[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Guys would get tired and lose their gaps, and teams would capitalize in transition.

You’d still have to gain the blue line, then after that, the defense has to advance it over the red line to clear the zone.

One effect of this would possibly be a reduction in icings, since they have to cross centre to clear the zone anyway.

I think it would also facilitate more shot attempts, as you'd have a better chance at recovering the puck if it misses the net and rings around the boards.

Originally Posted by Joborule

How I envision it is once the puck crosses the centre line, then the team has entered the attack zone. This allows for players to be ahead of the puck carrier on the breakout when entering the zone. By having this, it gives players more speed and flexibility with dumping and chasing, and the play can function more like an alley-oop, rather than a desperate attempt to get the puck forward.

Another component of this is that since it expands the attack zone, that the puck attacking team has more of the zone to use, and don't have to be concerned with blueline pressure since it wouldn't be a thing anymore. The centre line is now the new offside line when the puck is in the zone. With this, it'll encourage more skating and puck handling; especially on the power play. The NHL may never want to adopt international size ice due to the loss of seats, but this possibly could open up the ice more than that could. With that happening, it could force the defense to be more aggressive in defense since the attack zone won't be as compact anymore, thus collapsing isn't as effective anymore since they'll be defending against players that can be attacking with movement and speed.

I also thing that in the event of this rule change, offsides should be treated the same as icing. You cannot make a line change if you cause the violation.

I'd like it if players can cross the centre line before the puck, but not the attacking blue line until the puck is across centre (I think this is what you're saying, but others seem to be saying traditional blue-line entry and then the zone expands). Obviously this would become much harder for the linesmen to call, but I'd go a step further in 'penalizing' offside by sending the faceoff back to your own dot without a change. I think you could treat it a lot looser, as they currently do with dumping the puck in near the centre line...and it should not be reviewable. The harsher penalty should keep players honest.

Originally Posted by gamesaver

Does anyone really think the number of nice goals is tied to the size of goalie equipment? If you trimm the padding, goals total will increase, but most of them would be a double deflected blue line wrister, because a goalie is not gonna be big enough to save the shot he does not see.

I think we'd see more shot attempts + more shots on goal with rebounds as opposed to trying for the perfect pass or picking the corner (and missing the net)