You win some, you lose some

NHL made some positive changes, but restricting goalies is a mistake

Martin Brodeur's excellent puckhandling skills won't be of much use next season if the NHL approves its suggested rules changes. Dave Sandford/Getty Images

The NHL deserves to be commended for taking a look at its on-ice product and realizing it isn't working.

As recently as last All-Star break, the league was reluctant to discuss major changes in the rules and was preaching patience in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the NHL Players' Association, which were at that time still 19 months away.

Now that CBA Armageddon is just seven months off and the game has become increasingly sluggish this season, the general managers made some bold recommendations for rules changes at their recent summit in Henderson, Nev.

I love the return of tag-up offsides, moving the nets back to 10 feet from the end-boards and shrinking the width of goaltenders' leg pads to 10 inches, but the NHL may have acted a bit hastily with its other rule change.

The decision not to allow goalies to play the puck behind the net is foolish and punishes netminders like Martin Brodeur and Marty Turco who have perfected this skill to an artform. Their diligent work on puckhandling gives them a distinct advantage over bumbling goalies like Roman Cechmanek, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Roberto Luongo who cause their teams more harm than good by straying from the crease.

"The whole first period I was thinking about it," Brodeur told The Daily News of New York after Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Rangers. "Whoops, there's two minutes. Whoops, there's another two minutes. It's like telling a pitcher he can't throw curveballs because we need home runs."

Several players believe the NHL should implement no-touch icing if it is serious about keeping the restriction on goalies leaving the crease to play the puck. Their rationale is that without goaltenders to help slow the puck as it's rimmed around the boards, many dangerous puck races will result and they will suffer more hits from behind.

Such a play caused a dislocated hip injury early in Al MacInnis' career, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he was among the people championing no-touch icing at the GM meetings. The league also had former players Mike Gartner and Steve Larmer make presentations Monday, as well as legendary coach Scotty Bowman.

I am impressed that the league thought enough of the players and coaches to seek their advice, because in the past changes tended to be made without much direct input.

Now let's hope that the NHL continues to listen to how these suggestions play among the players over the next two months before a final decision has to be made on whether to formally implement them for the 2004-05 season.

The NHL is still planning to consider the three-point win system and the use of wider lines, both of which will be tested in the American Hockey League in 2004-05. If they are going to test those in the AHL before bringing them to the NHL, then why wouldn't they do the same with the new goaltender rule? It seems to me to be a double standard for which there is no practical answer. Either test all of the major rules changes in the AHL first -- and I don't include the return to tag-up offsides or the return of the nets to 10 feet out, since both are essentially a return to old rules -- or just let them all into the NHL immediately.

Of course, we might not even be having this discussion if the officials would just call the rules as they are written. The faux obstruction crackdown proved to be even more laughable and short-lived than most players guessed it would be at the outset. More power-play time -- and the heightened anger of coaches at players who repeatedly violated these rules -- would force players to quickly change their clutching, grabbing and wrestling ways in a hurry.

And that would be a true improvement for this once-great game that we all still love.

As big a Pens fan as I am, I find it difficult to argue with much of what you say about them this year. But I do take a rather large exception to your statement that Marc-Andre Fleury is the only future All-Star on the roster (and he's not even on the roster at the moment). I'll even overlook Brooks Orpik, who played in the YoungStars Game and could develop into a mini-Chris Pronger. But how can you mention Ryan Malone and not think he could develop into a perennial All-Star someday? He has classic power forward written all over him. Sure, he's old for a rookie and will never be the best skater, but power forwards like John LeClair, Glen Murray and even old Penguin Kevin Stevens didn't develop until later in their careers. -- Rich Perkins, Stamford, Conn.

I never limited my picks solely to players who are on a team's NHL roster. In fact, with several other teams I mentioned top prospects who are close to reaching the NHL who could contend for an All-Star appearance. I don't see Orpik ever developing the offense needed to play in the All-Star Game. Scott Stevens has played in several All-Star Games, but he had a pretty impressive offensive game earlier in his career. The poster child for defensive defensemen who haven't made the game is Adam Foote, and Orpik would have to take some major strides in his game to ever reach that level.

As for Malone, he's a good young player for the Penguins to build around, but as you mention, he's already 24, two years older than Alex Tanguay and five years older than Rick Nash, each of whom have already established themselves as stars. Granted, both of those players are in the West so Malone won't be competing with them for All-Star teams, but my point is that late bloomers don't have as high of a ceiling as guys who break in and prove they belong at a young age.

