My comments on the article:
1. Fix standing & kill loser point - Agree. Anything is better than the current system. However, the only thing worse than loser points is giving no points at all to the loser of a shootout. My solution, kill the loser point, kill the shootout, 3 point wins, and 1 point ties. Play either 10 minutes of 4 on 4 OT, or 5 minutes 4 on 4 + 5 minutes 3 on 3 (with only one Dman allowed on the ice per team).
2. Loose the puck over glass penalty - I completely agree. Penalize this the same way icing is called. It’s embarrassing when in Playoff OT, obvious interference is ignored, but then an accidental puck over the glass is called every time.
3. Hybrid Icing. – Completely Agree. Play is blown dead, unless the “chasing” forward is clearly ahead in the race.
4. Diving – Completely agree on all points. Do whatever it takes to get rid of it. The media/commentators should mock players who do it, not call it “part of the game”. Dives as obvious as the ones linked in the article shouldn’t be a 2 minute penalty, they should be 5 minutes, game misconduct, and suspension. Allow coaches challenges for one’s like the linked Carcillo one. Coach could challenge the call, it would be reviewed, then Carcillo would be given 5 and a game.
5. Bettman Cup Presentations – I don’t know why it shouldn’t be done by the commissioner. Bettman won’t do presentations any longer after he is eventually replaced.
6. Make the nets bigger. – I wouldn’t do this.
7. Draft Position Changes – I think that the proposed system is a good starting point, but it clearly needs work. Teams can be realistically eliminated a long time before they are officially eliminated. Also, since quite a few teams could be mathematically eliminated with only a game or two left, there could be high variance between how many points each of those teams earned vs how much they actually tried to win their remaining games. Idea needs work, but the current system needs work too.
8. Redefine Late hits – I don’t think that this has been a problem, you generally have a consensus on whether a hit is late. Other parts of a certain hit might be more controversial.
9. Instigators and Fighting – mostly agree with the article. I might make the cutoff 8 fights, maybe 5 fights.
10. Crossover Final – I like the idea of regional rival finals being allowed to happen. However, the given examples are unlikely to happen even with the rule change he listed. Boston and Montreal are in the same division, and the only way that they could potentially meet in a final is to have one of them crossover into the other division’s playoffs, which would require one of them to be 4th or 5th in their own division, and then, win three rounds of the playoffs. It’s quite unlikely to happen even with the change. Still, it’s not a bad idea to implement.
11. Obstruction Rules – Agree that it’s not being called very much again. My solution, call it strictly, but have a zone in front of the net where more stuff would be allowed to go on, sort of like the key in basketball. This would still allow tough defensemen to move players out of that zone.
12. Ref Mics – not an issue to me.
13. Redesign Moratorium – agree.
14. Home whites – doesn’t really matter to me. Perhaps do home whites for the first half of the season, and home darks the second half.
15. Home and Homes – I like this idea.
16. Smaller goalie equipment. – equipment should be for protection only, not for covering more of the net. Pads don’t need to come a foot above the knee. Goalies shouldn’t be able to go into the butterfly, and literally block the entire ice level width of the net.
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