Okay, so even though I’m Canadian, from Gordie Howe’s home province, and I learned to skate before I learned to ride a bike, I’m not really good on hockey rules.
One of the big things that came out of the 2004-2005 lockout, apparently, were major changes to the NHL rules to make the game more free-flowing and exciting.
Can anyone take a stab at explaining what the rule changes were, and how they had that effect?
I understand it had something to do with getting rid of the neutral zone trap, which is something else I never understood either. What was that? I have a vague idea that it was a way to keep recycling the puck between the two bluelines once your team had a lead in the score? How did the rule changes make it more difficult to do that?
Help me meet up to the standards set by Joe “I am a Canadian”.
The trap was more or less neutralized when they allowed two-line passes (before, any pass out of your own defensive zone could not precede the recipient across the red line). The trap worked so well precisely because the options of the team trying to break out were so limited. They also put in tag-up onsides (skate out to the blue line, touch it, and there’s no stoppage), FWIW (not much). There were a few other minor odds and ends, as well as the shootout rule (which means OT games are worth 3 points not 2-I have a bone to pick with that). Linkage.
I’ve only been watching Hockey for almost 10 years, but am still confused about icing rules. I’ve had 3 different people explain it to me and it always ends up in an argument about which person is right.
I still don’t understand it. Hell, it was only this season that I learned a hand pass in the defensive zone was legal.
It might help to keep in mind the intention behind the icing rule. Without it a weak defense could just keep flinging the puck down the ice. With the icing rule in place that would be counter-productive. So at even strength if the defensive team sends the puck from behind the center red-line to behind the goal line it is called icing as long as the opposing team touches the puck next; if the team that sent the puck down the ice gets to the puck first icing is canceled. One source of confusion is that it is not icing if it was an attempted pass that makes it across both red lines (the center red-line and the goal line). And of course, there’s no icing when short-handed.
ETA: Hit submit by mistake. I wanted to add that icing is also waved off if the opposing goaltender has to play the puck. I can’t think of any other icing rules.
An additional icing rule (which I think is newish) is that the team guilty of the infraction is not allowed to change lines. This adds an additional disincentive to ice the puck.
If the referee decides that the defensive player “could” have touched the puck before it crossed the goal line, then icing is waived off. You can’t let the puck leisurely find its way across the goal line, when in fact with normal effort you could have stopped it.
Hey, I know it sounds kooky but if you played the game you know exactly what I mean. It’s kind of the opposite of watching a ground ball go foul. In baseball it’s allowed; in hockey it’s not - as far as icing is concerned.
The rules of hockey aren’t that esoteric really. Watch the game for a season or two and you’ll see just about everything.
Oh, and because certain goalies were getting very adept at puck handling, they changed the rule so that goalies can only handle the puck within that identified trapezoid region behind the goal line. They can still handle the puck anywhere in front of the goal line, but behind the line: trapezoid only. This was to help the offensive team keep the puck in the other team’s zone and thereby increase scoring chances. The jury’s still out as to whether or not this has made any difference.
Two other small notes about icing… if the puck goes through any part of the goal crease, there is no icing (in that case, it is considered an attempt on the net; it is also less of an issue since they made the crease smaller.) Also, if the goaltender makes a move towards playing the puck, icing is waived off regardless of whether or not he actually does play it (they added that caveat in the early 90s after Patrick Roy got in the habit of only pretending to play the puck to throw off opponents.)
Didn’t the adjust the rules a bit to retroactively approve the goal by Brett Hull(I think) that won the Stanley Cup a few years before? Like…kick goals inside the crease count or something?
Referees are much, much stricter about calling hooking, holding, interference and other restraining fouls. This is without a doubt the most important change. Before the lockout NHL officiating was a total joke. Everybody knew that both teams would get 3-4 power plays in the game and every other infraction would be let go. The winner would most often be the team that committed the most fouls. In addition, before the lockout penalties were rarely called in the third period and never called in overtime. Hockey had turned into some god-awful mix of rugby and soccer on ice: in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, the team that scored first won every single game. There was little excitement or drama once a team had taken the lead; they’d just mug their opponents and would pretty much never allow a scoring chance.
