The calendar has flipped to 2024. And while we’re all making our New Year’s resolutions, it’s time to look at some the NHL should make. Some changes are on the ice, some in the standings, and others just for my own personal benefit.
Full two-minute power play
This change has been floated for a while, and I’ve finally come around to it. If a team scores five seconds into its power play, the team taking the penalty shouldn’t be off the hook because the opposing team made quick work with the man advantage. Let teams have a full 2 minutes to score as many goals as they can.
This likely leads to more scoring, which no one should complain about. Goals are fun!
On the flip side, I’m against what the PWHL is doing during its inaugural season by ending a penalty if the opposing team scores a shorthanded goal. I do appreciate that the new women’s league is thinking outside the box , but it’s just a rule that isn’t for me.
Extend 3-on-3 overtime by 2 minutes in the NHL
It’s strange to think there are hockey fans approaching their 20th birthdays who don’t know the NHL without shootouts. But here we are, some 18 years after shootouts were introduced to the League for the 2005-06 season, and — despite what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says — most fans would be OK seeing the gimmick retired.
But do we want ties? Probably not. And as stated, Bettman’s support for shootouts means they aren’t going anywhere. So let’s do the next best thing and extend three-on-three overtime by two minutes to help decide a winner. If the game is still tied, then decide it with the shootout. I guess.
This likely would be a difficult sell to the NHLPA. Those minutes are taxing with all that open ice and the long change, and it’s the star players feeling the brunt of it. Plus extending a game even by a few minutes makes traveling to the next city even more difficult.
But we feel it’s worth it to have more NHL games end in something closer resembling hockey rather than a skills competition. The fact that they went to three-on-three at all shows the League feels that way, too.
Related: NHL award predictions 2024
Change the NHL points system
There’s been plenty of talk of the NHL moving towards more of a soccer-based points system of 3-2-1-0, with the highest total being a regulation win, followed by an overtime or shootout victory, overtime or shootout loss and regulation loss.
But I’m here to buck that trend and say enough of the multi-point games; give us two points for any type of win and nothing for any type of loss.
The NHL touts its competitive balance that most teams are still in the playoff race come the final weeks of the season. But that’s because teams are banking points in games they didn’t win. Teams can “earn” a dozen points or more in a season in games they lost.
Check the NHL standings, we’re days into 2024 and the New York Islanders currently have 10 overtime losses.
Enough already. Stop awarding a team for not winning a game. Do away with the loser point and make NHL teams push for a victory and the two points. It would make the final minutes of a game or overtime more exciting if it felt like there was more at stake than a team knowing at worst it was leaving with one point.
It’s not apples-to-apples, but an MLB team doesn’t gain half a game on a team ahead of them in the standings because it lost a game in the 17th inning; an NHL team shouldn’t improve in the standings for losing a game in a shootout.
Balance the NHL schedule
Rivalries are fun. Playing a rival four times over an 82-game schedule isn’t.
The NHL’s balanced schedule has all 32 teams playing in all 32 arenas.
It’s understandable why the NHL wants to showcase its star players in every city. Who doesn’t want to see Connor McDavid or wunderkid Connor Bedard in person? But doing so has stripped away other aspects of the schedule that make things worse.
As of this writing, the New York Rangers have played the Edmonton Oilers twice but haven’t played their biggest rival, the Islanders, yet. They meet for the first time in February, once in March and twice more in April, with just one game at UBS Arena on Long Island.
Imagine if the New York Yankees played the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks just one fewer series than the Boston Red Sox?
The NHL has four balanced divisions. Each team should play their divisional foes six times and then divide the remaining 40 games among the three other divisions. My vote would be playing three games against the other division in your conference, and then a home-and-home with out of division opponents.
White jerseys at home
This has absolutely no bearing on the game at all: let’s go back to NHL teams wearing white jerseys at home.
It was that way for the last quarter of the 1900s and just feels better. It’s great for home fans, too, to see more than just two colors for 41 home games a year.