EHM The Blue Line

The other day, various important people from the NHL met to discuss the impact of this season's possible rule changes.
Here are some of the changes we might see next season:

- NHL goaltenders are forbidden to handle the puck behind the goal line.
- The maximum width of goaltenders' leg pads is reduced from 12 inches to 10 inches.
- The tag-up offside rule is reinstated.
- Nets and blue lines move three feet closer to the end boards.
- Tie games are decided by a shootout.
- Three points are awarded for a win in regulation time.
- Blue lines and the center ice line are expanded from 12 to 24 inches wide.

IIRC, nothing is definate yet - but I could be wrong.
There's an interesting article about it on this site.

I like the idea of bringing back the tag-up offside rule. It should allow more flow to the game

What is tag-up offside rule? And what would goalie do if the puck is cleared and it stops just behind the red line and next to the post? :lol:

"- Nets and blue lines move three feet closer to the end boards."
Does this means that there will be a larger middle part of the rink and even less space behind the goal?

Tag-up rule definition (from usatoday.com):

if a play is offside but the defensive team gets possession, the referee raises his hand for delayed offside. The forecheckers can make themselves onside again by tagging up — or circling back across the blue line into the neutral zone — then resuming the attack.

With regards to nets, the actual rink size will stay the same - it's just that the goals will be closer to the boards. To put it another way, they will be deeper in the defensive zone.

I don't like the idea of the goalie being constricted to his crease. He'll be a bit of a sitting duck if the puck is cleared behind the net and the attacker is faster than the defenceman.

I like the idea of three points for a regulation time win but I'm not too sure about the shoot-out.
If two teams are equal then surely they should share the points?
When it comes to a shoot-out, the team that wins is the team that was lucky on the night and not necessarily the better team

I dont like the goaltender not being able to handle behind the crease, seems very stupid and will probably lead to a lot of dump & chase as with the goalie confined there is more chance of someone getting hold of, so less exciting skilled plays. However I would like to see the goalies be made fair game to forecheckers if they stray out of the crease as at the moment they can skate around and even throw hits with no one being able to retaliate.

Pad reduction I could cope with

Tag-up rule I'd like to see again

Moving nets closer to boards, can't see it doing much

Shootout - NO! the current OT system is fair, shootouts would be rubbish, and if they played OT before the shootout it would be a defense fest as nobody would be willing to go for it ahead of a shootout

3pts a win, again not sure, it would also ruin the north american way of looking at things with the playing over .500% etc not being workable

line expansion would probably work, would be interesting to see it though

I think all of these would have to be tried for a full season in the AHL before it got near being played in the NHL as well

PeTrIe wrote:I think all of these would have to be tried for a full season in the AHL before it got near being played in the NHL as well

I completely and utterly agree with this statement, as if you do go into the NHL straight away with these rules many problems might occur and these could be cleared up if played in the AHL first

Will there be a waiver draft this year, or did they take it away?

As far as I can recall the waiver draft is now dead due to the different mecahnics of the team rosters under the Cap.