With the new standard it’s like night and day. Speed and skill rule the game now. Contrary to an opinion offered above, this is the rule change that killed the trap. The key to breaking the trap is speed and making precise passes through the neutral zone. Before the lockout, the trapping team would hook and hold the opposition and you couldn’t get any speed through the neutral zone.
The two-line offside rule was repealed. This has had a mildly positive effect. It’s opened up the game to the stretch pass and that has helped. But make no mistake, this isn’t the rule change that killed the trap: the trap originated in Sweden, where they’ve never had the two-line offside rule.
It is now a penalty if a defensive team shoots the puck directly out of play over the glass. This is a much-maligned rule, but I like it. Before the change, it was only a penalty if the referee thought that the puck had been put out of play intentionally(this was never called. Ever). Before the lockout, if the defence needed to get the puck out of their end, they’d shoot it high off of the glass. They weren’t trying to put it out of play, but if it did go out they didn’t care. People just don’t remember how often the puck went out of play before the lockout, which is why they don’t like the rule. This rule has done its job at keeping the puck in play and reducing the number of whistles significantly.
If a keep ices the puck, they aren’t allowed a line change in the stoppage of play. IMO, this is the most underrated of the rule changes after the lockout. Before the lockout, if the defence was in trouble or needed a change, they’d ice the puck at the first opportunity to get a whistle. Now, icing the puck is counterproductive when a tired line is on the ice, because the opposition will surely opt to change lines and get fresh legs on the ice to try and dominate the tired defence. I would love to see a statistic showing the number of icings per game before and after the lockout: I’m sure that there’s been an immense drop.
The shootout resolves ties in the regular season. This one gets a big meh from me. The shootout only really matters to teams trying to scratch and claw their way into the playoffs, because every point is of critical importance to them. In 2007, the Buffalo Sabres won the East mostly thanks to an excellent shootout record. When they first met a real contender in the playoffs, they went out with nary a wimper, going down 3-0 in the series and eventually losing it 4-1.
They added a new trapezoidal area behind the net, and the goaltender isn’t allowed to play the puck if it’s behind the goal line but out of the trapezoid.
Those are all of the rule changes that I can remember that came in right after the lockout.
Points taken, but that (#1) wasn’t a de jure rule change, but a de facto one; just call the penalties as written in the rulebook. Certainly getting rid of most of the clutching and grabbing and “non”-interference calls definitely was a major factor, and we could argue all day about how much of each contributed to the demise of the trap, but I’ll leave it at that. Remember how a defender would “ride” a forechecker into the boards, just skate while keeping himself between the forechecker and puck, perhaps with his stick “accidentally” placed between the other guy’s knees? And the refs would invariably swallow their whistles? Thank the Lord that’s all gone.
Not necessarily kicked goals, because any puck that was directed into the net by a “distinct kicking motion” is waved off. The change they made was more with regards to who is allowed in the crease. Before, if an attacking player was anywhere in the crease and the puck went in the net, it was no goal. Now you can be in the crease, but you still have to allow the goaltender to move freely.
The other big rules changes involve goaltender equipment in the last few years. Pads have gone from 12" wide to 11". Blockers went from 8x16 to 8x15 inches. Catch gloves were made smaller by about 11% as well. Pant legs were limited in width and flat front pads were outlawed. In the coming seasons, more changes are coming, specifically limiting how far above the knee goalie pads will be allowed to go, and goalies will be required to wear pants that actually fit them (nothing like a 150# goalie wearing XXL pants made for a guy with a 44" waist!) and chest protectors will have to be contoured to the body.
Eventually, if scoring doesn’t increase, Gary Bettman wants bigger nets or nets with curved posts. Both have been experimented with in the AHL. If he changes the size of the nets, I’m going to track him down and attack him with a trout.