THE NEW NHL
As you may know, the NHL went on a
“strike” for the 2004-2005 season due to the lack of a Collective
Bargaining Agreement. There were no games; no money earned for tickets
and most importantly, no hockey to be played. Many fans were upset over
the fact that they would not be able to watch a hockey game last year
and wouldn’t know how long the strike would last. The NHL and the
Players Association finally reached an agreement in the summer and came
up with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Due to the agreement, the NHL has
been improved in many ways such as the new rules that were implemented,
the new rink and equipment changes, the changes in player drug testing
and the salary changes.
With the new CBA came a new set of
rules lined up to fix some problems the league thought had to be dealt
with. A big change was the removal of the 2-line pass. Originally,
players could not pass the puck across more than one line on the rink.
In the new rules, however, the 2-line pass no longer exists allowing
players to make longer passes for quicker scoring chances. What would
normally happen with the 2-line pass rule is that the whistle would be
blown and a face-off would take place just outside the zone of the team
who committed the pass. Although there is no 2-line pass rule, players
still cannot pass the puck across the opposing teams blue line to one of
their own players because that is still considered offside. Although,
if the puck is passed into the opposing zone and a player from the
passing team is there he will not be whistled down for offside if he
touches the blue line before going after the puck. This is the Tag-up
rule. The icing rule still remains in which if a player shoots the puck
into the opposing team’s end before crossing the centerline. Another
big change in the rules is the location of where the goalie can play the
puck. Goalies were allowed to play the puck basically anywhere on the
rink before. Now the goalie can only play the puck in front of the net
and in the trapezoid area located directly behind the net. If the
goalie goes into one of the corners behind the net it is a penalty for
that team. The main purpose of this rule is to keep goalies from
“pretending” to get hit in the corners by players and causing
unnecessary penalties. Some goalies would go into the corners and take
a dive when a player came buy to get the puck to make it look as if the
player tripped the goalie. This also makes it harder for the defending
team to get control of the puck in its own end and opens up more scoring
ability for each team. Another rule added to the league is that no
player can hit any player that does not have possession of the puck.
This rule has actually been in the league all along but it is now being
strongly enforced. There have been too many injuries due to players
getting hit from behind not expecting it. If a player hits a player
without the puck he is a given a penalty. Many players will still
continue to hit players without the puck but at least now they will be
penalized for it. Next, players are not allowed to shoot the puck into
the crowd when in their own end or they are given a penalty. The reason
for this is that players would intentionally shout the puck into the
crowd to draw a face-off. Originally only the goalie was given a
penalty for shooting the puck into the crowd. There is also the
instigator rule in which if a player starts a fight in the last 5
minutes of a game he is suspended for a game and his coach is fine $10,
000. The suspension length and fine amount increase for each incident.
The last big change was the shoot-out after overtime. If a game goes to
overtime and neither team scores after 5 minutes then a shoot-out takes
place. Each team gets 3 shooters and the team with most goals at the
end wins. These new rules should improve the intensity and quality of
the game as well as safety.
With the new rules came new changes
to the dimensions of the NHL rink. In order to make the game faster and
to open scoring the league has made the neutral zone, the area in the
middle of the rink, shorter and expanded each team’s attacking zone.
The neutral zone is now 50 feet long instead of 54 feet. Each teams
attacking zone length is now 64 feet rather than 60 feet and the goal
line is 11 feet from the end boards instead of 13 feet.
The goal is to increase scoring,
especially on power plays so that the game becomes more exciting. With
bigger attacking zones, players have more room to set up passes and more
room to fire shots. This way there wont be as many low scoring, low
shooting, boring games and fans should become more intensified. A big
difference with the new dimensions is that teams that would normally
stay back in their own end and protect the puck will have a harder time
doing so because they have more space to protect now.
Equipment changes were also made,
especially to goalies, to even out unfair advantages. Goalie equipment
has been shrunk by 11% overall. The blocker, trapper and pads have all
been decreased in size. The reason for this is so that no goalie can
have bigger padding than any other goalie. A good example is Jean-Sebastien
Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He used to have oversized padding,
allowing him to cover more space and give his team an advantage. Now,
no goalie can use oversized equipment for extra coverage. A lot of
people question whether the Mighty Ducks would have made it as far as
they did in the playoffs of 2003 if Giguere had not had his oversized
pads. It may sound like that’s just an excuse for people to complain
about but it quite possibly could have made a difference. These new
changes should improve the game play and fairness of the league.
Drug testing is being looked into
closely now and no drugs will be tolerated. Players may now be tested
up to 2 times over the season without being notified. If a player tests
positive for a performance-enhancing drug once, that player is suspended
without pay for 20 days and must participate in a drug abuse program.
If a player tests positive a second time he is suspended for 60 days
without pay. If a player tests positive a third time, he is permanently
suspended and cannot apply to be reinstated for at least 2 years. The
NHLPA/NHL committee would then decide if the player is allowed back into
the league.
All test results are kept
confidential and no public announcement is made at the time of the
suspension. The league wants to get the message across that they will
not tolerate drug use under any circumstances and that if players use
the drugs they will be punished.
Some players have used enhancements
to get bigger just to injure other players and that is something the
league can’t have happening. With the new drug testing, the quality and
overall health players in the league should improve.
Player salaries have been changed
greatly to balance out the costs in the league. In the 2005-06 season
no player can earn more than $7.8 million. This way there won’t be some
players getting over $10 million while others get less than a million.
The minimum salary for players is $450,000. The minimum will increase
by $25,000 each year. Setting salary limits on players should help to
balance out the league’s revenue greatly. This way all teams have a
better chance of signing the players they want. The new Collective
Bargaining Agreement has had a big effect on the NHL and all the aspects
of it. The league hopes that with the new agreement there won’t be any
more strike issues and the game can continue. There has been a great
improvement to the league due to the changes in the rules, the rink and
equipment sizes, the drug tests and the player salaries. The league was
lucky to reach an agreement after only one missed season. If the strike
had dragged out longer fan support may have gone down greatly. |
