How to Increase Scoring

[Bathgate]

We absolutely must have more goals, for the good of the game, i.e., entertainment value. I certainly would enlarge the goal slightly, and decrease the size of goalie gear.

I’ve always disliked the offsides rule because it causes too much dump and chase. Change it somehow to facilitate a game of mostly exciting end-to-end rushes. Maybe you could allow penetration of the attacking zone once the puck has reached the attacking side of center ice. Another possibility would be to allow offsides by one second, with the linesman judging it by counting “one thousand one” in his head. Both of these would force defensemen to back off attacking puck carriers, rather then “standing up at the blue line”.

Regardless of what offsides rule is used, overturning a goal by video review of offsides should only happen if the goal occurs directly off the rush. Disallowing a goal after the puck has been passed and ponged around the offensive zone for a long time is ridiculous.

[tfrizz]

Just trying to show some other reference photos in regards to the topic, in addition to FLPF's evolution of Hasek. Goalies are clearly bigger in stature, the cuffs on the gloves are bigger, and the leg pads are somewhat bigger. But the big things, as others have pointed out, are the pants, jersey, and the uppers.

Absolutely. There's not much more they can do with the pads, blockers, and trappers. They can trim cuffs a little. They could go back to 1930s era 10" pads, but that strikes me as a change just for the sake of making a change. The changes they need to address are exactly what you've highlighted - C/A units, pants, jerseys.

These are the very same things that Martin Brodeur said needed to be addressed a couple years ago - he flat out said that focusing on leg pads, blockers, and trappers (like the NHL has been) is wrong. These guys today are too fast, too athletic... those changes end up being meaningless. If they want more net to shoot at, the C/A units are the first things to target. I'm not sure exactly how, since goalies are getting hurt even with the big ones in use today (ex: Varlamov broke his collar bone on a shot back in March), but they need to be made more form fitting and in a safe fashion.

[tfrizz]

We absolutely must have more goals, for the good of the game, i.e., entertainment value. I certainly would enlarge the goal slightly, and decrease the size of goalie gear.

That's untrue, and Colin Campbell has admitted as much. Goals being scored doesn't make the game exciting; great scoring chances, whether they go in or are stopped, do. You want more goals, make the net 20'x20' and see how exciting that is. You want more excitement, open the game up to allow for more scoring chances.

[JaysTelestrator]

I believe, as many others do, that penalties need to be called more. Not only because PP's will lead to scoring, but defense players can no longer inhibit offensive players. I believe to do this, penalties should come down to 1 minute. This allows the refs to call more penalties without the scare of changing a game completely. The 2 minute power play in hockey is the most damaging in all of sports..

[murphydump55]

I believe, as many others do, that penalties need to be called more. Not only because PP's will lead to scoring, but defense players can no longer inhibit offensive players. I believe to do this, penalties should come down to 1 minute. This allows the refs to call more penalties without the scare of changing a game completely. The 2 minute power play in hockey is the most damaging in all of sports..

Yet you have some saying that the penalty should last the whole 2 minutes, even if a goal is scored.

I agree with your first statement, enforce the actual rules and PP's will increase and therefore goal scoring should as well. Once the players adjust, the PP's will drop down again, but 5 on 5 hockey will be more exciting and lead to more scoring chances. As of now, many 5 on 5 scoring chances are negated by players illegally engaging and not being called for it.

Open the game up, let the best players shine and utilize their talents. Barely 80 points won the scoring title last year! 80 friggin points! Call the rulebook, call the interference, call clutch and grab, and leave the nets alone. Combine this with downsizing the goaltending equipment and you'll see results.

Since 2005, the average PP opportunities each game has dropped by almost half! It was just below 6 in 2005 and we're down to just above 3 PP's a game this year. So I guess all the players have stopped breaking the rules? Even though they've supposedly cracked down on a bunch of rules? Hogwash. This is on the officials and the league. Call the game properly, open it up, let the stars shine, and let's enjoy the game even more. Heck you might even attract some new fans.

[no name]

Colin Campbell brought up a very good point, when looking at teams who led after 2 periods the number is staggering how many teams who take a lead into the 3rd period win. He pointed to the refs putting the whistles away that allows teams to hold onto leads and win games. He even suggested the refs should call penalties the same in the 3rd as in the 1st period.

[penmyst]

The problem I see is goalies standing outside the crease getting steam-rolled by players because they are 'fair-game'.

You can't steamroll any other player that is not playing the puck It's called interference. Why would you be allowed to do it to a goalie?

I like the whistle for opponents in crease. But if you are going to give the goalie that area to be physically unmolested; then he should be treated like any other player when he leaves that area. I think it would cut down on goalies coming out aggressively cutting down angles on shots. If only because it now has a risk:reward ratio inherent as in "will I be run into right as the puck is arriving?"

The real solution though is to get the refereeing in order. I don't want to drop all the blame on the refs here either. They do what the NHL wants them to. And unfortunately, there are a lot of hockey people from that northerly nation who think the way things are now is A-OK.

