Besides providing some rich soil in which to plant trade seeds, the National Hockey League’s GM meetings — taking place Tuesday in Toronto, following the Hall of Fame induction ceremony — aim to improve the game, and make it more profitable.
Gary Bettman, speaking publicly Monday, said NHL revenue is expected to reach $4.5 billion this season. The World Cup of Hockey surely helped. Goal scoring is up, parity is in full effect, and business is good.
“The game is headed in a better direction than ever,” Ottawa Senators rookie GM Pierre Dorion told the Ottawa Sun. “The speed and the pace are at an all-time high. Our players are protected, for the most part, better than ever.”
While the agenda of the general managers’ meeting has not been revealed publicly, here a few items expected to be discussed by the group.
Rule changes won’t immediately result from Tuesday’s talks, but the fall meeting helps shape the agenda for March.
Blindside hits
Nazem Kadri’s hammering of Daniel Sedin while the Vancouver Canucks star was in the act of scoring a goal on Nov. 5 has opened up “a hornet’s nest” of debate, in the words of Nick Kypreos.
Sedin’s helmet popped off, he hit the ice, and Kadri spun around expecting retribution. Still, the check — which first made shoulder contact, not head — was ruled unworthy of suspension by the letter of the rule book.
Expect to hear plenty of these terms: blindside, principal of contact, predatory, intent.
Vancouver GM Jim Benning has been outspoken about the legality of the Kadri hit.
“Everybody who has seen the hit agrees it was predatory,” Benning, who argued his case with the league at length, told the Vancouver Province. “I look back at our own suspensions and they were late hits — Alex Burrows on (Alexei) Emelin (three games, October 2014) and Jake Virtanen on (Roman) Polak (two games, March 2016) and I don’t know if those players were in such a vulnerable position as Daniel. He could have been hurt bad for a long time.
“The ruling we got is that it wasn’t a late hit and from [the NHL’s] perspective, it wasn’t a hit to the head. But it was a player [Kadri] who could have held back for making that type of hit.”
Back in 2012, the NHL shifted the language of its headshot prevention from preventing “blindside” hits to focusing to checks that target the head.
In addition to Benning, New Jersey’s Ray Shero, Pittsburgh’s Jim Rutherford, and Columbus’s Jarmo Kekalainen have been proponents of increasing head protection.
“The ruling was changed and no longer states blindside hits,” Benning said. “It’s more hits to the head, and we were told Kadri’s was shoulder-to-shoulder and didn’t target the head.”
Goaltending equipment
Save percentages league-wide are down on average from .915 last year to .913. We’re on track for the NHL’s worst save percentage since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 and the most goals per game (5.5) since 2010-11.
Baby steps for a game that generally believes it needs to increase scoring to attract more fans.
“We have to approach the subject,” Dorion said. “Any time we can find a way to still protect our goalies and get goal scoring up is something that can be beneficial for the game and our fans. The only guys who won’t like it are the goalie coaches and our coaches.”
Slimmed-down pants and upper-body padding for goaltenders was intended to be in place to begin this season. That hasn’t happened… yet.
Some goalies have requested comprehensive safety testing before they strap on the skinny gear, and that cannot happen until the standards and measurements are agreed upon by the NHL and the PA, and the equipment is manufactured.
Concussion spotting protocol
The increased power of off-ice concussion spotters came into play on Nov. 8 during the Canucks’ 5-3 defeat of the Rangers in New York. Starter Antti Rantaa got rattled late in a tight game. After conversing with his trainer, Rantaa planned to remain in the game — until a spotter pulled him.
A cold Henrik Lundqvist gave up two goals on six shots, and the Rangers lost.
Should a backup goalie be allotted a longer warm-up period when coming in to relieve an injured teammate?
Sportsnet’s Kelly Hrudey has suggested five to seven minutes would be fair, but is there an appetite to slow the game down for that?
Expansion draft clarity
The rules for the Las Vegas franchise’s draft in June still need to be finalized but appear on track. The NHL and the Players’ Association are reportedly in agreement regarding the 65 to 70 players on the protected list, which includes skaters with no-movement clauses.
Teams will be permitted to ask players to waive their no-move clauses for inclusion in the expansion draft.
There will be penalties levied to teams that fail to comply with expansion draft rules.
