Possible rule or rules to minimize the trap or possibly eliminate it.

[Play4Miracles*]

Originally Posted by Sabretip

I'd rather debate how the league will return back to the post-lockout, obstruction-penalized style of 2005 - 07, when the games were generally more exciting, with better flow and offensive production....

If we could just go back to the late 80's early 90's and stay there forever, life would be AWESOME!

[Sabretip]

Originally Posted by Play4Miracles

If we could just go back to the late 80's early 90's and stay there forever, life would be AWESOME!

Let's get started on that time machine because I'd be happy to take that trip with you

[LegomyLeggio]

Originally Posted by Play4Miracles

The only way to open things up and still be able to watch well played hockey is to make the rinks bigger.

I don't think that would help a lot.

And don't use the Olympics as an example. That is great hockey because All-Star talents are 3rd and 4th liners for teams like Canada.

The solution to that issue would be going back to only having 6 NHL teams.

[PittyPittyPie]

I agree with the idea of eliminating the red line (i.e. use the blue line for icing calls) in order to neutralize the use of the passive trap. Every other major sport has made certain defensive schemes illegal (NBA --> Zone defense, NFL --> Illegal formations, etc.) in order to create a more entertaining product.

An interesting thing to note is how skewed the game is towards defense. The mean save percentage of a goalie after the lockout, 2005-2006, was .908%. As of today, the mean save perentage is .926% (http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/pl...g/sort/savePct). While we all know how unbelievable out of control goalie equipment has gotten, but the numbers still show how quality scoring chances have dwindled over the years.

As a result, something definitely has to be done to address this.