4-4 would make the game faster and the contact more devastating. I'm not in favour of that. Widening the ice I think would contribute to more offence because it would be more difficult to sit at the blueline, but I could also see increased charging penalties as guys hustle more to remain in position.
The ideal solution is just have the officials enforce a stricter brand of obstruction as used to be the case when they first changed the rules.
'Game Management' is surel yat this point in 2016 a cubic yard of bull####. 'Game Management' is a joke. The idea that a referee will tell two linesmen to 'let them go' (and break the rules) is equally as big of a joke.
The culture of enforcement and referees in the NHL is in need of a substantial overhaul. The amount of criticism the refs receive from coaches and players is borderline absurd for a professional league.
The league prefers ambiguity and game management to strict adherence to the rules and the sport as a whole suffers significantly at all other levels by this flippant approach to credibility. If the league itself doesn't seem to value the integrity of their officiating then why should anyone else?
It's why I can't bring myself to get upset about officiating. The game is borderline fraudulent at times. Really decreases my enjoyment of the product as well.
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