Meeting today in Florida, NHL general managers were asked to gaze into their crystal balls and imagine the league five or 10 years down the line.
It was a brainstorming session, pure and simple. No idea was too radical to propose.
The topics the GMs ended up discussing ranged from awarding three points for a win in regulation to making it illegal for players to slide to block a shot.
“You need an act of God to get a puck through from the point into where a goalie has to make a save,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.
Brad Treliving said his group discussed removing elements of D to promote offense(less congestion netfront, types of illegal blocked shots).
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 6, 2017
It’s not clear if any idea gained much traction, or if there were really any new ideas. In 2008, then-Canadiens GM Bob Gainey proposed a rule that said players had to have at least one skate on the ice to block a shot. Obviously, that proposal didn’t go anywhere.
At the very least, it’s refreshing that GMs were asked to get creative and come up with ways to improve the game. Traditionalists may balk at some of the proposed ideas, but the action on the ice is constantly evolving. Sometimes, changes are warranted.
Tomorrow it’s expected the discussion will focus on the offside challenge and how the video review process in general can be sped up.