[News] How to Fix the NHL, a League That's Broken

[Flamenspiel]

I would like to see an end to commercial timeouts, and keep the intermissions to 10 minutes. Also please remove offside video replay, which is a big waste of time.

In lieu of the commercial timeouts they can add an extra tactical timeout for the coaches to use.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Matty81

It's kind of a ridiculous argument and article but I agree with the salary cap comment. I think the cap and overcoaching are the two main root problems with the game having gotten so bland and boring. Making pro sports "fair" is pandering to morons and casual fans and it is not how the league gained its popularity to begin with

In the 12 years since the salary cap has been introduced, the cup has been won 8 times by 3 teams.

That's the same as the 12 years preceding the salary cap.

There are still dominant teams.

[Sgrath]

Friday morning pre-coffee thoughts

Salary cap/floor - make it a 3 or 5 year moving average for compliance.

Limit the time they review an offside challenge to the length of a time out. If it isn't conclusive either way after that call on the ice stands. Should mean the obvious misses get caught and the really close ones are accepted as is. Also no penalty if timeout expires only if challenge is obviously wrong.

[GGG]

The NBAs cap system is what has caused the super teams.

They have an individual player cap as well as a soft cap. The player cap is between 20-30 million whereas a guy like Lebron is worth at least 50 million of a 100 million cap. Possibly more. So players will take 2-3 million dollar cuts to play together when they likely wouldn't take a 20 million dollar hit.

It would be like having a 6-7 million dollar max player cap hit in the NHL right now.

Changes for replay for me would be no slow motion max 3 views. Goal is not to get the every call perfect its to avoid egregious errors.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Not to mention, the writer is correct that salary caps make for a more boring league/story

Leagues need superteams and villians. In the NFL, even with a cap, it works because 1 player (QB) can so dramatically influence a game, and Tom Brady takes below market to win.

The NBA is the only sport with increasesing rating. They have Cleveland and GS. It forced other teams to try and also become 'super'

MLB has the Yankees and Boston (Soon to be Dodgers and Cubs as well) Now baseball may have an issue now that big market teams have smartened their operations.

A strict cap with no overages and luxury taxes makes the league more competitive, but it does make it more boring to an extent.

A salary cap with luxury tax for overages, similar to basketball setup, would work better IMO

The NFL is unique in a lot of ways. The money comes from national broadcasts, there's substantial revenue sharing, and games are once a week over a short season. Also if gambling and fantasy football don't drive ratings over team loyalties, it is close.

MLB is getting close to a happy medium of player controls, luxury tax, and revenue sharing, while still allowing market forces to determine salary. All teams make a healthy profit or have an opportunity to do so with proper management. The big markets can be competitive more years, but the small markets definitely have opportunities to build successful teams with more patience. As can be seen by the lack of free agent spending this off-season, they can more quickly adjust to market downturns such as the up-coming collapse of local cable tv money.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

In the 12 years since the salary cap has been introduced, the cup has been won 8 times by 3 teams.

That's the same as the 12 years preceding the salary cap.

There are still dominant teams.

If anything the salary cap places emphasis on drafting and player development and rewards the best managed and run teams. When you look at the management situations over the last decade+ from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal over the years is it really any surprise why Canadian teams haven't won Stanley Cups? Canadian team owners have simply done a terrible job hiring the right people to run their clubs.

[Resolute 14]

Actually, MLB is running into a very unhappy situation on the labour front, which will only be exacerbated by the general incompetence of the MLBPA's leader. At this point, it already seems inevitable that there will be an ugly labour war after the 2021 season.

The only really unahappy place the NHL is in on that front is the escrow situation. But that can be fixed easily by sliding the 50/50 share point closer to the cap rather than leaving it at the midpoint.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The only really unahappy place the NHL is in on that front is the escrow situation. But that can be fixed easily by sliding the 50/50 share point closer to the cap rather than leaving it at the midpoint.

That and actually running a mandatory two or more day course for players so they actually understand escrow. There are far too many players that simply see the deductions from their pay cheques and think the owners are stealing that from them.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Actually, MLB is running into a very unhappy situation on the labour front, which will only be exacerbated by the general incompetence of the MLBPA's leader. At this point, it already seems inevitable that there will be an ugly labour war after the 2021 season.

The only really unahappy place the NHL is in on that front is the escrow situation. But that can be fixed easily by sliding the 50/50 share point closer to the cap rather than leaving it at the midpoint.

We'll see, I guess. Based on past history, I'd bet on the NHL having a labor stoppage before the MLB does. MLB can probably achieve peace by ditching the qualifying offer.

It will be interesting to see how the NHL cap will handle the inevitable downturn in revenue. Up to now, teams have always counted on the cap going up. Things will get pretty ugly if the NHL takes a 10% hit on revenue over a couple years.

