NHL Rule Change Camp

[grim]

The most surprising thing (to me) in this article is Colin Campbell's statement... including "We don't think the game is as bad on the ice as some people make it out to be." I'm all for a few good rule changes - and right away. Even without a single rule change, Campbell can start with strict enforcement of existing rules dealing with clutching and grabbing.


NHL to conduct camp to test proposed rule changes in front of club GMs

Neil Stevens
Canadian Press

Monday, May 30, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - There are going to be some strange goings on at a small rink near the airport here next week, and the NHL is inviting its general managers and coaches to take it all in.

Goalies will be trying to stop pucks while wearing equipment smaller than they usually wear, and they'll be standing at times in front of over-sized nets. Long passes that would normally be offside will be allowed in some of the drills.

The league is calling it a research and development camp, and it has recruited overage juniors who are free agents plus a handful of college skaters for tests and scrimmages over three days.

The camp begins Monday, which as coincidence would have it is the first anniversary of the last NHL game, Tampa Bay's 2-1 win over Calgary in Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final.

There has been plenty of talk during the lockout, which wiped out the entire 2004-2005 season, about opening up the game to more offence whenever play resumes under a new collective bargaining agreement, and now it's time to test on ice the various suggestions.

"We'll be focusing on rules changes that have been brought forth over the last year and a half," says Colin Campbell, the league's executive vice-president and director of hockey operations. "We understand certain changes have to be made but we don't want knee-jerk solutions.

"We don't think the game is as bad on the ice as some people make it out to be. That's a side effect of our problems off the ice. But we do understand some changes have to be made."

Talks towards a CBA resume Wednesday and Thursday in Toronto.

While the number crunchers prepare to continue that seemingly neverending process, hockey operations staffers Mike Murphy and E. J. McGuire are concentrating on the research and development camp.

"This is all about opening our minds," says McGuire.

There will be two scrimmages each day, 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 drills, and shootouts.

NHL referees and linesmen, some of whom have had to seek secondary employment during the lockout, will be used.

One of the more intriguing experiments next week will be an "open game concept" put forth by Harry Sinden, president of the Boston Bruins. It includes allowing passes to be made from the top of defensive zone circles to the other end of the rink.

The two goalies who will participate are 20-year-olds Brad Topping of Strathroy, Ont., who played for the OHL's Windsor Spitfires this past season, and Eric Tobia of Cloyne, Ont., who was with the OHL's Belleville Bulls.

All activity on the ice will be filmed so the experiments can be further analysed. NHL GMs will then discuss possible rules changes, which would need to be tested in the pre-season.

Meanwhile, the first European teens have begun arriving for the beehive of activity that is the annual physical testing of NHL draft-eligible players. York University professor Dr. Norm Gledhill and his crew will oversee testing Friday and Saturday at an airport-district hotel.

More than 100 prospects, three-quarters of them North Americans, are expected for the off-ice assessments and for interviews with NHL teams considering picking them.

The 2005 entry draft, which was scheduled to be held in Ottawa next month, was long ago postponed, but Central Scouting has been trying to operate as usual.

"Just because no draft is scheduled doesn't mean that one won't be scheduled," said McGuire.
? The Canadian Press 2005

http://www.canada.com/sports/hockey/story.html?id=d9c27829-819f-46f0-91cc-727e5ec667db

[Rusty]

Isn't that what they call the blind leading the blind???

Just enforce the damn rules as they are written and do not have differing levels of interpretation of the rules.

[grim]

'Sinden System' ?

'Sinden System' draws mixed response

Monday, June 6, 2005 Updated at 2:24 PM EDT

Canadian Press

Toronto ? The offside whistles for the entire three-period scrimmage could be counted on one hand, and Glen Sather had to grin.

"Could you imagine Wayne (Gretzky) and Mario (Lemieux) playing that kind of game?" Sather wondered. "They'd have a field day."

The New York Rangers boss and other GMs and coaches were at an airport-area arena Monday for the first of three days of rules experiments, and things got started with a look at the "open game" concept put forth by the Boston Bruins.

Club president Harry Sinden contends that offences would be liberated and neutral zone trapping obliterated by removing the centre red-line and the bluelines. Instead he suggests putting thin lines a few feet above the faceoff circles at each end of the ice and allowing passes to go anywhere on the ice once the player with the puck reaches the pass line in his zone.

"I don't know if I'd want to rush into it but I sure like the idea," said Sather.