Until the referees are told to call penalties when they see them, irregardless of score/time in game/home or away... you are going to see the borefests you see now. Where every game eerily sees both teams have close to the same PP chances no matter what. Like it's entirely believable that a high-octane talented team is going to be taking as many penalties as a pack of ham-n-eggers for opponents. When you understand why penalties usually happen, then you see how ridiculous it is that refs even up nearly every game.

Even if you got the NHL to start calling penalties evenhandedly, you still won't see a return to the halcyon days of 200-point players. Teams are far too defensive-system oriented nowadays, coupled with generally bigger/faster/stronger players on teh same size ice-rinks of yesteryear.

And the competition is much more fierce due to the money in the game (and sports in general. They are the bread-n-circuses of modern-day Romans). The overall level of talent in the league is light years ahead of the old days. With europeans also in the mix, the talent is so much better. To understand what that means, think of why high-school sports have crazy ridiculous scores... why college has ridiculous scores. The talent level across teh board there is not that great. So elite players can really rack it up against a bunch of future non-pros. Once they get to the pro-level, you hardly ever see the insane scores because even the curtain-jerkers are realllllly good.

[bhaw]

Everything has been said that makes sense:

1. Go back to enforcing interference, holding, hooking, etc like it was after the 2004 lockout
2. Goalie equipment - changes won't result in injured goalies. There's no reason to have a giant flat surface that sticks out 1-2 inches beyond both sides of your arm that is safety related. Same goes with how far they extend up the legs. Pants cover the thighs, so you don't need 6 inches of pad to also cover the thighs. Those are strictly meant to make it easier to cover your 5 hole. Smaller cuffs on the glove. Even if you shorten all these things slightly, the overall impact is pretty significant. It has to be done all around, not just 1 thing.

If you want to go for a crazy rule, think about how the NFL eliminates contact after 5 yards from the line of scrimmage. NHL could eliminate contact in the neutral zone. I'm not actually condoning it, but that's taking a rule that had significant impact in one league and catering it to the NHL. Only incidental contact in the neutral zone.

[wondermoose]

I think changing the size of the nets is a comically absurd idea and have figured the war on goalie pads will likely be waged first.

Jonathan Quick was recently quoted as saying there is no way to enforce goalie pad size. I beg to differ. In my wildest dreams, I envision a scenario where goalies have their equipment check at random at intermissions or postgame, just like a drug test. Like have an NHL official literally waiting at the edge of the ice to escort the goalie back to the dressing room. If they get caught with illegal equipment, bam, 10 game suspension. Or worse, the game is forfeited if they won. I would love to see the NHL take that kind of no-more-****-around kind of approach.

[no name]

The problem I see is goalies standing outside the crease getting steam-rolled by players because they are 'fair-game'.

The European crease rule is interesting. If you Americanize it it would be good. Give the goalie his crease a area around the goal that no opposing player can enter ( unless he is carring the puck and his stick can be in the crease. If a player goes in there the play is called dead. Faceoff outside the zone is called. This forces the goalie to play in that crease, if he goes out side the crease, players are allowed to make contact with the goalie. Remove the trapezoid goalie can be contacted if he has the puck. This forces goalie to get rid of the puck as fast as possible or not play it at all.

[no name]

I got some random thoughts I am just going to put down and let other poster think of these things for the good or bad of the game. With the idea of opening the game up and create more scoring chances or atleast better quality scoring chances. Goalie equipment is a done deal now we need to keep the integrity of the game in place while still making hockey, hockey.

Remove 10 feet from the netural zone making the offensive zones bigger.
Stop players from laying down to block shots.
Allow goalies to play the puck any where any time, but they are at risk once they leave the crease.
Contract game rosters to 17 players making those guys play more minutes. (used to be like this in the 50s I think?)
make the 1st and 3rd period the long changes.

I think a few more penalties need to be called but not that much more, as long as the goalie equipment is trimmed and a few more powerplays are called I think the game will produce up to 6 goals a game. Me, I would like to see 6.25-6.50 goals a game. Bring back the 120+ point scoring champ and multi- 50-60 goal scores a season.

[bhaw]

I don't agree with the goalies being fair game suggestions. Just look at the NFL. A couple starters go down and you have a league full of crappy QBs. No one wants to see Jeff Zatkoff and James Reimer every night. And worse, THEIR backups in back to back situations.

Players can't control themselves when hitting other skaters. Can you imagine all the dirty hits on goalies with guys who want to ride the line?

[no name]

Well the idea is to keep the goalies in their crease. If they are fair game outside the crease they will play the puck faster and stop using their bodies as a shield when they control the puck. Also inside their crease they would be given added protection that players cannot go in their crease at all. Once a player is in the crease the whistle blows and the face off is outside the zone.

Also seeing a lot of people being open to the 2 minute minor penalties being allowed to run the full 2 minutes like it did in the old days. If you would keep the game the way it is, and made goalies wear smaller and form fitting equipment also allowing the full 2 minute power play to run you would get more goals per game.