The game’s in a great place.
That was the popular sentiment at March’s NHL general manager meetings in South Florida when no rule changes were pushed forward to the league’s competition committee for discussion and final approval. And it’s also mostly what The Athletic heard from players at the recent NHL media tours in Stockholm and Henderson, Nev.
“I’m pretty happy with how the league is and how the game is going,” Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin said.
But still — there must be some room for improvement, right? A new overtime format? Or a fix for the age-old problem of growing goalie equipment? Or … an NHL shot clock?
With the 2023-24 season right around the corner, we asked 55 players — including a number of hockey’s very best — the question “What’s one rule change you would make?” And indeed, we heard a number of old ideas resurfacing as well as some interesting new ones.
Read more: NHL player poll: Who’s the top chirper? Which city should be next in expansion?
Some players chose not to answer, and others offered up more than one idea. Some answered anonymously, and others went on the record and provided commentary.
Here are the answers they gave, along with the number of players who were behind each.
Continuous three-on-three
Votes: 6
Fans love three-on-three. So do the players.
The stars get to show off their skills, and many feel it’s a better way to conclude a game than a shootout. So why not just keep going until someone scores?
“I think three-on-three is as exciting as our game gets, just with all the open space and speed,” Anaheim Ducks star Troy Terry said. “I just think it’s a more real way to end a hockey game.”
We’re already trending toward more games ending at three-on-three. The format came into effect in 2015-16, and last season a record 68.5 percent of games that went past regulation ended before the shootout (207 of 302). Ninety-five went to a shootout. Here’s how that number has evolved over the past 10 years, with those that end in OT, those in a shootout and the percentage of the total in OT:
| Season | OT | SO | % in OT |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2022-23 |
207 |
95 |
68.5 |
|
2021-22 |
186 |
102 |
64.6 |
|
2020-21 |
130 |
65 |
66.7 |
|
2019-20 |
164 |
86 |
65.6 |
|
2018-19 |
184 |
87 |
67.9 |
|
2017-18 |
193 |
103 |
65.2 |
|
2016-17 |
190 |
99 |
65.7 |
|
2015-16 |
168 |
107 |
61.1 |
|
2014-15 |
136 |
170 |
44.4 |
|
2013-14 |
129 |
178 |
42.0 |
Both the league and players’ union have scoffed at extending three-on-three, citing the wear and tear on players, injury concerns, the fact the same skilled players would play throughout the extra time, and the reality that road teams need to get to the airport.
But as the Minnesota Wild’s Jake Middleton joked, “Maybe after five minutes, they have to force players like me to play three-on-three so it ends.”
Refs talk after games
Votes: 5
As one player said, “We have to stand up and be accountable after every game. Why shouldn’t they?”
Hey, it’s a good point.
As player after player in Henderson said, it’s a fast game and refs and linesmen are human. But it would be nice to know what a ref or linesman was thinking or saw during critical decisions during games.
“It would be fun,” Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said.
NFL and MLB media can send a pool reporter to talk to the referee or umpires after controversial decisions. The NBA allows for a pool reporter to talk via video call to refs after disputed decisions. The NBA also issues a play-by-play report regarding all calls and material non-calls when the lead is three points or fewer in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or the last two minutes of any overtime period for all games.
Even though there are employees in the NHL Situation Room and NHL Department of Player Safety who log calls they perceive as incorrect or missed for every single game all season long, though, this type of transparency is not provided in the NHL.
“I don’t think there’s any appetite to change our current policies with respect to our officials and their talking to the media,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “Having said that, I don’t think we’re escaping any responsibility to address the media when controversial judgments or decisions are made. But I think that falls more to Colin Campbell and to Stephen Walkom and Gary Bettman and to me occasionally, when those situations happen.
“I negotiated with the officials this summer. We just completed a new collective bargaining agreement that has to get board (approval). But believe me, it has not come up as anything that they’re interested in.”
I told Daly that maybe I was losing my mind, but I remember interviewing referees as a pool reporter back in the 1990s. Just to make sure I wasn’t, I checked in with Hall of Fame hockey writers Eric Duhatschek and Jim Matheson, and it is true. There was no set rule, but if the on-site supervisor gave permission and the referee was amenable, he’d talk to a reporter. By our memory, Kerry Fraser, Paul Stewart and the late Mick McGeough were among the refs who were known to agree to it.
At some point, that stopped.
