National Hockey League considers scrapping shootouts
Hockey is an interesting sport but playing hockey on ice is even better. Fans love the game, its fast paced action packed war between huge athletes crashing into each at high speeds. What’s not to like? But when the conclusion of that game comes down to a slow, even lonely shootout then that is very disappointing indeed. Over an hour of the combined efforts of two teams shouldn’t conclude with ten shots.
Some fans actually like shootouts but most would agree they are without a doubt one of the worst ways to resolve a tie. So the NHL is trying out new things to make sure overtime shootouts don’t happen as often. The new rules would seek to settle games within overtime to reduce the number of shootouts to the great relief of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets have had a terrible track record when it comes to Shootouts and it was the Blues General Manager, Scott Howson who proposed the rule changes trying to end more games in overtime then having to settle them through the one-on-one shootouts. More than 180 games were decided by shootouts last season and it doesn’t take a mathematician to know that the total is too high. The shootouts points are becoming more and more important in deciding playoff spots and positions for teams, which many apart from Howson and the Blue Jackets believe is not good for the NHL. Howson said that he wants to reduce the number of Shootouts and their impact on the game by as much as possible and apparently he isn’t alone. Other general managers have showed interest and even support of Howson’s proposal.
The proposal would have teams play 3 minutes of 4-on-4 and another 3 minutes of 3-on-3 to settle the game increasing the chances for a team to score in overtime before the game has to be settled with shootouts. Speaking to reporters at the research and development camp, NHL vice president Brendan Shanahan said that the proposed 3-on-3 overtime that they tried out at camp proved to be very interesting. He commented on how with the 3 men on the ice, any play that went wrong for the offense quickly became an opportunity for the defending team to score a goal. The British Columbia Hockey League has not adopted the shootouts and with their overtime rule they have been able to settle almost all of their games in the overtime with just 7 endings in ties. The changes should work just as well for the NHL.
Maybe 2-on-2 would be pushing it but 3-on-3 was given a test run and that proved workable. “From a hockey standpoint, we have to be careful about lengthening games and the quality of ice conditions,” Howson said. “But I think 3-on-3 is preferable to a shootout.” Fans won’t be disappointed with the overtime format. A 3-on-3 is still far more interesting than the shootout.
Something else the NHL tried at camp was to have longer line changes. Blue Jackets coach, Ken Hitchcock who was present at the camp said that the long line change made it difficult to defend and increased the number of scoring opportunities. “If you made a bad line change, you were in trouble,” Hitchcock said.
There are only three more teams that have lost more games through shootouts than the Blue Jackets have since the rule was first introduced and Howson has been concerned about that. It was Howson again who led the NHL into making rule changes regarding ties in standing. According to the new rules, the team with the least number of shootout wins takes the advantage.
There are also those who aren’t all that put off by tied games. If the 3-on-3 fails to settle a game it wouldn’t be the end of the world to call it a tie and move on. The league doesn’t have to settle every single game with those gimmicky shootouts.
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