Fix what's obviously broken, NHL needs more goals

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by nik-

I'd rather have the game much safer and lose the one time out of 50 that it might result in a goal.

That's a sticking point with many people. Substitute boring with safe and there we have it.

I still would like to track down the injury reductions with the new icing rules, vs. missed zone time due to safety.

[nik-]

Except it's not boring, because what you're clamoring for was so incredibly rare anyway. Do you legitimately find the game boring because in the instance of an icing if the defensive player is in the lead the play is blow dead early?

It's just such a minor thing to pick out as something that would be a big help.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by nik-

Except it's not boring, because what you're clamoring for was so incredibly rare anyway. Do you legitimately find the game boring because in the instance of an icing if the defensive player is in the lead the play is blow dead early?

It's just such a minor thing to pick out as something that would be a big help.

Isn't the point of the thread that the NHL doesn't have enough goals per game? It's not boring all the time, but that was my last suggestion of three. Pick it out if you want to.

Is 1 in 50 some kind of time tested scale for that change?

[Cheese]

Force the goalie to play without a mask or with the old Cheevers style masks. That will get them to stand up again. We will see more goals in the bottom of the net.
Change the size of the catching mitt to 1970s standards.








when Bishop stands up straight his pads are two thirds of the way up the height of the net.

[FireGilbert]

I am happy with the amount of scoring in the NHL today but there are still a few things I would do to increase scoring and scoring chances. Increasing the net size is not one of them however.

1. Reduce the goalie equipment: Leg pads should only be slightly bigger than normal shin pads, not tree trunks which cover the bottom 50% of the net. Gloves should be like catchers mitts with additional padding around the wrist, not a monstrosity that can literally catch a beach ball. Shoulder pads should provide protection, not add 4 inches to the torso height. I am happy with the blocker size though since shooting blocker is by far the easiest way to score in today's game.

2. Call penalties consistently and make players serve the full 2 minutes on minors.

3. Make leaving your feet to block a shot or pass a penalty. Shot blocking has to be one of the least exciting aspects of hockey with the only benefit being to show how tough hockey players are. Players would still be able to block shots standing up or drop to one knee but if they leave both feet and are hit by the puck it is an automatic 2 minutes in the box. It would also be a penalty for a dman to go spread eagle on a 2 on 1 to block the pass making these plays more exciting.

[DoubleF]

I guess to add to my earlier post...

Personally, I'd like to see tweaks to style of play rather than equipment, nets or arena. If tweaks must be made, I would like smaller goalie equipment. However, I've lately also been toying with the idea of a goalie stick that isn't the same thickness as an oar. We know goalies are at a huge disadvantage sans stick or using a player stick as a replacement. Why not feed off that? This would help huge in terms of reducing the goalie's ability to cover the bottom half of the net with his stick where the pads do not cover. A shot that never leaves the ice surface could suddenly be dangerous rather than be an easy bounce off the goalie's stick.

However, with any tweak, my first concern is whether injuries could potentially increase. I would prefer players do not get injured more often due to the tweaks in the game.

Another random tweak that might be interesting could be a slight change to the "kicking rule". IMO, if a puck goes off the skate of a player outside the crease. Goal, kicking motion or not. If inside crease, no goal. Kicking motion or not. I really doubt players will try and kick at pucks on purpose with this rule change. Caveat, if a kicking motion is made and the bottom of the blade is not parallel to the ice, that's a 5 minute major penalty. So if you fall down, you can't try and attempt to kick a puck. If you soccer kick it and your blade is perpendicular to the ice, that's a penalty. IMO, this rule would clarify and decrease the time spent on reviewing goals off feet, but maintain safety due to the rule covering the types of dangerous kicks we don't want in the game.

[Fire]

Goalie equipment is not getting much smaller than it is now because of safety issues. I'm not sure why people are so upset about increasing the size of the net a bit. Something like 4 inches wider and 2 inches higher. It won't significantly "change the game" like a lot of people are worried about.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Green text in a couple of these posts I'm assuming?

Ban shot blocking? Good one.

You laugh, but the NHL is actually looking into this. People who own NHL teams aren't keen about an aspect of the game that increases injuries to their players and decreases scoring.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/3...ng-techniques/

[Itse]

If you want to start talking about things that are seriously broken, how about the interference rule. As it is written it's extremely arbitrary and is essentially called in completely differently ways from game to game.

In fact if you ask me all the contact rules in hockey should be taken apart and written less like (american) football rules with numerous detailed infractions, and more like rugby or soccer rules with few broadly applicable rules.

