Hell has frozen over

The National Hockey League General Managers -- probably the most resistant to change in all of sports -- have proposed a sweeping set of rules changes designed to bring offense back to the game. At their meetings in Las Vegas, the GMs were charged by Commissioner Gary Bettman to consider any and all options that would bring about a better on-ice product and, dare I say, they delivered -- with a few notable exceptions. These proposals will be refined for another set of GM meetings in about six weeks, and then presented to the league’s Board of Governors sometime this summer for consideration -- and hopefully adoption. The proposals are: 1. Reducing the width of a goaltender’s leg pads from 12 inches to 10 inches; 2. Making it illegal for goaltenders to play the puck behind the goal line; 3. Moving the nets back three feet towards the end boards; currently, the distance from the end boards to the net is 13 feet; this would reduce the distance to 10 feet, with the additional six feet being added to the neutral zone; 4. Re-instituting the tag-up offside rule, which allows players already in the offensive zone to “tag-up” at the blue line if a puck precedes them into the zone. Additionally, the following proposals were recommended and will be tried out by the American Hockey League next season before being considered by the NHL: 1. Changing the current points system from 2 points per win, 1 point per tie and OT loss, and 0 points per loss to 3 points per regulation win, 2 points per OT win, and 1 point per OT loss; 2. Instituting a shootout after a scoreless overtime, with the winner getting 2 points and loser 1 point; this would eliminate tie games; 3. Expanding the width of the blue lines and red line from 12 inches to 24 inches. On the whole, I like all of these changes. I think it’s a good first step, especially taking a long look at shootouts. I think they will be wildly successful, and you can bet I’m going to hit a few Phantoms’ games next year in the hopes that I catch a shootout in person. I still don't like that teams are awarded a point for losing in overtime. A loss is a loss; there shouldn't be a reward for managing to make it into overtime and then losing. I suppose I should be glad that this step has been taken at all. NHL GMs are notorious for moving at a glacier-like pace when it comes to substantive change. To see them move this boldy and this quickly is astounding. Would that I had money for Flyers' season tickets to see these changes in person. Oh, wait -- is that another issue that needs to be addressed?