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Suggestions to "fix" the NHL? Give your thoughts.

I know someone who works with a guy in the NHLPA.

Post some good suggestions about how to FIX the NHL and it's problems and I will email him the thread.

Probably won't help the current CBA dispute but I will do it in the hope of helping.

Hockey fans and non-hockey fans can post...I want to hear from all.

Comments

  • kuhlmannkuhlmann Posts: 3,326 ✭✭
    give in to the salary cap. bc if owners hold out long enough you guys will be looking for jobs that pay under 100k!
  • (1) hard salary cap
    (2) Absolutely NO TIES ever! (do a shoot-off or whatever, but no ties)
    (3) bigger rink
    (4) bigger goal and smaller goalie pads
    (5) heavy penalties for fighting
    (6) no more "goons" who serve no purpose other than to disable other players

    People will enjoy seeing a 10-9 game come down to the wire with Gretzky style of skills and scoring......people love to see scoring.

    0-0 is bad for business.
  • KnucklesKnuckles Posts: 2,512 ✭✭✭
    I don't think the guy you know will like what I have to say... but anyway..

    image
    One of these things is not like the other..
    image

    - Larger nets or more strict rules on the size of goalie equipment.

    - The NHL should have forced the cap months ago and still should now... Don't bother wasting anymore time with the negotiations with the NHLPA. Time to get replacement players from the minors and other leagues. If the current players who are against the cap would rather play in Europe for far less than they would make with a cap let the stubborn babies rot there or let them retire early.. Who needs them.

    - Get rid of half of the teams in the league (no Canadian teams) If anything move some teams to Canada... the Devils to Winnipeg.

    That's all I can think of right now. I had 3 hours of sleep image
    image
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    The Devils Stay in Jersey.
    Good for you.
  • yawie99yawie99 Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    They definitely need to open the game back up. I don't know if the answer is larger rink size, a crackdown on clutching and grabbing, restrictions on goalie equipment, elimination of the center red line, or what, but way too many NHL games are now unwatchable. And I'm with Knuckles: I almost hope the labor impasse lasts so long that a few franchises bite the dust. Would anybody mourn the demise of, say, the Mighty Ducks?
    imageimageimageimageimageimage
  • I know this is way out into left field, but I've always felt to make the league better how about this--you have 6 divisions with 4 teams per division. Get rid of 6 current teams and move Carolina to Winnipeg and Nashville to Quebec (or just get rid of those 2 American teams). So you now have 2 All-Canadian divisions, the west and the east, along with 4 divisions made up of strictly U.S based teams. The big thing here though is to grandfather in a clause where only the Canadian based teams can draft Canadian players--the U.S based teams get the rest of the world! I know it sounds extreme, but International Tournaments would be unbelievable with this and it would definitely get more Americans involved in the sport!!! On top of that yes, there HAS to be a CAP, and there have to be more penalties called for obstruction--THIS CAN'T BE IGNORED. There is no trap system without obstruction. If the player without the puck is impeded in any way to the goal that's a penalty, plain and simple. I don't understand how a player who isn't even involved in the play is just held against the boards and that's O.K--this has been going on for years! Those are the biggies, goons will never be out of hockey because if they did kick em all out there would be one or 2 GM's that would bring them back anyways and it would just start again--that's not going to happen
    Goalie pads are too big as well but I can't see them making the nets bigger--that's a tough one though because a guy who's 6'2 shouldn't be wearing the same sized pads as a guy who's 5'7.
    Jay
  • get rid of it. make it an international league of some kind. there are way too many teams in terrible terrible hockey markets. Move more teams or all to canada except the big markets (detroit,boston,stl,La,new york,new jersey)
    Looking to Trade and Buy Tony Romo GU/Autos/RCS

  • I agree on the need for rule changes to make the game more exciting and attractive for the fans, but at the moment it looks like a purely business decision will save the league and the teams.

    Reduce the number of teams and move some of the remaining teams to cities that are guaranteed to support a hockey team. Don't put an NHL team in a city just because it doesn't have the NFL or NBA thinking that they will support any sport. Some people just don't like hockey.

