Rule changes : What sounds good?

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

There is one rule change I would welcome in addition to smaller goaltenders equipment.
The DRAFT.
Every year hold a lottery giving the teams that missed the playoffs a greater number of balls, but give all the teams at least one ball for a shot at the #1 that year. It would reduce the incentive to tank and heighten interest throughout the league.
Tank you Mr. Bettman.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

The other recommendations the governors will examine include:

...A player who starts a fight will receive an instigator penalty and be tossed from the game. If he starts a fight in the last five minutes, he'll also receive a one-game suspension and his head coach will be fined $10,000 (U.S.). If the team pays the fine, the club will be fined an additional $100,000.

- tinyurl.com/8dvsc

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Shanahan: Attitude key to obstruction rule

By Kevin Allen, USA TODAY

TORONTO — Detroit Red Wings winger Brendan Shanahan said the effort being made to give the game more flow is as much about changing attitudes as changing rules.

Shanahan, a key member of the new competition committee, said though there will be many changes this season, the key will be the crackdown on obstruction.

"We've been unsuccessful not only in the definition, but more so in the application," Shanahan said.

He said past attempts to crack down on obstruction were undermined by general managers, coaches and players criticizing referees for calling the game tight, even when it was their mandate to do so.

"As players we knew that by November we had beaten up (refs) so badly that would start backing off," Shanahan said. "We have to re-educate ourselves."

He said everyone has to accept that no one is going to be allowed to use a stick to impede a player without the puck, and that has to be as true in the last game of the season as it was in the first game.

"We have to get away from saying, 'That referee decided that game with that call,' " he said. "In baseball, if the player doesn't get to first base before the ball is thrown there, the umpire doesn't say, 'He's down a couple of runs, let's call him safe.' But we do that in hockey, and we have to stop."

Essentially Shanahan is pointing out that there has been a tendency in hockey to officiate based on the score. Referees tended to let more go in a tight game because that has been hockey tradition.

"We are going to finally fix obstruction," he said. "But it's going to be ugly for a few weeks. It will be like children testing parents. 'Are you going to keep disciplining me for this?' "

Shanahan, gaining major respect around the league for his work on the rules changes, said the committee wanted to recommend other changes but there wasn't time to implement them. He didn't reveal what those were, saying only they would be "hot topics" next season.

- www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2005-07-21-shanahan_x.htm

Young man, you go stand in the corner right now! Don't even think about turning around until your time is up. Understand? And I don't want to hear any lip—unless you like standing there. Have I made myself clear?

Ah, good times, good times...