Of course, the Sinden System has about as much chance of being implemented next season as the NHL and the NHLPA had of agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement before midnight Monday night.

But this camp is all about opening minds and taking a look at whatever bounces out of the brains on board. For three days, anything goes.

"There's a lot of things that have happened since the '80s," Sather said. "Our game has changed from a free-wheeling game to a very tight defensive style.

"A lot of that has got to do with the techniques the coaches have developed. It's a lot easier to defend than create offence. (The Sinden System) is not a lot different from the style of play we used in the '80s ? freewheeling, changing lanes, defencemen getting involved. It goes a step further because you've distorted the size of the rink. It becomes a lot bigger without the blue-lines. There's so much skating involved. I think it's exciting. I think it's a great idea."

It should be tried in the AHL, Sather suggested.

Monday's scrimmage consisted of three 15-minute stop-time periods which each took about 21 minutes to complete because whistles were so infrequent. The final score was 5-2.

The players participating are free agents who have just graduated from major junior and skaters from university teams. They'd never tried the Sinden System so it's not as if it was executed as ingeniously as could be.

The goalies wore leg pads that were 11 inches (28 centimetres) wide ? two inches narrower than pads used in the NHL last year, smaller catching mitts than usual, narrower shoulder pads, and sweaters that were tight rather than loose and baggy as seen in the NHL last season so goalies could smother in fabric shots they might have missed.

While the Sinden System probably won't see the light of day, it's lights out on the issue of smaller equipment for goalies. It's a done deal.

"We've worked with the players' association closely on reducing the size of goalie equipment," said Colin Campbell, the NHL vice-president in charge of hockey operations. "We've got to get moving on this now with the manufacturers."

Compromise solutions to opening up games to allow skilled players to show their stuff probably will be arrived at down the line. Most likely to be implemented is a three-point plan: reduced goalie equipment, reintroduction of tag-up offsides, and elimination of obstruction.

"We should go back to the tag-up rule," said Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "And we still need a firmer crackdown on interference away from where the puck is so we can get some give-and-go back into the game.

"I don't know what else we can do."

While Sather liked the Sather System, Quinn was skeptical.

"I don't like the idea that you can throw the puck 160 feet down the ice," said Quinn. "It takes away from teamwork rather than building it.

"I don't want to see a ping pong game. Something this drastic might not be the answer."

But he's willing to have a look. Why not? He's got nothing else to do.

"You don't know how it's going to work unless you actually try it," he said. "To me, we've got a heck of a game right now.

"We can clean up a few things but, to make drastic changes? I don't know. A lot of us will have to be convinced it'll make our game better and I'm not sure we're there yet until we watch and analyse more. One thing I know is there's no hitting out there, which I don't like."

He's all for thwarting neutral zone trappers ? but not at any cost.

"If we're just going to throw the puck down (the ice) and play like basketball ? zone sort of hockey ? I'm not interested in that," he said.

But, as Campbell reminded, the Sinden System is merely an experiment.

"What we're working on with this experiment is opening up the game," he said. "The trap has stymied our game.

"What the end result of this (experiment) is, I don't know. At least it's an attempt to open up the game."

Quinn joined the chorus supporting smaller goalie equipment, which had been growing too big for a long time, he said.

"What happened with our goaltenders was not right," said Quinn. "It was less about ability and more about equipment and blocking the net.

"You can look down at the game we're watching right now and you can see (net) space (behind the goalie). That's the way it was in the 1970s and before that.

"We still want them protected properly because guys shoot the puck harder . . . but if we want to increase scoring that's going to be a big step towards it."

A second scrimmage made use of nets with arced side posts, making net space 17 per cent larger.

"I don't care so much about making bigger nets," said Quinn. "My thoughts were always on make the equipment smaller, and not the nets larger."

Phil Knapp, a York University forward from Athens, Ont., was one of the skaters taking part.

"There's so much room out there that there's not much checking going on," he said. "It's really open.

"When the puck leaves your end, you can just stand there in front of the other team's net."

At first, defencemen were standing up at their blue-line as if the blue-line setup was normal. But forwards began circling in behind them to get breakaway passes so the defencemen began staking territory further back towards their goalie's crease.

The smaller equipment wasn't too big a handicap for goalie Brad Topping of London, who played for the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires.

"The smaller equipment is definitely a disadvantage for the goalies," he said. "You have to play like you did in your minor-hockey days when you were smaller.

