NHL player poll: Proposed rule changes, from 3-on-3 to goalie interference to video review and more

Its the kind of question that can be pretty difficult to answer on the spot.

The kind of question that prompts a player to come back to you the next day with four more suggestions he thought of since you originally asked it.

Whats one rule change you would make to the NHL ? And it turns out players have as many gripes about the sport they love as the rest of us do.

Stars: Theyre just like us.

Advertisement In fact, we received so many different responses to this one on such a wide variety of topics and aspects of the game from the 161 players we polled that we could only fit a fraction of them in the original story .

So heres the best of the rest, an overflowing suggestion box for the league offices in New York and Toronto.

GO DEEPER NHL player poll: Injury transparency? Want Ovechkin to break Gretzky's record? Expand to 34 teams? Overtime Like just about everybody else, the players want to see fewer shootouts.

And the easiest way to ensure that is by extending three-on-three overtime.

Continuous overtime; abolish the shootout.

Instead of shootouts, three-on-three, then two-on-two.

...

It could be kind of fun.

But then it would be tough with the stats because it could change things.

Ten-minute overtimes.

I just think overtimes the best for the fans.

I think for the players, its fun, too.

Longer overtime.

The less shootouts, the better.

...

I think theres nobody in my opinion that doesnt love watching three-on-three.

That said, overtime has gotten less chaotic and therefore less fun in recent seasons, as teams realized the importance of possession above all else.

With so many game-winners being scored off turnovers or harmless shots that spring odd-man rushes the other way, teams have gotten more and more patient.

And the endless regroups have dulled some of the excitement.

One player called for a shot clock, but an over-and-back rule like in basketball was the popular choice in our poll.

Backcourt violation in OT: You cant cross the red line.

Some players got even more creative with loosening up overtime.

No offside during three-on-three play.

Put some risk into this.

You could have two guys back defending and the other guy hanging out in the neutral zone.

A (power play) in overtime should be three-on-two not four-on-three.

I would make it so that the blue line is not offside.

Once you cross the red line, thats like the new blue line and you can take it back past the red with your feet or with the puck.

Everybodys got to touch up or its some sort of penalty.

Theyve got to change the overtime rules, for sure.

Advertisement Power plays The league wants more goals, right? Several players had a simple solution to that one.

Two-minute major.

Power plays shouldnt end if a goal is scored.

Quite a few others echoed that.

But again, some players had some novel concepts.

If you score on the delayed penalty, you should still get a power play.

If youre on the power play and a period ends, the next period even if its overtime starts with an offensive-zone faceoff.

If the leading team takes a penalty with under two minutes remaining, the trailing team should get the full power play.

I think if the team thats leading takes a penalty with less than two minutes left, the team thats trailing should get the full two-minute power play.

Sometimes you could be up a goal, and theres 20 seconds left and youre slashing and whacking, and just no rules apply.

On the other side of the power play, several players advocated for a rule adopted by the PWHL .

The PWHL jailbreak.

A shorthanded goal results in the player leaving the box.

If you score shorthanded, the power play ends.

In Europe, if youre on the power play and you get scored on (shorthanded), the power plays over.

I like that.

Video challenges Yes, NHL players have a lot of thoughts on replay challenges, too.

Again, stars: Theyre just like us.

Eliminate offside review.

These offsides that are a centimeter off when the league is preaching scoring more and more, its stupid.

It should be up to technology.

Why dont we have cameras inside the boards on the blue lines for something absolute? Some players tried to find some nuance in the current system.

If its a goal off the rush and its offside, it should be overturned.

But if youre offside entering the zone and then work the puck around for 30 seconds, it shouldnt be.

Thirty seconds after an offside, cannot be challenged.

Advertisement If its been a minute-long shift since the offside, they should let it go.

There should be a time limit of 10 or 15 seconds for the review.

Some players wanted more offside challenges.

So if a player was offside, and there was a goal, you challenge no goal.

But if the play goes offside and we take a penalty, you cant challenge? That makes no sense.

If you can take away a goal, why cant you take away a penalty that 30 percent of the time leads to a goal? Sometimes it would be good to challenge more things, because in the playoffs I feel like one penalty could change everything.

Like diving, it could change a game.

Challenges for too many men.

You should be allowed one challenge for a penalty called against you.

Like if you think it was a missed call or something bad, kind of like (how) the NBA will challenge a foul.

I wouldnt mind seeing that.