    This is beginning to trickle down and affect the game itself. Case in point -

    I live in Ft. Myers, Florida. The owners of the Carolina Hurricanes started an ECHL franchise, Florida Everblades, about 6 years ago. They also built an own the arena they play in. The teams actively supports the community and in turn is financially successful. Many people who spend their winters here like hockey since they come from up north. Tickets are cheap and the play is good. Due to the NHL lock out the team and arena are being sold to help the owners hold on until the situation improves. Hopefully the Hurricanes will still preseason here and help bring soe NHL flavor to our area.

    Make the game more attractive to ticket buyers, and have the sense to market your sport in pro-hockey areas.

  • DOs:
    1) Salary cap - will help, but I'm unsure if it is THE answer that NHL executives want us to believe. A properly structured luxury tax could be just as effective.
    2) Reduce roster sizes - get rid of 3 or 4 players on each team. This would increase the ice-time of the skill players we all want to watch, and should reduce clutch'n'grab tactics without all those unskilled 4th-line grinders. Fighting should also decline, as it would make less sense to fill up a roster spot with a goon.
    3) Implement shootouts and award 3 points for a regulation time win - get rid of regular season overtime and replace with a shootout. Award 3 points for an outright win, 2 for a shootout win, 1 for a shoutout loss and 0 for an outright loss. This will encourage teams to be more offense-minded during regulation time; too many boring teams like Minnesota are playing for the tie. For the logically-minded, this rule will also eliminate the current discrepancy that some games are worth 3 points and others only 2; all games would have the same three points up for grabs.
    3) Move the goal line back to where it was - you can't score from behind the net
    4) Reduce the size of goalie pads - the NHL's real problem is not lack of scoring but lack of scoring chances; however, netminders are getting away with ridiculous amounts of padding. You can't tell me JS Giguere would have been as successful in the 2003 playoffs if he was wearing pads like Ken Dryden used to wear.
    5) Automatic ejection for fighting - I enjoy a good fight, but this simple rule, already used in Canadain junior hockey, would prevent a simple scuffle from devolving into a full-blown brawl
    6) Call obstruction - THE RULES ARE THERE ALREADY. The NHL just needs to get the referees used to calling obstruction consistently, rather than for the first two months of each season.

    DON'Ts:
    1) Enlarge the ice surface - if obstruction is called properly, this should not be an issue. I recently heard an interview with Markus Naslund, a Swede, who stated he prefers the NHL ice because you can score from anywhere in the offensize zone. The international ice suface is so big that there are dead zones where nothing happens.
    2) Enlarge the goal - as I mentioned above, scoring is not the the problem with NHL hockey. This would solve nothing.
    3) Contract teams - Maybe move some teams (as a Canadian I would certainly endorse moves back to Winnipeg and Quebec), but given the above DOs, the NHL should have a chance to grow the sport and become successful in non-traditional markets. All that is required is time and patience.
  • Thanks to all! Won't matter now, the season is over for sure, but thanks anyway!
  • 1. Get rid of 6 teams
    2. Re-align the divisions.
    3. Back to the old names
    4. Salary Cap
    5. Restrict size of Goalie Pads.
    6. New Commissioner (get rid of the basketball guy)
    7. Move NHL office back to Toronto
    8. What about having two red lines instead of one? That way you still have a two line pass but increase the size of the zone allowing for longer breakout passes.


    Wales

    Patrick
    Philly
    New York
    New York
    Washington
    New Jersey
    Pittsburgh

    Adams
    Boston
    Montreal
    Tampa Bay
    Buffalo
    Carolina
    Ottawa


    Campbell

    Norris
    Minnesota
    Toronto
    Dallas
    Detroit
    St. Louis
    Chicago

    Smythe
    Edmonton
    Calgary
    Vancouver
    Colorado
    Los Angeles
    San Jose

    Gone: Anaheim, Phoenix, Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville and Florida. 120 more guys among the 24 teams should increase the talent.
  • Brian48Brian48 Posts: 2,624 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Suggestions to "fix" the NHL? >>



    Flush it down the toilet. Screw 'em.
  • You can't fix hockey no one has ever cared a bout the sport. Soccer in America and the Areana Football Leauge get more respect. Just let the sport die!


