The annual NHL general managers meetings wrapped up Wednesday in Boca Raton, Fla., and no major rule changes will be recommended to the league’s competition committee.
“There are no major announcements or major changes,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters. “There will be some recommendations, some things people will look at, there will be some more homework done, but you should continue to enjoy the game principally the way it’s being played.
“The overwhelming sense of the group is you don’t make change for the sake of change,” Bettman added. “Maybe you want to focus on a tweak here and there because if you can make it better, you do that, but we’re not looking at any core fundamental problems.”
Two recommendations that will be made involve small faceoff rules adjustments. Players who cheat on faceoffs will be moved back eight inches from the dot, and the hash marks will be widened by five feet.
Even though finding ways to lessen the amount of games that end in shootouts dominated most of the discussion before these meetings, the GMs couldn’t come to a consensus on any substantial overtime rule changes. There won’t be any lengthening of the overtime period, and the possibility of an extra 3-on-3 overtime frame seems highly unlikely at this point.
A few changes to the NHL draft combine and draft lottery likely will be made, per TSN’s Darren Dreger and CBC Sports’ Elliotte Friedman.
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All recommended changes that the competition committee approves then must be OK’d by the Board of Governors before they become official.
