Over the last couple of days, all the NHL GMs and brain trust has gathered together at their annual meeting in Boca Raton, Florida.  Overall, the NHL’s top league executives are satisfied with current state of the game.  Offense is at an all-time high, and players are becoming more aware of various on-ice penalties.

With the state of the league healthy, the NHL GMs are still trying to make some minor tweaks to make the game even better.

Let’s dive in to some of the things the NHL’s general managers are discussing, and whether any of these potential rule changes have any traction:

NO HELMET, NO PLAY FOR PLAYERS

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NHL GMs will propose a rule to penalize a player who doesn’t leave the ice immediately after his helmet falls off in the flow of play. It’s a player safety issue. They’re also looking into a potential rule to mandate all players must wear helmets in warmups.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 5, 2019

POWERPLAY CHANGES

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NHL GMs proposing rule to allow the team starting on the PP to choose the side of the ice for the 1st faceoff to start the PP. Right now it’s decided by where the puck was touched or went out of play. It’s a subtle change to give team on the PP a better chance to win the draw.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 5, 2019

ENCOURAGING GOALIES TO PLAY THE PUCK MORE

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GMs will look into a way to encourage goalies to play the puck on shots from outside the blue line. There is talk of not allowing the team that freezes the puck to make a line change in those cases. Still work to be done on it. Talk of a penalty on it too, tho that’s unlikely.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 5, 2019

ADJUSTING PENALTIES IN OVERTIME

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GMs talked about going to 1 minute penalties in OT. Not much appetite for it. One GM said if it happens and 1 minute expires, it’s too much 4 on 4. They want more 3 on 3.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 5, 2019

CLOCKS IN THE BOARDS

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NHL GMs are in favor of the league putting clocks in the corner boards to help players. Tech must be right and question about ad space being lost is another issue. GMs will recommend it. Clocks in dashers were used in both outdoor games. Positive reviews on it.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 5, 2019

WHAT IS GAINING THE MOST TRACTION?

It seems that there is a lot of optimism with the current state of the game.  The General Managers seem very satisfied that scoring is up around the league.  With scoring up, the general managers are continuing to make subtle tweaks to try and make the game even better.

The items that are gaining a lot of traction involve the wearing of helmets and the use of added technology around the rink.  As the game becomes quicker and more physical, the NHL is continually trying to improve player safety.  It appears that rules might be changed for players to wear helmets at all times during game play and during warmups.  While this new helmet rule sounds good on the surface, player helmets tend to fall off a player’s head on accident in most cases during game play.  In some other cases, player helmets tend to get ripped off a player’s head by opposing players.  The NHL should tread lightly on a rule change here if a player gets a helmet knocked off his head by an opposing player during game play.

Hockey fans have seen technological advances around hockey rinks over the last number of years.  From new blueline cameras and overhead cameras to Ipads for replays, the NHL is always trying to do things right technologically.  The NHL has recently tested game clocks placed inside the dasher boards in the outdoor games.  The new game clocks received positive reviews from players and management.

The major concern around the league is that these new clocks will take away ad space from the boards.  It sounds like the general managers would like to see these in place, so it should be a go for the near future.

The use of technology around the hockey rink is good for players, coaches, and fans.  The NHL has done a pretty good job with their latest technology breakthroughs, so adding clocks inside the dasher boards will make things that much better.

By: George Foussekis