Leave the game alone – Part Deux

There seems to be a lot of discussion on what would open up the game of hockey. Some want to get rid of shot blocking; others want to limit the number of players that can line up in front of their goal. Some have suggested that the size of the goalie equipment is making goal scoring hard. Now Rangers head coach John Tortorella has chimed in, Torts would like to see the return of the “red line.” I think that is a horrible idea and would really slow down the game of hockey.

Mark Everson and Brett Cyrgalis --- “To me, I think they need to put the red line back in,” Tortorella said yesterday as his team prepares for Game 1 of its Eastern Conference final matchup against the Devils tonight at Madison Square Garden.

“Look at the puck possession teams,” Tortorella said, “they’re out.”

Coming out of the lockout in 2005, the NHL made it legal to make a two-line pass, meaning coming from out of one’s zone, behind the blue line, a pass could be made to a player beyond the center-ice line, the so-called red line. It was a pass that used to be illegal, immediately blowing the play dead.

The new rule was designed to open up the game, and if it did for a while, the way teams have adapted is by playing tighter in their own zone.

“Because it’s a game of ping-pong,” Tortorella said. “The game is a long pass, forecheck, defend. Another long pass, forecheck, defend.”

With a history of fines for criticizing the league, Tortorella then looked at the NHL representative in the room and added, “I better just leave it at that.”

I like the way the NHL is currently run, albeit the officiating would be a little more consistent during the playoffs but the NHL is comprised of the best players in the game of hockey and you’re not always going to have a 8-7 game, some games are going to be 2-1, 1-0, 0-0… I have no idea what bringing back the red line is going to do but slow the game down more and give us more unnecessary whistles and stoppages. Please leave the game of hockey alone.

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Rangers coach says NHL changes encourage cheap shots

s/t to PHT...I am glad that Torts is saying this, and kudos for Brooks for writing about it. It’s too bad that it took another player getting injured in the NHL to have this subject come to life. I have been saying this for a very long time that the instigator rule is leading to unnecessary violence and acts of thuggery that wouldn’t happen if the NHL’s thugs/agitators had to fight and answer for their transgressions. Eventually you have to think the NHL General Managers are going to have to look at the instigator rule because I do believe there are players out there taking unnecessary runs at opposition players, especially at critical times in games that might be alleviated if the players had to answer for their actions on the ice instead of hiding behind the instigator penalty or the on ice official, because no one wants to put their team on the penalty kill because of the threat of getting for an instigator penalty.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- John Tortorella has not seen the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty that left the Montreal winger with a serious concussion and a fractured vertebra and sparked an uproar across Canada when the Boston defenseman escaped without a suspension, but the Rangers coach is resolute in his opinion that rule changes have created the environment in which such acts now seem commonplace.

"I think some rules changes have provided players with the chance to disrespect other players," Tortorella said after yesterday's brief but intense practice here in preparation for tomorrow night's match with the Sharks. "It goes on, and I still think it needs to be addressed.

"No one wants to see players hurt," he said. "There needs to be some sort of honor and honesty in our game and I think we've lost that with the rules changes."

The coach made it clear that while he thinks other rules changes such as eliminating benign obstruction have contributed to the problem, the instigator rule is the root cause. Tortorella is not alone among the hockey community in that belief, but the instigator rule that mandates a two-minute minor plus a 10-minute misconduct penalty for those who start a fight in defense of a teammate, is hardly a recent change, having been adopted in 1992-93.

"It's not just that, but I think it's a lousy rule," Tortorella said. "I think the game has gotten [this] way because we have not allowed the players to police themselves. To me, that's the bottom line.

"Players need to police themselves on the ice, not the rules, not supplementary discipline and all that," he said. "That's where I think we've lost honesty. Call me [old school], if you want. It's wrong. "The instigator creates a mindset for players for players who you wouldn't even see them if the instigator was not there."