I hate the idea of trying to penalize shot blocking, especially with the overall quality of refereeing being what it is. Seems completely unfeasible to me, and will only result in another random penalty rule.

As for scoring, I don't see a major problem, but if you do want to do something about it, goalie pads are really the biggest problem. Not just the height but the width. If they were actually optimized for safety, they would wrap around the front of the goalies leg instead of being a straight wall in front of them.

Changing the pads to a rounder shape would make it easier to lift the puck over the goalies leg from up close, and rebound control would require a lot more skill from the goalie.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

I watched hockey in the 80's and it was fun because there were a lot of mistakes. But don't confuse that with 'good' hockey, it was actually pretty bad. Team defense was almost non-existent and the goalies were not great and had minimal padding. And the hooking, holding and interference was out of control. I don't mind trying to come up with ways to make the game better but I also don't think we should be pining for the way the game was played in the 80's.

As for amount of goals scored, I really don't care if a game is 1-0 or 7-6, as long as there are scoring chances. You can have 1-0 games with plenty of scoring chances, a low scoring game doesn't automatically mean it was boring to watch.

I agree and true hockey fans understand this but to grow the game south of the border we need more goals. multiple 50-60 goals scorers get people talking and create excitement

Shrink the goalie equipment to early 80's style and scoring will go up by a lot IMO. Gloves are huge, every goalie looks like their a very wide 300lbs and because of the size of the pads there seemingly isn't a 5 hole any more.

Here's Mike Liut, one of the biggest goalies in the NHL back then at about 6'3..he looks small compared to todays goalies.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You laugh, but the NHL is actually looking into this. People who own NHL teams aren't keen about an aspect of the game that increases injuries to their players and decreases scoring.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/3...ng-techniques/

You're right, I am laughing. It's ridiculous. Bodychecking also creates injuries and doesn't help increase scoring. Should probably get rid of that, too.

[SuperMatt18]

The thing that bothers me with goalies equipment is that it is rare that you see a guy score with a shot as he blazes down the wing.

I think back to Iggy's 2002 season and he score a ton by beating the goalie clean with a slapshot. Now unless it is a rebound, or a redirect, or a nice cross seam pass you can't score.

That is what bothers me.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

You're right, I am laughing. It's ridiculous. Bodychecking also creates injuries and doesn't help increase scoring. Should probably get rid of that, too.

Actually, hitting does lead to scoring. Hitting causes turnovers, turnovers lead to goals.

Not that I think they should ban shot blocking.

[Huntingwhale]

These threads are always hilarious. Increase net size? Decrease goalie pads? Full 2 minutes on the PP? These things are useless to increase goals. Because fundamentally, the #1 reason for the loss of goals recently is COACHING.

Coaches aren't idiots. They are the main reason teams play the way they do. They recognize that if you want to win more games then you lose, you have to stop the opposition from scoring. Does anybody really think that if you increase the goal size or reduce pad size that coaches won't adapt at some point? Of course they will. Periods of high scoring in hockey have always been followed by periods of low goal scoring. Coaches adapt to their environments.

John Cooper even said in an interview last week. He knows his TBL were the highest scoring team. They have the power to run and gun with any team in the league. But they are going to play stiffling defense instead because that's how you win championships. He said that live on national TV. And you could see it in how the Lightning played all playoffs. Look at how the Blues and Kings play. Their coaches don't care about entertaining their fans with high scoring games. They don't care about bringing fans out of their seats because it makes the game so exciting. All they care about is getting the 2 pts. And truth be told, the most dependable way to make that happen is to stifle the other team defensively and not give them any chances.

So sad to say, really the only way you're going to increase scoring in the NHL for an extended period of time, is to ban coaches like Tippett, Sutter and Hitchcock. Somehow mandate it that coaches can't coach in a certain manner. But that's bloody well impossible. Goal scoring is cyclical in nature. Rules changes on equipment and nets can come in and perhaps increase scoring. Whoopty doo. When teams employ the best hockey coaches on the planet, they WILL find a way to adapt and we'll be back to low scoring games after a couple years.

Basic coaching 101. Give the opposition nothing. Capitalize on the very few chances you get. Win the game in a low scoring affair. A good defensive team will win way more games that way, then a high scoring team playing run gun all season long. Coaches (particularly those in the West) recognize this.

[FlamesAddiction]

I think if you reduce the goalie equipment, then they should go back to wooden sticks. Even that probably wouldn't be enough considering how strong players have become. Mike Liut's equipment was suitable back when guys like Iafrate and MacInnis were the only ones regularly firing the puck at 90 km.h or more, but today goalies are contently be pelted with pucks going that speed.