Just one a game, you get just to say, Hey, we dont think that was a penalty.

You use it or you dont.

It couldnt happen.

Theres bad calls all the time.

Another player just wanted to get rid of the penalty for a failed challenge.

Cut the video coaches some slack, man.

Sometimes the margin of error is so small.

Goaltender interference Yeah, players have no idea what goalie interference is, either.

They must not have read Down Goes Brown .

Clarify goalie interference.

Make goalie interference a little bit stricter.

Or I would say more black-and-white.

I feel like right now, its a pretty gray area and I dont know how you would change that, but I think it needs to be more absolute.

For someone like me, I feel like Im outside the blue paint a lot.

I just nick a goalie and its instantly called back.

I feel like if youre in your area, you should be able to have your space.

Its very sensitive nowadays.

Its kind of confusing.

Sometimes you can lay on a goalie and it still counts.

Next time you nick him and its no goal.

Advertisement You cant even sneeze on a goalie right now.

Then there was this one: Goalies are free game.

GO DEEPER Down Goes Brown: Read this post and you'll understand (almost) every goaltender interference review Miscellaneous The proposals went on and on.

Heres an edited list of grievances and suggestions: Lets bring back the two-line-pass (rule).

Slow it down a little bit.

Get rid of the trapezoid.

Maybe let the goalies play the puck more? Allow kicking and head-butting the puck in.

Youre going to the gritty area.

If you can get a skate on it, that should be a goal.

I also think you should be able to head the puck in.

The Andrew Shaw rule.

I dont know, if you could head the puck in, thats pretty impressive.

It may not have been the game winner, but Andrew Shaw's soccer-style header holds up as the most memorable goal against Anaheim! #HawksRewind pic.twitter.com/b40UTif3F2 Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 23, 2020 You can use your hands on faceoffs.

Get rid of puck-over-glass delay of game.

Make delay of game more of a judgment call.

Reduce the number of TV timeouts per period from three to one.

The whole thing where if the puck gets dumped in from outside of the blue, if the goalie covers it, you cant change.

I think its kind of stupid.

If your helmet gets knocked off, you can keep playing.

Make goalie gear bigger again.

No offsides.

Ive got a crazy rule that I think they should apply.

The red line becomes the new blue line in five-on-five.

I would like to see it tried in preseason for a time.

You have to enter onside but then the (defensemen) are able to take the puck out to the red line.

You get more space for offensive guys.

I dont know, just a thought.

I personally dont like when they call diving and a penalty.

I think it should be one or the other.

If you dive, it shouldnt have been a penalty in the first place.

If a guy hooks you and you fall down, well thats hooking.

Advertisement Stay on your feet to block shots.

For safety, and I think it would create more offense.

(Extend the trapezoid to defensive players.) I dont think you should be able to control the puck back there in the defensive zone.

So many people control their set breakout.

I think if Im a D-man and go back there, it should almost be like theres a rule in basketball where you cant stand in the paint for too long.

It keeps the pace of play higher.

More plays are happening.

You can get guys caught out there and theyre tired.

Itll be more goals scored.

So I think from an entertainment value, itll be better.

Id make the change on icing.

Maybe you could take one guy off the ice for an icing or two guys off.

An icing doesnt mean you cant change.

Thatd be different because maybe you could take one guy off thats really gassed and put a new guy on thats fresh.

(Penalize reverse hits.) Theres times where theres a bit of gray area on it, but theres times where its blatant interference.

And they tend to be right in the head, always high, and as a forechecker, what am I supposed to do? I have to come in hard on you.

Thats my job.

And then you just get dinged in the face.

Its a tough spot for the forechecker.

Choice of where faceoffs are taken: Its actually taking from basketball: If you call timeout, you get to choose where the faceoff is regardless of what happened.

Lets say, for instance, two minutes are left in the game, you pull the goalie and you get icing called against you.

You call timeout, have your 30 seconds and then the puck goes in the offensive zone.

Icing is nullified, and you get to start in the offensive zone.

Anything to create offense because offense is what drives viewership and the excitement in the game so anything to bring more offense that doesnt wreck the integrity of the game.

Just like as a penalty, (the faceoff) starts in the O-zone.

You get one timeout a game.

You dont get three a half like basketball.

You get one so with that one, you get to have one offensive zone start.

Mandatory that a fourth-line player has to start overtime.

(Graphic: Meech Robinson / The Athletic , with photos from Bruce Bennett and Patrick Smith / Getty Images).

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