NHL Governors approve major penalty for hits to head

This type of hits will no longer be legal in the NHL anymore. This is the right decision by the NHL, people will argue that it will take hitting out of the game but that is incorrect. You can hit effectively hit someone without having to hit someone in the head.

LOS ANGELES – A passionate debate about hits to the head that has lasted the better part of a year was officially settled Thursday night when the NHL Board of Governors approved a new penalty for next season.

The penalty for a lateral, blindside hit to the head, which will be called "illegal check to the head," is a five-minute major penalty, as well as an automatic game misconduct. The League also will consider supplemental discipline.

t was unanimously approved by the Board of Governors during Thursday's meeting, the first for the body since last December. The rule was proposed during the spring edition of the General Managers' Meeting in Florida after several controversial hits during the season.

"I think we are really pleased with where it is," Columbus GM Scott Howson told NHL.com. "But I also think it is something really fluid and we will have to continue to work at it if we see the need."

Cam Neely, the freshly minted president of the Boston Bruins, also stressed that vigilance would remain necessary, but was happy to see a mechanism in place to protect the League's players.

"I think it was important for the League to try to address this as quick as possible," Neely told NHL.com. "The GMs got on board, the Competition Committee got on board. Obviously, for the health of the players, it is good to get a rule like this in place and try to get it out of the game and get to a situation where you are going to have fewer concussions because of it."

Five ways I would change the NHL

I saw this over on Puck Daddy and it got me thinking about 5 things that I would like to see changed about the NHL. The NHL is a great league but these are the things that I would tweaked.

1.) Get rid of the instigator rule... There are too many of the "agitators" out on the ice cruising around taking liberties on a team's skilled players. If the instigator rule was taken out there would be a less of this because they know they might have to fight for taking a run at a Crosby, Malkin or Gaborik. I would love to see thugs like Matt Cooke and others of his ilk pay for his transgressions on the ice. If the instigator rule is tanked agitators will take less senseless runs at star players.

2.) Get rid of the touch up icing rule... I want to see the no-touch icing rule so we don't see anymore unneeded injuries where people are racing to the puck and end up getting creamed like Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster.

3.) I would like to see the regular season over-Time extended to 10 minutes... It just seems that five minutes isn't enough time to settle a game. Some teams are better than other at the shootout and these teams try to keep the game tied so they can get to the shootout. I would also like to see the shootout extended to 5 shooters as well.

4.) I want to see a team in Winnipeg Manitoba again... Seriously, that way the NHL is 140 miles away from my front door. Hockey should be played in places where it is cold and nothing beats a game in Winnipeg on Boxing Day. There are way too many NHL teams south of the Mason Dixon line in places like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee.

5.) I want the old Norris Division back... Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, St Louis, Toronto. I don't know who we add for a sixth team, maybe the Yotes from Phoenix. This realignment would allow me to see more match ups with the Blackhawks (Kane, Toews) and the Blues (Oshie, Backes).

Changes to the NHL goalie equipment...

I have always thought that the size of the goalie equipment in the NHL was way to big. This is a good thing, if scoring is down in the NHL it seems only logical to look at the size of the goalie equipment. I like many fans in the NHL do watch a game to see a goalie stand on their heads, scoring and hard hitting make the games exciting in my opinion. The 2008 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs show cased how great the sport of hockey truely is.

The part that amuses me is Don Lucia's favorite NHL GM Garth Snow is on this comittee, Snow used to have some of the most over sized goalie pads in the NHL and now he is on a comittee to look at reducing the size of pads in the NHL. If you think I am kidding check out Garth's picture enclose in this blog post, those are some really big leg pads, while the picture doesn't show it, Snow also had some really big shoulder pads as well. Hell even I can stop the puck with pads that are that big. Look for scoring to go up this year in the NHL.

Addressing the goalies Clavicle protectors and pads trimmed
By Fluto Shinzawa
Globe Staff / August 3, 2008
Last season, when the NHL rolled out new Reebok uniforms, the "upgrade" flopped. They were too tight. They ripped. Sweat rolled off the jerseys and drained into gloves and skates.

This year, the NHL is hoping the next round of equipment tweaks will be more successful.

On June 11, the Goalie Equipment Working Group - general managers Doug Risebrough (Minnesota), Garth Snow (Islanders), Jim Rutherford (Carolina), and Brett Hull (Dallas); goalies Martin Brodeur (New Jersey), Rick DiPietro (Islanders), and Ryan Miller (Buffalo); and skaters Dany Heatley (Ottawa) and Mike Cammalleri (then Los Angeles, now Calgary) - convened in Toronto to address what could be done to shrink goaltenders, without resorting to hunger strikes.

The result? Knee pads and clavicle protectors will be trimmed for the 2008-09 season.

Because most goalies play the butterfly style, shooters would see the following: a netminder standing tall with his legs spread, inviting them to go five-hole. But as soon as a player shot the puck, the goalie would drop into the butterfly and close the opening, aided by 6 or more inches of knee protection on top of 38 inches of pads, all to protect a net that is only 6 feet wide.

"A lot of goaltenders wear extraneous flaps," said Glenn Healy, the director of public affairs for the NHL Players' Association. "It's like an airplane wing. You push a button and, 'Whoop.' It all accordions down so there's no room to score down low. Take a pad that's 38 inches. Put two of them back to back and you're covering the entire bottom part of the net plus 4 inches."

The group concluded that the knee pad could be limited to 2 1/2 inches in length without compromising goalie safety. With less blocking area low, skaters have a better chance of scoring five-hole.

"Particularly with goaltenders, the cardinal rule is, 'Don't get beat five-hole,' " said Healy, a former goalie. "You get beat once, fine. If you get beat twice, you're done. You're sitting on the bench. If you can plant a seed of doubt in the goaltenders that you can get beat there and you're vulnerable in that spot, the head worms start going. And once they start going in a goaltender's game, he's in big trouble."

Meanwhile, torso protection will be contoured. The clavicle protector, previously allowed to be 7 inches long, will become smaller, although Healy didn't have exact dimensions of the new piece. All goalies have been apprised of the changes and equipment manufacturers are making the alterations so net minders will have their new gear for training camp in September.

The reduction of the Michelin men won't be the only advantage for shooters in 2008-09. In the next few weeks, more than 100 NHLers will test the Thermablade Elite II, the heated blades that were introduced in February to a 10-player group. Four Bruins are taking part in the trial run. Marc Savard, who had expressed interest in the system previously, is expected to be one of them
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