  • << <i>You can't fix hockey no one has ever cared a bout the sport. >>



    Outside if a handul of locations I agree with this. People in Canada, East, Northeast and the Midwest do care. Hockey is too much of a regional sport. No matter how hard they try to make it a national sport it won't work. Accept the fact that its regional and move on. No more franchises in Columbus, Phoenix, Nashville etc.

  • yawie99yawie99 Posts: 2,575 ✭✭✭
    exactly. the nhl needs to give up its delusions of being a major sport in the u.s. and embrace its cult status here. the marketing whizzes at A-B understand this so well with their mullet-headed hockey falls guys. i hate A-B, but i love those commercials. they're hockey. gary bettman trying to turn the game into the next nba is not.
    imageimageimageimageimageimage


  • << <i>You can't fix hockey no one has ever cared a bout the sport. Soccer in America and the Areana Football Leauge get more respect. Just let the sport die! >>




    There's about a million people in Massachusetts that disagree! If Bobby Orr ran for Govenor he'd win by a landslide and it's 30+ years after he made Boston a hockey town.

    Bob
    57 Topps (83%) 7.61
    61 Topps (100%) 7.96
    62 Parkhurst (100%) 8.70
    63 Topps (100%) 7.96
    63 York WB's (50%) 8.52
    68 Topps (39%) 8.54
    69 Topps (3%) 9.00
    69 OPC (83%) 8.21
    71 Topps (100%) 9.21 #1 A.T.F.
    72 Topps (100%) 9.39
    73 Topps (13%) 9.35
    74 OPC WHA (95%) 8.57
    75 Topps (50%) 9.23
    77 OPC WHA (86%) 8.62 #1 A.T.F.
    88 Topps (5%) 10.00


  • << <i>1. Get rid of 6 teams
    2. Re-align the divisions.
    3. Back to the old names
    4. Salary Cap
    5. Restrict size of Goalie Pads.
    6. New Commissioner (get rid of the basketball guy)
    7. Move NHL office back to Toronto
    8. What about having two red lines instead of one? That way you still have a two line pass but increase the size of the zone allowing for longer breakout passes. >>


    this could work...and they aren't even talking about this stuff......their current product is garbage....complete garbage
  • 1. Salary roll back
    2. Salary cap
    3. With cap in place, expand the revenue sharing, and let 4 to 6 franchises move back to Canada ( & Portland)....
    Or reduce the size completely by 6 teams or so.

    Dan
    The first person in the PSA universe to complete the 1969 OPC
    Hockey set! Always looking to buy, trade or upgrade 1966 Topps to 1969 OPC.
  • Well when global warming takes over, Hockey will be popular in states other than Minnesota. So its just a matter of what, 10,000 years?

    I like the no ties, ever rule, sudden death hockey is watchable. Smaller pads, larger goal. More fights. Cheerleaders on ice!
    Am I speaking Chinese?



    image
  • Restructure the playoff system so the regular season isn't totally meaningless.

    Eliminate about ten franchises in warm weather cities like Phoenix, Anaheim, etc.

    While you're at it, eliminate the center red-line to open the game up some.



  • << <i>

    << <i>You can't fix hockey no one has ever cared a bout the sport. >>



    Outside if a handul of locations I agree with this. People in Canada, East, Northeast and the Midwest do care. Hockey is too much of a regional sport. No matter how hard they try to make it a national sport it won't work. Accept the fact that its regional and move on. No more franchises in Columbus, Phoenix, Nashville etc. >>



    I agree. Expansion to the south has been a big failure. Tampa could care less about the Stanley Cup. The Canes made the finals but the fan support was short lived. They sucked in Hartford and still got more fans than the winning Carolina teams.

    Move all the southern teams back to the regions that will support them, and have the players live within the means of the revenue streams (i.e. salary cap). I do not see the salary cap making paupers out of NBA and NFL players!!!
  • Get rid of fighting and make the rules similar to those of the Olympics. Olympic hockey is great to watch.
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