Malone will be a nice player for the Penguins for the next decade or so, but I just don't see him suddenly having the huge career spike he would need to in order to become an All-Star, largely because he broke into the league at an advanced age.

Whenever I hear about any proposal to expand NHL rinks to international size, the objection I hear is that teams can't afford the loss in revenue that would come with losing three rows of your most expensive seats. Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't teams effectively be losing the three cheapest rows of seats? The current pricing structure would simply be applied to the new rink layout, minus the three least expensive rows of seats -- rinkside seats would still be rinkside seats. -- Tim Duggan, Toronto

I get at least five e-mails per week along this same line. It's true that it doesn't matter when you take the three rows of seats from, because the owners would just adjust the pricing of the remaining seats. But obviously the three rows they would be losing would all come from the lower level, which is prime real estate for owners. Losing the revenue that taking out club seats generate would be hard to justify to the guys who cut the checks, especially in light of Thursday's release of the financial data, which proves that every dollar is precious to NHL owners these days.

Can you explain why Bobby Clarke still has a job? He has changed the team over three times, is on his seventh coach and consistently gives up too much in trades. Giving up on Mike Comrie after overpaying for him three months ago is just the most recent example. Am I the only one who sees this? -- John Quill, Norwell, Mass.

I agree the Flyers overpaid by sending Jeff Woywitka, a 2004 first-round pick and a 2005 third-round pick to the Oilers for Comrie, but Clarke did a good job getting three players back for the pint-sized pivot this week.

Ben Eager is a talented, physical winger who could turn into a Philadelphia favorite based on his willingness to do the dirty work in the corners and slot, as well as his penchant for dropping the mitts. Branko Radivojevic won't get a lot of ice time or many scoring chances for the Flyers, but he's a gritty fourth-liner who could be a valuable addition for Philadelphia, especially in the postseason when the game tightens up.

And Burke, while no longer a top-flight netminder, has the veteran savvy that could help the Flyers finally make a deep playoff run. Ken Hitchcock said that Robert Esche will still get plenty of playing time (even when the postseason rolls around), but you have to believe Philadelphia wouldn't have given up a player as skilled as Comrie if it wasn't going to make Burke the goalie they plan to count on in the playoffs.

Do you not consider Brian Leetch and Roman Hamrlik to be among the elite two-way defensemen? -- Shon, Barcelona

I don't consider Leetch and Hamrlik to be in the first two tiers of two-way blueliners as I laid out in my Week at a Glance on Feb. 1. Early in his career, Leetch was the prototypical two-way defenseman, seven times eclipsing 70 points. But injuries and age have taken their toll on Leetch's skating and shooting ability.

Hamrlik provides a respectable amount of offense, but he has been surpassed for the top offensive blueliner role on his own team by Adrian Aucoin, who has taken power-play minutes away from Hamrlik over the past several seasons. Aucoin is plus-41 in his 210 games with the Islanders, while Hamrlik is just a plus-12 in his 274 games on the Island, one of the main reasons why Aucoin is among the NHL leaders in ice time while Hamrlik is likely trade bait.

When do you expect Derian Hatcher to be back for Detroit? And who do you see Dave Lewis teaming him up with on the ice? -- Mark Lowery, Milwaukee, Wis.

Hatcher is already traveling with the team, but his return date remains undetermined. He has begun taking part in light skating drills, but nothing that will tax his knees like starting or stopping. Detroit has been doing pretty well without Hatcher, so it has no need to rush him back to the lineup. But Big D's return late in the season could provide the Wings with some added jump for the stretch run and the postseason, provided he is fully healthy and can play his usual physical game. As for who Lewis will team Hatcher with, I could see him pairing Hatcher with Mathieu Schneider to allow Schneider to focus even more on the offensive end.

In regard to your question about what's fun about the Minnesota Wild, I can say nothing. I'm sure you'll get inundated with messages from my fellow Minnesotans about how great the Wild are. Their games are painfully dull. They never score, they hardly shoot and they rarely win. Granted, I'm thrilled the NHL is back in Minnesota and I love going to games because the arena is close to capacity and I have a good time with my friends, but the on-ice product is a 60-minute sleeping pill. -- D.A. Smith, St. Paul, Minn.

I knew I'd find someone from Minnesota who was sane enough to look past their blind love of hockey to support me on this. Actually -- somewhat surprisingly -- I didn't receive much hate mail for my statement on how boring the Wild are from a few weeks ago. Unless your brain is frozen from the brutal Minnesota winters, I think they'd have to realize that they are getting a lackluster product from the Wild. Especially when compared to the thrilling, speedy game the two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota Golden Gophers play just a few miles away.

Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com.