I feel that goalie equipment is only keeping up with the abilities and equipment of other players. Reduce their equipment and we'll probably not only see more injuries, but scoring so high it would be ridiculous.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think if you reduce the goalie equipment, then they should go back to wooden sticks. Even that probably wouldn't be enough considering how strong players have become. Mike Liut's equipment was suitable back when guys like Iafrate and MacInnis were the only ones regularly firing the puck at 90 km.h or more, but today goalies are contently be pelted with pucks going that speed.

I feel that goalie equipment is only keeping up with the abilities and equipment of other players. Reduce their equipment and we'll probably not only see more injuries, but scoring so high it would be ridiculous.

The easiest change is just to limit the size of the goalie leg pads themselves and move them up to the pants so they don't cover so much area when the goalies are down. Brodeur was playing with the smaller pads up until this year and he wasn't hurt all the time so I fail to see how those giant thigh pads are saving injuries.

This image from the article someone posted earlier in this thread is an eye opener:

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think if you reduce the goalie equipment, then they should go back to wooden sticks. Even that probably wouldn't be enough considering how strong players have become. Mike Liut's equipment was suitable back when guys like Iafrate and MacInnis were the only ones regularly firing the puck at 90 km.h or more, but today goalies are contently be pelted with pucks going that speed.

I feel that goalie equipment is only keeping up with the abilities and equipment of other players. Reduce their equipment and we'll probably not only see more injuries, but scoring so high it would be ridiculous.

Buuuuullll. Cheaters on the gloves don't protect. Shoulder pads that size don't protect. Pads that go 11" above knew aren't for protection. There's lots and lots to trim even while improving protection

[Huntingwhale]

One thing I've always thought that might increase scoring, while not interfering with net or equipment size, is to slant the posts inwards so that if a puck hits the post it will most likely go in the net.

Seems to me that the majority of time a puck hits the post, it stays out. Figure out a way to design a post where if a puck hits it, it will usually deflect into the net. The downside to this is that now you have a post that is slanted inwards and might be more likely to cause injury if a player collides with it. I dunno, maybe some math whiz can figure out the best angle.

I really do like the one posters idea of making the long changes in the 1st, 3rd, and OT periods. Currently its only in the 2nd period (not sure about OT?). Mistakes happens because of that long change, and I think making it so that more of the game is played with a long change will result in more scoring chances.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

You're right, I am laughing. It's ridiculous. Bodychecking also creates injuries and doesn't help increase scoring. Should probably get rid of that, too.

Bodychecking not only generates chances, it's fun to watch. Shot blocking (which has only been widespread in the NHL for less than 10 years) is a nul play. Commentators and fans can admire a player for sacrificing his body by blocking a shot, but I'm pretty sure everyone who watches the NHL already knows hockey players are tough. Blocking a shot is about as exciting a hockey play as shooting the puck over the glass, and should go the way of that other nul play.

Now that every goalie coming up through the ranks is 6'3" or bigger and a superbly agile and superbly coached athlete, we're likely to see scoring go down even further. Sure a 1-0 or 2-1 game can be exciting. It can also be mind-numbingly dull. There's something wrong in the NHL when a guy who scores 20 goals in an 82 game season is regarded as a sniper. Something needs to be done to redress that imbalance.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by calf

I hate when a good cycle is interrupted because the puck goes 3mm over the blue line to be called offside.

What if once a team gained the offensive zone, the puck has to cross over the red line before the attacking team has too clear the offensive zone?

It could keep plays going longer, allow for more creative use of the ice. Might be tough to transition/change on the fly though.


...or try those extra thick blue lines again.

Was just going to post something to this effect. The biggest change in the game is the players are coached very well so more often than not they are in the right position to make the defensive play. The mistakes that create scoring chances just aren't' there anymore. Having the defensive team have to clear the red line once the team has legally entered the offensive zone over the blue line give the offense more space to work with. It will stretch the defense and apply more pressure on them. Even if you trial it with power plays to start it may help increase scoring, especially on the long change.

The other thing that may be tweaked was a Scotty Bowman suggestion. The nets could be made larger with out changing the 4 x 6 dimension. There is no reason with todays composite metal we can't make the posts have a 1 3/8 diameter (Currently it is 2 3/8) and be just as strong. The would give the shooters just over a square foot more to shoot at. Or at the very least having those shots that hit the cross bar and posts turn into goals. This way you aren't changing the angles for the goal tenders as they are still protecting a net that is 4 x 6.