Should the NHL remove the penalty box? (poll)

[Shakes]

I may be late to this party, but curious what people think of this.

Plus, it's an excuse to post this Sutter quote:

“Still, it amazes me that’s what they call it – the penalty box. Like, what is that, the ‘penalty box?’ They should take the penalty box out, because you think about how much time there actually is sitting in the penalty box now, it’s about 12 minutes total a game, right? 12 minutes. It used to be they had a guy with a suit, and if you got a penalty, and you got a penalty, that guy sat between you, right? Now they have two boxes. You go to the box. It’s like Steve McQueen, right? They should sell those seats…there are so few penalties now. Why don’t they just say, ‘OK, you’ve got to sit on the bench,’ or, ‘You’ve got to sit on their bench for two minutes.’ I don’t get that. They’ve got like four guys sitting over there, and room for like six other people to sit. They’re the best seats in the house, right at center ice. Like, if it was a football game, then that’s the best seat. I don’t get that [any] more. Really, it’s like a three-penalty-team a game now. Why do they make that deal? Why do they get that big place for there? When I was coaching Brett in novice when he was little back home, and he’d get penalties, I’d go, ‘Brett, you’re little. Why do you go over there and sit? Why do you want to go there?’ He says, ‘I can see better from there.’ [Reporter: How old was he?] He was just little. It makes sense, right? He could see better.”

“When you think about it, I’m probably right for once.”

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I'm a "No," but I can't think of a better reason that "it'd be weird without the penalty box."

[mikey287]

Darryl Sutter is someone I normally agree with and I really like him as a coach...but he often just screws with the media because he can...he said this recently...

On whether he's happy with the team at the Thanksgiving evaluation point:

I don't go by U.S. Thanksgiving because the season started this year a week earlier. So if you look at it, when you break it all out, I don't look at it as 82. I look at it as 80, I look at it when you get to 20, I look at it when you get to 40. This year, 41 is actually the calendar year, which if you base it on 82, that's half a year. You know what? Tomorrow's 30 games. If we had 40 points, you'd double 60, that's 80. That means after 60 you've got 80. What you get in the last 22? You need a hundred to make the playoffs. There's no way around it. You know what? .600 hockey – it's not so much winning. It's the actual points that you accumulate. If it comes just to wins or regulation wins, then there are a lot of ties. And that could happen, but so what?

It'd just require an official on the bench as oppose to the penalty box...and it adds a tiny bit of confusion on that front, but not much. The penalty box is a part of the game, it's a piece of what makes hockey unique. Football has flags, hockey has a sin bin...

Too much a part of the game to remove it for a few seats, that frankly, I would not want to sit in...I like to watch the game from higher up so I can watch plays unfold easier...being down at the glass, I can't scout, I can't do as much...

[dodint]

Move the penalty box to those awful front row obstructed view corner seats. Alternate ends each period so the oncoming player always comes out at the back of their defensive end. Though, at that point it probably becomes an engineering problem more than anything. Goal judge used to sit in his own box right behind the net, but with reliable video technology they've been moved to the rafters to make room for seats, all but three teams do this now.

My home rink in high school had penalty boxes between the benches. It was practical for construction and kept the teams apart, but the benches extended past the blue lines on either end which made line changes tricky sometimes, though I was tall enough to go over the boards at will so I didn't care.

Along the same lines, I've always wanted the NHL to have the benches on opposite sides of the ice, like an NFL sideline. But I doubt it'll ever happen because of 1) Tradition 2) screwing over what are probably the highest non-suite season ticket holders. There wouldn't be fewer seats, just no direct center ice seats without a bench at all. Plus we'd lose those Patrick Roy tearing down the glass moments.

[Idoit40fans]

I had to stop reading partway through because te idea was so dumb.

[Sarcastic]

The only thing they should do is rename the penalty box to ice jail.

[columbia]

I can't see anything positive coming from a move like this.
And I could also see an entire bench carping at one player, while he should have been in the box.

[mikey287]

How about this...if you commit a penalty, you have to spend two minutes on the other team's bench...

You want to take cheap shots and rats like Lapierre and Rinaldo out of the league...? That would do it...

[pcm]

I'm pretty sure that would ressucitate the role for a guy like Godard. Have him go out, get in a fight, and then sit on the opposition's bench for 5 minutes instilling fear...

[Shakes]

Too much a part of the game to remove it for a few seats, that frankly, I would not want to sit in...I like to watch the game from higher up so I can watch plays unfold easier...being down at the glass, I can't scout, I can't do as much...

Another great quote him, and maybe you're right that he's just screwing around. "It's like Steve McQueen."

I love sitting up a few rows myself, but there's no question the ice level seats would sell like crazy.

Another thing about the box: when you're at the game, it's not always easy to know who got what. At least you can see who's doing the walk of shame to the box. You would lose that if they just sat on their own bench.

[She'sTheFastest]

The only thing they should do is rename the penalty box to ice jail.

[Willie Kool]

The only thing they should do is rename the penalty box to ice jail.

In Canada, it would just be called jail.

[Idoit40fans]

The only thing they should do is rename the penalty box to ice jail.

In Canada, it would just be called jail.

I thought they called it Saskatchewan.

[bhaw]

The only thing they should do is rename the penalty box to ice jail.

In Canada, it would just be called jail.

I thought they called it Saskatchewan.

You've just offended all 78 Saskatcewanians.

[Steve]

Southpark's Chrismas in Canada was just on. Nice.