Players who dive and embellish to draw penalties that they don’t deserve will have their wallets hit harder this season as the NHL on Thursday announced stricter punishments for repeat offenders.
Even though the penalties are more severe, the dollar amounts that the players will be forced to pay in fines probably won’t be enough for them to change their ways. It’s a good start, though.
Another change is “the trapezoid will be expanded by two feet from the goal post on both sides of the net.” The trapezoid should be eliminated, not expanded, but the league repeatedly has shown it has no interest in taking it away. There’s no reason to prevent the goaltenders from being able to play the puck in the corners and help start the rush up ice.
One rule change that many fans likely won’t approve of is the banishment of spin-o-rama moves from penalty shots and shootouts. Kaspars Daugavins’ spin-o-rama attempt on Tuukka Rask during the 2012-13 season brought this issue to the forefront. Some people believed it embarrassed the sport, while others argued that it brought an added level of excitement to the skills competition.
Overtime in the regular season will feature a few changes designed to make the game faster and give teams a better chance to score in the extra period, thus limiting the amount of games ending in shootouts. The two most notable adjustments are the switching of ends at the start of OT and the scraping of excess ice at the start of the period.
Click here for a full explanation of the rule changes >>
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