Craig Custance: NHL overtime rules be changed

I know that hockey purists don't like to see hockey games decided by the shootout. I also know that fans are split on the shootout. When the NCHC announced that they were going to settle games by the shootout, many fans chimed in to tell me their disgust and how they hate the shootout. This could be a proposal that might be well received.

Craig Custance, ESPN - Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland isn't anti-shootout. He's just in favor of letting actual hockey decide games.

So during NHL GM meetings in the past, he's suggested that overtime sessions consist of five (or four) minutes of 4-on-4, then five (or four) minutes of 3-on-3. If the game is still tied, then a shootout would determine the winner.

There was some support in the past, just not enough.

In the prospect tournament he runs in Traverse City, Michigan, Holland implemented his version of overtime. On Sunday, he and other general managers in the building got to see what it looked like in actual game action for the first time when the Dallas Stars' prospects beat those from the Minnesota Wild in a shootout that followed the first 3-on-3 overtime session of the tournament.

What do you think of this idea? Would you be in favor of these O.T. rules to settle ties? Would you be in favor of college hockey using these rules to break ties as well?

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NHL wants to take a look at hybrid icing

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think this is a great idea for the NHL to look at the hybrid icing rule that is currently in use in the NCAA and USHL. If used correctly could prevent unnecessary injuries that are caused by the touch- up- icing.

New York --- Hybrid icing is the standard at the NCAA level and in the United States Hockey League. For next season, the NHL is expected to ask the AHL to use hybrid icing, which involves a linesman determining the winner of a race to the closest faceoff circle instead of who touches the puck first on plays in which the puck is sent the length of the ice from the defending team's side of the center-ice red line.

"We like it. We want to make sure we're not moving too quick," Detroit GM Ken Holland said. "We'd like to move it to the American League. We'd like to get it to the best league in the world below the National Hockey League and evaluate it with those players. Obviously it's in college and some other players [use it], but those players aren't nearly as good as the ones we're dealing with. I think there was one player injured this year on an icing. Obviously, we'd like zero, but it is one -- it is not 10, it is not 20."

The GMs remain divided on the issue, so observing the results in the AHL could provide better clarity before making a final decision on it for NHL games.

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