up some more space would allow for less congested play in the offensive and defensive zones which would help the game of hockey drastically. Problems with the change in ice size, is they will have to take out seating from the lower half of the arenas, which will lead to less seats, less revenue, and less happy owners. Another problem of the larger ice size, is when players miss a shot on goal and it wraps around the boards, it will carry out of the zone and take away from offensive opportunities. With the smaller size of ice the NHL has now, it is easier to keep the puck in the offensive zone and create goal scoring chances. Another change people feel could be made is to make the NHL play a four-on-four style of hockey. Right now full strength is played five-on-five, with four-on-four occurring with penalties and overtime. Four-on-four will create problems because there will be many players eliminated from the league and slower skaters will have no value in the market. A final idea to change, in the NHL, is to make the goalies’ equipment smaller. Over the years, the goalies have begun to wear really large padding that takes up a lot of space in defending the goal. Some goalies wear extra large jerseys to cut down angles and open-net space. When looking at goalies of the past and goalies now, the pad size is totally different. Meanwhile, the size of the goal has remained the same over the years. The changing of pad size is the most possible change that could occur, but doesn’t seem likely in the foreseeable future. Many of those suggestions are great ideas, but some could never be possible because of the reasons I stated. The only reasonable change that could be created is putting a stop to the two-line pass rule. I believe eliminating this rule will help the NHL in many considerable ways. By getting rid of the red-line, it will open up the game to a more offensive style of hockey. It will prevent defensive neutral zone “traps” that slow the speed down and cause many whistles. The new change will also keep “goons”, whose only attributes are hitting and getting penalties, from being on the ice. It gives the elite players a chance to show their skills. It will open the speed of the NHL up to an exciting level. Players will be able to execute more passes, from all angles of the ice. These passes will lead to more breakaways on goal and goal scoring opportunities. It will give the faster players in the league a chance to excel and show what they are capable of. Although it will be harder on goalies, because of the increased goal scoring opportunities, it will give the better goalies in the league a chance to shine. The flow of the game will go from a slow pace to a much faster pace. Another positive factor with the removal of the red-line will cause players to make line changes more accurately. When a team goes to change players on the fly (while the play is going on), they will have to be careful and make sure they change at the correct time. If they mess up by coming off the ice too soon, a long pass might lead to a goal scoring opportunity. This is also another way the game will be opened up without the red-line. While the improved rule may cause extra stoppages of play, most of them will be eliminated. Players will go off-sides a lot less because they won’t have to wait until their teammate crosses the red-line to make a pass leading him into the zone. They also will not be able to trap the puck along the side boards with multiple players, which will cause a great number of whistles. If they do trap the puck, it will leave other players open down the ice, ready to receive long passes. Olympic and College hockey plays without a two-line pass, and the flow of those games are much faster than the NHL. Although the Olympic ice surface is larger, the fact that there is no red-line is noticeable. In college hockey, even though the players’ skill level does not compare to...