“You’re probably right,” Daly said. “A lot of things have changed over time. A lot of the officials used to have their names on their backs. They don’t anymore, and that hasn’t come up as a request by them either. And I think they enjoy their anonymity on the ice to the extent they can. So (refs talking to reporters has) never been a bargaining issue. And I think we feel pretty strongly that the league should have that voice, not the officials.”
Is it enough for a ref to explain himself on the ice, or should he have to do so after the game, too? (Jaylynn Nash / Getty Images)
Ten-minute three-on-three
Votes: 4
If continuous three-on-three can’t happen, a few players figured, why not at least 10 minutes of it?
“I like shootouts, but people want to see three-on-three,” Dallas Stars star Jason Robertson said.
“I don’t think it could be endless, but I like the idea of extending it,” added the Vegas Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel.
Smaller pads for goalies
Votes: 3
“They’re still way too big,” kidded Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond.
Allowing kicked-in goals
Votes: 3
If the puck deflects in off your skate with a “distinct kicking motion,” by the NHL rulebook, it’s no goal. Some players wouldn’t mind seeing that change.
“There’s just a lot of gray areas to know if someone’s kicking it or deflecting it or lifting the skate or not lifting the skate or coming to a stop or it was intentional or wasn’t intentional,” New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt said. “Games are sometimes decided because of a goal decision by somebody in Toronto. I feel at times we don’t have a clear view of what a goal is or not, so my answer would be just to allow kicking. You’d get the same thing every single decision.”
Buffalo’s Tage Thompson agreed.
“Sometimes you get tied up with a defenseman, kick it in if you got a loose puck there,” he said.
And scoring on high-sticks, too
Votes: 3
“I obviously don’t want guys to start swinging their sticks like baseball bats,” Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg said, “but I think a high deflection should be allowed.”
Should it matter how high a stick is when deflecting a puck? (Bill Streicher / USA Today)
Special teams tweaks
Votes: 2 each for …
• If you give up a short-handed goal, the power play should cancel — It’s not a bad idea. If the power play screws up, why should it get a chance to redeem itself?
• If you score on the power play, the power play continues — Bet if you threw this idea inside an NHL dressing room, most players would agree.
• If you ice the puck while short-handed, it’s an icing — Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson: “They want more goals, and this would get it. Now the PK can’t just throw it down. They’ve got to chip it out, which would lead to players being trapped on the ice.” Then he thought a little further before adding with a laugh: “I guess I wouldn’t really like it when I’m on the PK, but as a PP guy, I would.”
• If you get scored on short-handed or are on the ice for an empty-net goal, you don’t get a minus — Said Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Adam Boqvist: “I think it’s ridiculous, especially on empty-netters.”
Other ideas
Above were the multiple-vote nominees, but some players had unique brainstorms. Here are the rule changes proposed by one player only:
• When you hold on to the puck behind the net for more than five seconds, it’s a penalty — Believe it or not, this idea was offered up by a star defenseman who probably gets a kick out of the fans booing his comrades.
• If you score on a delayed penalty, you still get a power play — Said New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox: “We did that in college, and we still got rewarded.”
• A shot clock similar to the NBA — Now this is a unique one. Arizona Coyotes defenseman J.J. Moser is tired of forwards not pushing the play. “I have no idea how it would be,” he said. “But I think it would create a lot more drives to the net.”
• No disallowed goals — “I guess it’s a double-edged sword,” Devils star Jack Hughes said. “Maybe just for our team.”
• Letting fans tailgate like they do at the Buffalo Bills stadium — A fun idea from the Buffalo Sabres’ JJ Peterka, which has been happening at Hurricanes games forever. “The energy is unreal in that building … probably in part because of the tailgating,” Peterka said, laughing.
• Play more games in Europe — Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, who hails from Finland, loves the fact the league has expanded the Global Series in which four teams — the Detroit Red Wings, the Minnesota Wild, the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs — will play games in Stockholm in November, but he doesn’t think it should be limited to only a few games and a few teams each season. He’d like to see games played in different countries involving teams throughout an NHL season.
• Get rid of the salary cap
• Go back to a one-vs.-eight playoff format
• Instead of a trapezoid, make them rectangles so the lines are straight rather than diagonal — This is a rule that pertains to the area a goalie can handle the puck in behind his goal line. Philadelphia Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom smiled at his response, saying he always gets confused by the line.
• Get rid of the delay-of-game penalty — This refers to the hated over-the-boards calls.
• If a power play carries over, the faceoff starts in the offensive zone to start the next period
• Expand to Europe — Not sure that’s actually a rule, but it’s an idea.
(Top photo of a referee signaling no-goal: Brett Holmes / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