[spuzzum]

I really like the 3 on 3 OT until someone wins concept. The NFL model of non guaranteed contracts instead of getting rid of the salary cap is intriguing.

[Patek23]

Couldn’t agree more on getting rid of the Shootout. Turned the NHL into a joke when they implemented it. I cringe every time OT ends and we’re forced to watch a skills competition.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If anything the salary cap places emphasis on drafting and player development and rewards the best managed and run teams. When you look at the management situations over the last decade+ from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal over the years is it really any surprise why Canadian teams haven't won Stanley Cups? Canadian team owners have simply done a terrible job hiring the right people to run their clubs.

The Oilers have proven that no matter how fair you make it incompetence fails but all the other teams are rewarded by good drafting but mostly luck. Even the scouts are just taking their best guess and the NHL teams cross fingers and hope these junior and college teams do a good job and that the players physically grow and mature without really having any control over it

The NHL doesn't really develop players at all... They rely on those other leagues and systems to do it. Some guys get a year or two in the A, less than half the league - and most of the difference makers come straight into the league from the chl, ncaa or europe.

The A is a violent league with crappy travel and low skill and for every Josh Anderson who developed there there are probably 2 or 3 nhlers who either came straight in or just survived the A.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If anything the salary cap places emphasis on drafting and player development and rewards the best managed and run teams. When you look at the management situations over the last decade+ from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal over the years is it really any surprise why Canadian teams haven't won Stanley Cups? Canadian team owners have simply done a terrible job hiring the right people to run their clubs.

Well the Canucks and Oilers came damn close. The Canucks in particular were a powerhouse that probably should have won a cup.

The teams that have been the best managed are probably San Jose and Nashville and they don't have anything to show for it.

Getting lucky and landing franchise altering players near the top of the draft like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and LA might count as much or more than having stellar management.

I mean, Chicago had that brutal goof where they didn't send out qualifying offers in time and they still won cups after that.

[calf]

8) No more offside. This also means no more offside reviews. Everyone is happy. Why do we even have offside? If I could go back in time, I'm killing Hitler and kidnapping the guy in 1898 or whenever who was so passionate about an offside line. It's not like the offside line makes the game safer; it's there to give the defense an advantage against oncoming opponents. Why?
Removing offside is another way to get some whistles out of the game and help with flow.

I've recently wondered about a sort of hybrid offside rule - but I haven't really thought it through. Current offside rules are in place the first time you enter the zone. From there, you don't have to worry about going offside until the puck crosses the centre line. It would make it so you don't have some sort of cherry picking, but you also don't lose the flow of the game if a defenceman lets the puck go 1 inch over the blue line after bobbling a pass.

[Fuzz]

Use some 21st century technology and implement puck tracking to get rid of bad calls. Bare minimum upgrade the cameras from whatever potatoes they currently use. HD and more frames. It's ridiculous, this isn't hard or expensive.

[dissentowner]

The biggest step toward fixing the NHL is fix the terrible officiating. Nothing else matters unless you fix that first.

[Locke]

I like the idea of OT until someone scores.

Hand passes 'almost' everywhere I could get on board with, but I actually like the current hand-pass rule where its legal in the defensive zone only.

The salary cap....I think the salary cap in the NHL is a model that all sports should adopt. Someone can say they dislike parity, but watch Leagues without it.

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Apparently CP does not approve of this.

Keep speaking for the whole board.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

We'll see, I guess. Based on past history, I'd bet on the NHL having a labor stoppage before the MLB does. MLB can probably achieve peace by ditching the qualifying offer.

It will be interesting to see how the NHL cap will handle the inevitable downturn in revenue. Up to now, teams have always counted on the cap going up. Things will get pretty ugly if the NHL takes a 10% hit on revenue over a couple years.

Well, yeah. The NHL CBA can end before MLB's does, so that's inevitable. Especially with people like the Fehrs in charge of the NHLPA who thrive on conflict and will be looking to try and break linkage entirely as a means of eliminating escrow. But, in the end, they will fail, and the solution will be the very same five minute fix I just mentioned.

[gamesaver]

Removing blue line = McJesus standing on the crease for 60 minutes, never goes off ice, watching his 4 teammates trying to get the puck and then 1 hail mary pass. Fantastic sport.

[Red]

Salary cap creating parity is not really true. We still have good and bad teams and just look at contracts like Parise or Lucic. Money doesn't guarantee success.
It's the loser points that create parity.

Go to 3 points for wins and 0 points for losses regardless of OT or regulation and the regulation games will pick up steam.

And don't look for any more reasons to call penalties. Maybe it's just me, but PPs take away from the flow of the game. So stationary for both PP and PK units. Less of that would improve the game.