Fan suggest NHL rule change that is gaining support from fans
With the idea of the game of hockey evolving many people have had ideas on how to make the game more exciting and tolerable to watch. The shootout came into existence within the National Hockey League after the 2004-2005 season in such fashion as to assure that games would end with a winner, they followed in the 2015-2016 season with an overtime format change to allow teams to play 3 on 3, after the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League adopted a 4 on 4.
Now seven years later a company hired by the National Hockey League's analytics department has suggested a rule change that could alter the games completely. The idea is that if a penalty is taken in the last 2-4 minutes of a game and the game would expire before the penalty has been completely served, the game would be extended.
This change was brought about by the ending of the Toronto Maple Leafs Game 1 versus the Florida Panthers. In the final minute Ryan O'Reilly was cut by a high stick awarding the Maple Leafs a 4-minute powerplay. However, with less than a minute left on the clock the team would never see the full 4-minutes of powerplay time.
As one can imagine this has caused quite a bit of divisiveness between fans and supporters alike as some see pros and others cons to the idea. In essence, although different you can equate it to the idea of soccer where extra time is added to the end of a half or game when an injury or card has been presented during play. The NFL has a similar rule that will not allow a game to end on a defensive penalty, forcing another down to be played regardless of there being no time remaining on the clock.
However, as it has been pointed out, what would stop a trailing team from continuing to take penalties in order to extend the game? The NHL would have to adopt a rule preventing this.
This is just one instance of what ifs, on a multitude of rebuttals, ideas and individuals who feel that the game needs to find a way to be refreshed moving forward and while they may be onto something, who has a right to say what's broken? Only time will tell.
| POLL | ||
As a fan would you welcome a rule change similar to what you see in soccer to extend time during a penalty? | ||
| Yes, I like the idea | 39 | 21.5 % |
| No, the idea is flawed | 105 | 58 % |
| It has potential, but needs to be ironed out | 37 | 20.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
