Friday: Rule Changes

Triple overtime, woohoo!!!  The Predators and Sharks put on quite the show last night, five and a half periods of classic playoff hockey.  I just love long overtime games.  Some people have suggested rule changes (like four on four) to make playoff overtimes shorter, but those people are completely crazy in my opinion.

Speaking of rule changes, there are a few NHL rules I'm not a fan of, so today I'm going to discuss what I would change if I were in charge of the NHL.

(Photo by Paul Sakuma/AP) via The Pink Puck

My first order of business would be to remove the trapezoid.  Goalies should be free to play the puck wherever they want, why should the corners off limits?  If a goalie is good at playing the puck he could create offence for his team by moving the puck up ice, and if a goalie is bad at playing the puck it could lead to chances for the other team.  Removing the trapezoid would also encourage teams to hold on to the puck more, instead of playing dump and chase hockey.  I don't think the trapezoid has any benefits.



If I were in charge I'd also remove the automatic penalty for shooting a puck over the glass.  With this rule in place no player ever purposely shoots the puck over the glass, and I don't think we should be punishing players for accidentally clearing the puck.  Instead of an automatic penalty, it should be a discretionary call.  If the play was clearly an accident (e.g. the puck was bouncing and the player wasn't under pressure) the referee wouldn't call a penalty, but if it may have been on purpose a penalty would be called.  Nothing frustrates me more than seeing this unnecessary penalty influence the result of a game.

(Photo by Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press) via CBC

I also don't like the newly introduced offside challenges.  Linesman are accurate enough, nearly every time a goal is overturned the player was only offside by an inch or two.  The challenges also slow the game down, often they last more than five minutes which takes away any momentum a team might have had.  If the NHL wants to keep these challenges, they should change the rule so that if a team loses a challenge they get a minor penalty.  That way only the obvious offside goals would be challenged.

Those are the three rules I would change, feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments.

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HEY, YOU!!!  STOP!  I saw what you were going to do, you were about to scroll past the voting reminders and get straight to the concepts.  Not under my watch, go vote for COTW and then you can look at the pretty concepts.

COTW April 24-30 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Tucson entries (due Fri, May 13 @ 10:30pm Eastern)

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Some Falcons to Tucson competition entries have come in since yesterday, let's take a look at them...

by Jack S:

by Montana K:

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Medicine Hat Tigers, by Jimmy T:

We'll begin with a Medicine Hat Tigers concept from Jimmy which uses a fairly traditional striping pattern.  It's a decent design, but I don't think it's an improvement over their current jerseys.  I do like the yoke stripes, but I'd prefer if they were thicker.  The execution could use some fine tuning, the logo should be larger and a little lower, while the back number is a bit too low.  Also adding the league and jersey manufacturer's logos would improve this concept.
Rating: 7/10

NHL All-Star Game, by Tyler M:

Next up Tyler redesigns the All-Star game by giving each division their own jerseys.  The first thing I notice is that the colours are too bright, I'd recommend getting your colours from ColorWerx.  Moving past that, the design of the jerseys look okay, I like the stars along the chest.  However the numbers are too big, they should be about 15% smaller, and the sleeve numbers are missing.

For the Western Conference Tyler uses a half and half design.  The problem is that both jerseys use lots of white, which could create confusing when these two teams play each other.  My concerns from above apply here as well, and I'd also like to see what the equipment would look like with these jerseys.  I can sort of guess what equipment the Eastern Conference would wear, but I can't picture what you had in mind for the Western Conference.
Rating: 6/10

Baltimore Ravens, by Jay S:

Jay's NFL hockey series continues with two concepts today, first up is the Baltimore Ravens.  I think the striping is pretty good, the number font doesn't look bad either.  There's really no problem at all with this concept, except for the fact that it's somewhat forgettable.  I'd like to see a bit more pizazz, maybe some influences from the Ravens actual jerseys, something to give this concept some more character.  The execution is good though.
Rating: 7/10

Carolina Panthers, by Jay S:

Jay's second NFL concept is for the Carolina Panthers, and my opinion of this is basically the same as his first concept.  In a vacuum these would be these would be nice jerseys, there's nothing inherently wrong with them.  That being said, the Panthers football jerseys have a unique design, I think this is a missed opportunity to create something special inspired by those.  Also I'd prefer to see a new yoke design, this style doesn't look bad but you used the same yoke on your Ravens concept (and a few other times in the past), and as they say "variety is the spice of life".  Once again though, the execution is good.
Rating: 7/10

Boston Bruins, by Zeke G:

Boston has a lot of past jerseys to draw inspiration from, here Zeke goes deep into the vault by using brown and a logo that hasn't seen the light of day since 1926.  Overall I think it's a very nice vintage design, but just not suited to a full-time home and road set.  However they'd be perfect as third and fourth jerseys.  I especially like how the brown jersey doesn't feature any white, and I also like the yoke stripes on both jerseys.  There's just a few small issues that could be fixed, the sleeve stripes should be angled slightly to be perpendicular to the sleeves, the back numbers should be a smidgen higher, and there's a few messy rogue pixels around the edges in some areas.
Rating: 8/10

Detroit Red Wings, by Josiah B:

Like Zeke, Josiah also takes some inspiration from the past.  He uses the yellow from the Detroit Falcons jersey to create a new look for the Wings.  I don't think that was a good idea though, I'm not a fan of the yellow on this concept.  I do like the striping pattern, it's a unique design that's inspired by some of the franchise's past jerseys (although I wonder if it would look better with one less of the smaller stripes).  I see it says NHL17 in the corner, if you mean the 2017-18 season then Reebok should be replaced by Adidas (if you mean 2016-17 then you're alright), also the NHL logo should be in the collar insert, and the NHL would probably require these jerseys to have names.
Rating: 7/10

Team USA (Crazy 90's), by Josiah B:

For Josiah's second concept he gives the USA some 90's looking jerseys.  I like the wavy hem stripes, they're a good fit for the era and they look good too.  The bevelled numbers are also perfectly 90's.  I'm also a fan of how only the white jersey has a gap in the wordmark and striping, the jerseys still match but that small change makes each jersey look better than if they were identical.  I have no real complaints about this concept but I would like to see the pants.  I'm picturing red pants, but I don't really know what colour you were thinking.
Rating: 9/10 and my COTW nomination!

TPS Turku, Daniel L:

Last but not least is Daniel with a concept for TPS Turku, a hockey team that uses a basketball in their logo (actually I don't know what their logo is supposed to be).  This might surprise some people but I really like this colour scheme, I think black and white (without grey) look really sharp together.  That colour scheme pairs nicely with the simple striping pattern featuring a chest stripe and shoulder yoke.  The number font also looks good.  There's a minor execution error though, the collar on the home jersey is black on the front and white on the back, from the road jersey I'm guessing it's supposed to be black on both sides.
Rating: 8/10

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See you next Friday!