BOSTON – Recent recommendations from the NHL’s competition committee on visors, hybrid icing and video review for high-sticking penalties have been endorsed by general managers, according to Mathieu Schneider.
The special assistant to NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr attended a meeting of the 30 GMs before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final on Wednesday and indicated that those men endorsed the proposed changes.
Provided the league’s board of governors does the same when it votes on June 27, all NHL rookies will be required to wear visors moving forward.
Among the other tweaks are using nets which are four inches shallower, allowing four-minute high-sticking penalties to be reviewed by video and a pre-season trial period with hybrid icing.
“I think the GMs are real excited about the visors being made mandatory for the rookies coming into the league,” Schneider said. “Everything else we had discussed previously and had agreement on, but our purpose coming here was to make sure that there were no further questions and a little bit of understanding on their side of what goes on on our side of the process and how we come to consensus on things.”
The exact parameters of the hybrid icing still need to be nailed down. Essentially, it will give officials the discretion to blow a play dead when there is a race for the puck.
After trying the rule change out during the exhibition schedule, the league and NHLPA will discuss whether it will be used next season.
“I think that it will be an interesting experiment,” Schneider said. “I’m optimistic. I’ve learned more through these meetings watching videos and getting a better understanding but I think it’s really going to give our players an opportunity of what it’s like to play and to watch the hybrid.
“We’ll see. If it makes the game safer it’s a great thing.”
Among the other items on Schneider’s agenda is forming an equipment sub-committee with Brendan Shanahan, the league’s senior vice-president of player safety, which will eventually tackle the size of goalie pads.
Also on the radar is cutting down on diving and embellishment – something that was discussed by the competition committee earlier this month and should be addressed again at a future meeting.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a big issue,” Schneider said. “Listen, hockey players have always prided themselves on being some of the toughest guys and when you see some of the plays it makes you shake your head a little, but at the same time (Colin Campbell) will tell you a story of a player he thought dove and ended up having a broken neck.
“Guys lose edges. Guys step on sticks. There are so many that are grey even though there are the calls that everybody and their mother knows it’s a dive, there are a lot of them that are grey.”