GM Ken Holland
“I’m happy. I think 3-on-3 overtime is going to be very exciting for our fans.” – Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland.
In their annual meeting in Las Vegas, just a day before the awkwardness known as the NHL Awards Show, NHL GM’s met and discussed various topics on how to improve the game as we know it today. Always the hot topic of conversation is goal scoring and how to attract more fans to the league and the game of hockey.
On the table, for at least the last 2-3 years, was the idea of either a 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 overtime period which would open the ice up more for superstars like Alex Ovechkin and Sydney Crosby to showcase their skills, and more importantly give fans a more exciting conclusion to tied games.
The shootout has been relatively successful since it was introduced ten years ago after the 2004 lockout. It was designed to give players the opportunity to showcase their “moves” on opposing goaltenders and give the fans a more exciting conclusion to tied games…
Sound familiar?
The shootout has grown stale in my opinion. It is overdone and lazy now. We’ve seen certain moves banned for being too “unfair” and, to be honest, the whole idea of a game concluding based on skill alone is rather dull. I personally would rather see a team win as a team and not on the shoulders of one guy (at a time) against one goalie.
The AHL (American Hockey League for those of you who are new to hockey) has been playing with 4-on-4 overtime as an experiment. 4-on-4 until the first whistle after the first 3-minutes of the OT, then it switches to 3-on-3 for the remainder of the 7-minute OT period. This format dropped the total number of games that went to a shootout from 64.7% to fewer than 25%.
The players on the leagues competition committee rejected the idea of the NHL adopting this format, so, and it hasn’t been made official yet, it looks like the players and the GM’s decided on the 3-on-3 for all 5-minutes.
“We came out of the competition committee meeting with the players’ association and we talked about both formats, and they went back to their representatives and players, and I think the consensus with them and back to us was 3-on-3 would be the right way to go,” Nashville Predators GM David Poile said. “I’m excited about it. From a general managers’ standpoint we’re hopeful to have less shootouts. We felt almost unanimous that we would like to have more games ended in overtime versus the shootout. We got our wish. We got 3-on-3. I don’t know what the statistics are going to prove out, but I know there certainly will be less shootouts. This could be very exciting. It’s another tweak to the game that could be very fan friendly.” (NHL.com)
We haven’t seen the last of the shootout, but it is nice to see that the NHL is doing something to make the game a little more exciting and fair for both fans and players.
Also on the table was the idea of a coach’s challenge which was agreed upon and will take place this coming season. Coaches will be able to challenge goalie interference and offside goals.
Both rules are still pending the Board of Governors approval on Wednesday, but both seem to be a shoe-in for the 2015-16 NHL season.
More to come….