"You have to come out and challenge the shooters and play your angles well and use your reflexes."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050606.wnhlrules6/BNStory/Sports/

[grim]

I'm really interested in these potential changes. Maybe I'm the only one. Like Guy Carbonneau, I don't know about allowing a pass anywhere after crossing the "new" defensive blueline. But I would take it over the status quo.

Progressive ideas earn raves at NHL camp
By Adam Proteau
June 6, 2005

The first day of the NHL?s research and development camp in Toronto ended with most league executives sounding as progressive as they?ve ever been.

?I think this sort of effort is the responsibility of everyone involved in the sport,? said Canucks assistant GM Steve Tambellini of the three-day camp, intended to study rule changes to improve the game?s appeal. ?We have to keep our stars looking like stars. We have to allow our players to create more, and we have to keep pushing to show how great our players are. That?s what this camp is all about.?

The two scrimmages that were run had separate central concepts: the morning session utilized an idea from Bruins president Harry Sinden, in which bluelines were drawn across the tops of either playoff circle, and passes were allowed anywhere past the defensive zone blueline to any other part of the ice.

The second scrimmage employed bigger nets ? 17 per cent bigger, with the goalposts curved outward ? and no red line at center ice. Both sessions featured tag-up offsides, hurry-up faceoffs, strong enforcement against obstruction, no icing on penalty kills, no-touch icing, smaller equipment for goaltenders, 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 overtime, and shootouts.

Although most of those on hand were hesitant to hastily pass judgment on the changes, one thing was clear: streamlined goalie equipment, part of which features goalie pads reduced to 10 inches wide, is long overdue.

?They look more like they did years ago, which is a good thing,? Tambellini said of the new-look goaltenders, who appear markedly different from the bulked-up behemoths who have become the norm.

?It?s been less about athletic skill for goaltenders than it is about equipment the past decade,? added Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn. ?Hopefully we?re going to get back to the ability to stop the puck, rather than just block it because you?re big.?

The verdict on other changes, which were experimented with using over-age junior and college players, wasn?t nearly as positive.

?I don?t really like being able to pass from one zone to the other,? Guy Carbonneau, Stars special assistant to the GM, said of the Bruins? initiative. ?It forces the defensemen to stay back a little too much.?

?It was quite a bit different, fairly radical in its approach,? Quinn said of the morning session. ?It did provide what they talked about ? more room (on the ice) ? but it looked like an east-west game.?

Quinn also wasn?t overly impressed with the no red-line concept tested in the afternoon.

?We?re all concerned about the lack of room through mid-ice. And this afternoon, in removing the red line, you didn?t see much of the ice opened up,? he said. ?When you watch it done overseas, when you see Finland and Sweden hammer the puck around from their own zone to someone posted way down the ice, you think ?is that the kind of game we want to have?? I don?t know if that?s the kind of hockey I want to see.

?I want to see give-and-go, I want to see people moving, I want to see quickness on display, and I want to see a five-man team concept. Now how do we do that, when we block up the mid-ice the way we do? For me, it may be by penalizing the formation, either with change of possession or something of that nature, without adding a whole bunch of new gimmicks that change the total look of what is a pretty good game.?

Opinion was split on the first version of bigger nets. The second, oval-shaped version, will be tested Tuesday.

?I?m hard-pressed to find any difference in them,? said Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. ?It gives the players a little more to shoot at. It makes the shot from the outside a little more dangerous, the point shot is a little more dangerous, and it challenges the goalie to come out of his crease a little more, which allows for a rebound you can bang into an empty net.

?I have a hard time coming up with a negative for something that gives you more room to shoot at.?

Another observer wasn't nearly so glowing in his assessment.

?Those (bigger nets) will never see the light of day,? said one league executive who requested anonymity. ?I think they?re more of a deterrent to goaltenders, a 'if you don?t go along with smaller equipment, this is what you?re in for' kind of thing. It?s more for show than anything else.?

That said, nearly all of those in attendance were pleased to see the league take efforts to better its product.

?We?ve been in the Dark Ages for too many years,? Carbonneau said. ?If you look at other sports, they?ve had to make changes to keep themselves fresh. We didn?t, and now we?re dealing with the results. So something has to be done.?

http://www.thn.com/en/headlines/detail.asp?id=27910&cat=954945254360

[PDO]

Stupid, STUPID rule.

Please, don't make hockey soccer on ice, PLEASE.

Streamline pads and call the game the way it was meant to be.. add the big blueines, there done LEAVE IT ALONE. No one thought we needed any rule changes in '94... why do we need them now? Retarded rules.