NHL Heads Want Game Safer, But Want The Pace Of The Game To Remain

Added on Mar 16, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

The National Hockey League General Managers are still meeting in Florida, and they are trying to figure out how to make the game safer. The one thing they don’t want to sacrifice is the speed of the game. Part of the reason why so many fans love hockey is because of speed and quickness, and Hockey GM’s are nervous of fan erosion. In the end, though, there was little enthusiasm for compromising the speed of the sport.

The GM’s are suggesting stricter enforcement of the rules that are already in place. Also, there has been a recommendation for more substantial supplemental discipline in regard to dangerous hits. Expect the GMs to propose a plan Wednesday morning before these meetings adjourn. League’s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development Brendan Shanahan who has a very unique look at this issue since he played during the 90′s. He said “I recall the first two years coming out of the lockout, people were calling the NHL the No-Hit League. The solution for player safety is not to go backward. Then we’re just chasing our tails. So, let’s start obstructing again. In five years we’ll have another one of these meetings and talk about unlocking the game.”

Shanahan also made a good point about making changes as they go along. These discussions are good and smart to have, and they should be addressed every few years. He said “It’s healthy. Every few years we have to re-evaluate the game, make tweaks and adjustments. The coaches and players, the game will never stop evolving.”

Rob Blake , Former Player and a manager in the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department, says he thinks the game isn’t any faster. He thinks its because of the speed of players, and the way they train. Blake said “The guys are bigger, they’re stronger, they’re faster. Because of that, and because of some of the changes to the game post-lockout, that speed has increased in situations along the boards that we don’t like and we want to look at. Charging and boarding calls will be under the scope right now to see if they need to be tightened up.”

Toronto GM Brian Burke also feels that this issue isn’t something they can solve in one meeting. He said these rules need to evolve and change over time. He concluded “There was some discussion of that but I think there was a sense more the speed we brought to the game has added an element of danger because of the speed of the players. I think our focus is to see what these changes, these tweaks do, what this heightened enforcement does before we start monkeying with putting the red line back in or taking out the trapezoid.”

In Wednesday’s meeting, we will probably see a final vote, and some sort of new rule implementations that could take effect soon.